I got my Bushwackers two years ago and have never removed them. Never saw the reason. They looked to be very tight sealing to the fender edge. Well today out of curiosity I took them off to see what my 4runner looked like without them. Well right when I removed the last screw the mudguard fell off into my arms. it was heavy and when I looked on the inside of it there was so much wet mud caked in. I see that as a future rusting issue if untreated. I plan on leaving mine off til I have thoroughly clean the fenders and mud guards. I just wanted to pass this info on to those of you that live in wetter climates. Ben

 

Did your flares come with the, the word escapes me at the moment, gasketing to go in between the paint and the flares to make for a tight seal and to protect the paint from the vibration of the flares? I know that the BW come with it now, perhaps an upgrade or some OEM gasketing would do the trick? You can get the right stuff if you get the right rear fender flare gasketing for a Taco, about (5) strips of it will do the trick for (4) fender flares. I think jalaber has a write-up on it...

I just kinda see fender flares as something to get ripped off as if I had had them this past weekend I'd be minus my rear driver's side one for sure...

 

Yo Ben I coulda told ya that. The ones on our runners to have the gasket but you would be amazed at how small of a crack dirt can get into. I remove mine at least every 6 months to clean the crap out of them. It get's nasty behind there!

 

I can grab my 'Wackers and pull them out away from the body.
I do this and stick a brush in there to get the crud out, and also spray it with a hose.

Lee has drilled 3/4" or so size holes into the bottom of his front & rear of each flare, and puts the hose up there to flush out the gunk.

I have not got around to doing this yet, but will some day.

 

Actually that's not completely true. I rubbed mine pretty good on the side of bank this weekend and they didn't move at all, just got scratched pretty good

 

I do have the gasketing/rubber seal. I had Les Schwab Tire Center install them while they did new tires a couple years back. Well aside from the mud being within I now have huge scratch lines that are wide and deep on all four fenders. I wonder if the fenderflares were installed to tightly to the fenders. If so shouldnt Schwabs hook me up with a paint job?

 

If you are getting gunk up in there the 3/4" flushing holes sounds like a great idea to keep from having to take the flares off.

Jonathan,

While I'd like to cover up the nice lines I have where the OEM black matte flares used to be and rubbed the paint, I still say it's just one less thing to have to worry about getting ripped off. If I had limited flares already there, that would be a different story, but since I don't, I don't see me buying any for any reason other than the state passing a law saying tires must be covered. I don't see that happening either in good old Alabamer anyway.

 

I just like them because even when I used to have the SR5 black matte flares, going down the highway I was always kicking up rocks on the side of my truck and now I don't have that problem at all. The sliders are also a good rock deflector as well, I always here rocks ringing off of them.

 

The Bushwackers do now come with the rubber gaskets and drilling a couple holes in the bottoms sounds like a good idea before I install them.