Those OEM ones actually look good.
I'll probably put them on after I put some side skirts too.
Those OEM ones actually look good.
I'll probably put them on after I put some side skirts too.
The factory mud guards are a bit of a pain to install. I have installed two complete sets of these, front and rear, and am afraid it is a bit more involved than "sticky tape".
Holes need to be drilled, and for the front guards the front ends of each of the black plastic lower side skirts need to be cut off! They say in the instructions it can be done with a box knife, but I had to use a Dremel. There is trim tape, to be sure, but it is mostly for sealing purposes so nothing can accumulate behind the mud guards.
The rears area bit easier, but still require drilling. All require plastic rivets, and some require screws and capture nuts.
As I said, I have done two sets of these. The first set I did in about an hour and the second took about 45 minutes.
That's a bummer. I bought factory mud guards for my wife's 2010 Hyundai Accent and they used existing holes, no drilling or cutting. I also like that they were matte black, not color matched like the Mirage.
Would you say they're effective at protecting the finish behind the wheels? While they do look cool, my main concern is them functioning well.
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View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 44.1 mpg (US) ... 18.7 km/L ... 5.3 L/100 km ... 52.9 mpg (Imp)
I'd say they do work pretty well. Around here, where it rains two thirds of the year and there are millions of trees constantly dumping needles, leaves, etc, on the roads, mud guards are one of the first things I buy for any car I get. Before I put them on I had mud and leaves splattered all along the sides of my Mirage.
The mud guards put a stop to that.
I wouldn't say they are difficult to put on, if you are handy, but are certainly not just a "stick-and-go" proposition. The holes and areas to be cut or drilled are marked out with odd paper jigs that you have to tape to the car.
I have installed mud guards which required drilling, but never ones which require me to cut a part of the car completely off.
I was able to just cut the very ends off with a Dremel while leaving the gray plastic side skirts in place. Only the first 1" of them behind the front wheel well needs to come off, and the kit includes a paper template to make sure you get it right. It is a good idea to tape off the surrounding area just in case the cutoff wheel runs on you. You basically cut the skirt off even with the wheel well. But, as Alex1a1f mentioned, the design of the mud guards may have changed from '15 to '17 to ease installation. It is also possible that the side skirts on our cars were not standard on every Mirage sold around the world in '14-'15, which would make trimming them a requirement for installation on cars sold here. Cutting the skirts may not be necessary on 2017-2019 models if Mitsubishi now puts the skirts on all Mirages.
As I said previously in this thread they are not hard to install. Just a bit tedious. Some cutting, measuring, taping, and drilling is necessary.
Thank you Cobrajet. I will double check the test fitting of my front mud guards again, but I'm pretty sure that the air dam is protruding into the wheel well. I hate the idea of cutting a piece of my car off, but I guess I won't have a choice. I'd rather do it very carefully than to trust a mechanic at the dealership to do it for me.
I had a full rear spoiler installed on my Corvette by the dealership. It required some cutting around the middle section of the bumper surface to make the hole bigger and allow access to the middle brake light. I discovered years later that the hole wasn't cut out larger at all. Now if my bulb burns out, I can't remove the connector let alone the bulb.