Scraping Seat Mudflaps

[italiastar]

I have an issue with the mud flaps. They are very close to the ground and keep scraping when I go over humps. Looking at mud flaps on Sharans and Galaxys, they are much higher. Could this be a problem with the lowered suspension of the Alhambra as they are genuine VW flaps - has anyone else experienced this?

[gazza007]

I fitted some Ford ones that were sent to me from an Ex-member.

SEAT fitted them for me when I had the air-con fixed. I had a look at a colleagues 130 & they looked the same, although the car is a tad lower.

Have they been fitted properly?

[Ivor_E_Tower]

I would also suspect that if they are the "genuine" ones, they have not been fitted correctly, or else you have a suspension problem! Should be loads of space between the road and the bottom of the flaps.

[seatkid]

Warning :o Rant approaching...

Personally I decided a few years ago that mudflaps are not a desirable thing to have on a car. Certainly on golfs, vauxhalls etc they have a tendency to scrape and catch the ground on humps etc. My big gripe is they always seem to lead to corrosion in the area they're mounted (Recently confirmed on my Golf), they collect mud and s**t between them and the bodywork which is not so easy to clean out and they also act as great air brakes. :lol:

 

I think they're ugly, if they were attractive to a designer, I believe they would be designed in from the start like the sills on a BMW 3 series. :P

[Ivor_E_Tower]

I'd like to see a plastic bumper corrode because it has a mudflap attached to it!

[italiastar]

Thanks to everyone. They are genuine as they have the VW logo on them and I cannot see how they could have fitted them incorrectly as they basically can only be fitted correctly.

 

I also checked the part numbers with a VW dealer to see if they had been fitted front to back a vice versa, but they were OK. They were fitted by the supplying main dealer - I have a slight bend in my sill to prove it!

 

I can only assume that it's the lowered suspension of the SEAT to blame, but surely it can't be as much as 2 inches lower - A suspension problem? all rouund???

 

May I please ask a favour of one of you who has them fitted? could you please take some measurements, such as sill to ground, sill to bottom of flap and exposed flap length and I'll compare them with mine. Many Thanks,

 

Gerald

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Will try to take some photos tomorrow if it stays dry outside.

[Dally]

Italiastar

 

I fitted some genuine ford ones on my previous 02 model galaxy myself.

 

They were very "compact" and way off the ground. infact they only hung some 2 -3 inches or so below the normal sill height. When I fitted them, I really thought they would make no difference bacause they were so compact but actually they did keep the rear bumber cleaner.

 

I do know that the vw flaps are different and do seem larger - perhaps it's a combination of the two ie lowered suspension and larger flaps!

 

I decided not to bother putting any on my V6 because it's so much hassle taking the wheels of etc (shredding the locking nut in the process) to fit them and if I'm honest, I think it looks better without them!

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Well, the tape measure graduations aren't too clear on these condensed jpeg's but they look magnificent on full-screen blow-ups:

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Approx 23"from top of flap to ground. Orange tape body is marked as +60mm or about 2 3/8 inches. Bold red mark is 1 foot.

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Tyre to underside of wheel arch - rear

[Ivor_E_Tower]

..and now the front:

[Ivor_E_Tower]

And finally - the flash bleached out the marks on the tape here, but it's just under 5 inches to the body of the tape, plus the 60mm

These of course are the genuine Ford mudflaps, and I don't know if they are identical to the VW/Seat ones.

[Tigger]

Monday Morning!"

 

'What did you do over the weekend Ivor'

 

'O I measured my Mud flaps!!!!!!!' :P :P :P

[Guest nimrod]

I always wonder what the neighbours think when they see you outside taking pictures of parts of the car with tape measures and note pads lying about :P

mores to the point what do they think when they see the flash go off late at night in the bedroom :P is that the next thing to hit the site? Galaxy owners wives! :P

[Tigger]

Sorry Ivor only joking I might need you one day?

[italiastar]

Ivor, Thank you very much - you're a star!

 

I've been busy this weekend and didn't get a chance to take detailed photos like yours, but you have definately confirmed that the bottom of my flaps are lower - distance between bottom of flap and ground - Front 3" / rear 5". The distance from the top of flap to ground - Front 18" / Rear 20.5" - I also took the distance from highest point of the wheel arch to the ground - Front 27" / rear 28" .

