Mudflaps...

[Nick73]

Sorry to hog the forum with a second question...but here goes anyway...

Love the X5, but Ive never quite known a car thats quite so bad at covering its own back end in muck and road dirt (Im trying my best to stay away from euphemisms here).  In fact its almost defys physics in its ability to transfer s**te from the road to the tailgate...

Mine has these hard plastic mouldings behind the back wheels but not what I think of as actual mudflaps.

So, can you get mudflaps for the E53 and does it improve the "dirt magnet" back window effect?

[chelsea]

Ditto Nick, only had mine a week and have to keep cleaning the parking sensors off as they keep getting crudded up from the rear wheels and causing them to think Im hitting a wall or sumthin

[kkx5]

[quote="Nick73"]
Sorry to hog the forum with a second question...but here goes anyway...

Love the X5, but Ive never quite known a car thats quite so bad at covering its own back end in muck and road dirt (Im trying my best to stay away from euphemisms here).  In fact its almost defys physics in its ability to transfer s**te from the road to the tailgate...

Mine has these hard plastic mouldings behind the back wheels but not what I think of as actual mudflaps.

So, can you get mudflaps for the E53 and does it improve the "dirt magnet" back window effect?
[/quote]

Very quick answer: No

[X5LAW]

But yes.

Check ebay. £64 ish.

[X5Sport]

Yes you can get mudflaps for the E53 but don't expect miracles.  All they will do is reduce the amount of dirt collected but they won't stop it altogether.

These are what I had on mine....OEM

[X5LAW]

Don't think anyone was expecting miracles. They look good and do a fair job. Sounds like a solution.

[sunnydude959]

I believe (but may be wrong) the dirt on the back window is due to there effectively being a low-pressure region of air to the rear of a square-profiled object in motion (being your X5 in this case). In the same way that a vacuum cleaner sucks dirt in by creating low pressure within its bag/cyclones, etc. dirt in the air gets attracted to the rearward facing surfaces of your car. Mudflaps won't have much of an effect, unfortunately.

Somebody please correct me if this is untrue, as my fluid mechanics knowledge has gotten a bit rusty!

[X5LAW]

All true. Mud flaps will only help so much. But any help is good, right?

[centurion]

pardon my bluntness but they just look hideous... coupled with the fact that they do not do much to assist with low air pressure I see no value tbh.

for those who own E70's had there been any improvements?

[X5Sport]

They're not supposed to make a difference to the low pressure area at the back of the car, that's the point.  Changing the aerodynamics could have adverse effects on general car handling.

What they do is change the path of the spray/debris from the tyres that goes into the low pressure area so far less is drawn in and deposited on the rear of the car.  To that end they work very well.  There is a difference in performance between the 19" and 20" wheels with the smaller/narrower being better.

They aren't supposed to look great, they're purely functional, and there is only so much a designer can do to meet the function over form need.  It depends what you are looking for.

Richard

[Smeeagain]

[quote="centurion"]
pardon my bluntness but they just look hideous... coupled with the fact that they do not do much to assist with low air pressure I see no value tbh.

for those who own E70's had there been any improvements?
[/quote]

Each too their own - I don't think they look fantastic but they're not meant to enhance the aesthetics of the car - equally I don't think they look that bad and I'd happily have had them on mien of they'd come with the car when I purchased it

[X5-D-Sport]

RE air flow & grunge on the back window of vehicle..

As one of the guys correctly says, the filth on the rear end is simply because these Fat Ladies haul a huge volume low pressure behind them, & all the road dirt whirls around and ends upon the rear...

In a bid to reduce this, I fitted the rear side splitters normally on the V8's that live on the bumper quarters behind the rear wheel... AND fitted a secondary tail gate spoiler that lives on top of the OEM part..
It looks quite sexy, and reduced the tail end grime a "little bit", and also reduced the wind noise at the rear end too.

Conclusion...

We drive vehicles that have the aerodynamics of a tower block - not a wing section....
Therefore...
There will be significant wind drag, resulting in significant rear end dirt collection..

To stop the dirt build up on the rear of our beloved X5's is very simple...
Wash them and wax them....
then just don't drive any where - simples
-----------------------------------
Re the mud flaps shown in an earlier posted picture, I like them....
And it is possible that they may help reduce spray, similar to the principle of HGV 1's having a plastic carpet on the wheel side of their mud flaps to reduce wheel spray..... may work a bit on a miniature scale for our X5's .... maybe ?

[X5Sport]

They certainly keep the spray down too.  Worked well on both my X5 and current X6 when on 19" wheels.  Not so good with the 20"s but the X6 has a smaller 'low' being towed astern at speed and there are rear window 'fences' along with a small lip spoiler to modify the flow further.



Richard

[X5-D-Sport]

Hi Richard,

I've looked on Flea-Bay for some moulded mud-flaps for my E53 diesel, to get some as per the picky in this thread earlier, but cannot find them..
Are they an OEM part ?
Regards
Grant B

[SMOKEY]

In Australia we seem to have some additional mud flap pieces attached.  Seems to be for our market only and I assume its because of our ADR's - reasons of compliance in that the complete width of the tyre up to the halfway point has to be completely covered to stop rocks and stones flinging up. Byproduct is that it cuts a lot of the dirt and spray coming up the sides/rear bumper.