 

I think this proves that the SEAT is about 2.5 " lower than the Galaxy, but the flaps add another 1.5" - no wonder the poor thing scapes all over the place. I guess that these must be standard VW Sharan flaps and that the Sharan is of similar height to the Galaxy - odd as 2.5 inches is quiet a difference (yesy it was unloaded). As I said they are genuine VW fitted by highly trained, expensive and manufacturer certified technicians (Even they couldn't fit them incorrectly).

 

Looks like SEAT is going to get some serious ear bashing tomorrow.

 

Thank you again very much for your help.

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Just noticed that you are describing your Alhambra as the SE spec - this comes with the sports suspension as standard, which the Galaxy doesn't have (maybe on the Ghia 2.8's only, not sure). This will probably explain the 2.5 inch difference - but that does seem a lot for a sports set-up. I know that the ride is firmer with the sports pack, one of the reasons that I preferred a Galaxy to the Alhambra. Maybe worth measuring the settings on an Alhambra S and SE to find the SEAT difference?

[gazza007]

Just had a measure on my Alhambra S for comparison.

I have approx 8" at back & 7" at front from bottom of mudflap to floor.

My tyre size is 205/15 60.

[italiastar]

Thank you all for this valuable information. Armed with this I contacted my dealer (who incidentally appear to be knowledgeable) and they confirmed that the SE was approx 2.5 inches lower than the S and that there was only one size of flaps. They suggested I contacted SEAT and as the dealer wasn't to blame I did so. I spoke to a person whom I last spoke to last June before I bought the car - I wanted to know whether the 2004 model which I'd ordered still had cruise control as the website said it hadn't - she told me that she couldn't tell me adding that I should wait until the car arrived - bit late then eh!

 

Anyway, today she told me that there was no height difference between the S and SE - when I told her that I'd obtained the information from a very reliable source (this site) and it had been confirmed by the dealer she re-iterated that there was no difference. When I asked her source, she said the brochure - I'd already checked that last night and therefore knew it said that. She therefore told me to bring the car to the dealer and get them to check that the flaps had been fitted correctly - I asked if she was doubting the ability of highly factory trained and expensive technicians, but she declined to answer. I therefore said that they were fitted correctly as you could not fit them wrong and that I'd be wasting my time bringing to the dealer as the car was lower than standard. After some (healthy) discussion she asked me if I knew where the car was made (this had nothing to do with anything, but I think she was trying to prove a point as I'd mentioned that it was a VW) I quickly responded Portugal, to which she said I was wrong - she insisted they were made in Spain. I could go on, but can we really believe people who don't even know where the car is made. After further arguing they confirmed that my low flaps were within tolerance and if I didn't want them to scrape I could get them removed.

 

How will they treat me when something really goes wrong?

 

I plan to take this further, but don't think I'll solve anything. I think the best I'll be able to get is a set of Galaxy flaps as I think they are shorter - that'll be interesting, SEAT getting flaps from Ford (logo less of course) to fit my car. Watch this space............

[seatkid]

Hehe! :( Your mudflaps are doing the job they're designed for sir, scraping the mud off the road... :D

 

BTW Ivor, did'nt realise you attached your front flaps to the front bumper! :huh:

 

As the ford dealers usually say, give them a few hundred miles and they should bed in sir,hasta la vista!.... :D

[Ivor_E_Tower]

I didn't attach any of the flaps, they were already on the car when I bought it.

Don't tell me that my front springs are on back-to-front.

I feel membership of the DGO coming on.......

[seatkid]

Don't tell me that my front springs are on back-to-front.

I feel membership of the DGO coming on.......

?? :huh: ??

[Ivor_E_Tower]

I've had a good look and I'm pretty sure that the front mudflaps aren't fitted to the bumper. Not quite sure what gave Seatkid that idea

[Guest nimrod]

Ivor i think he was trying to funny about the comment he made earlier in the thread

 

My big gripe is they always seem to lead to corrosion in the area they're mounted (Recently confirmed on my Golf), they collect mud and s**t between them and the bodywork which is not so easy to clean out .........