Which ones are best for the 04 SD? I looked at the Husky Liners and they look nice, but the hardware kind of concerns me. I don't like the idea of drilling new holes and exposing metal where the road salt of the northeast will have access. On the other hand, if this is how the factory ones are installed, what's the difference? How are the factory ones installed? I noticed that there is one stock hole in the fender, but the Huskys require the addition of two more holes for mounting. Thanks for any input...

 

i have the Husky mud guards. They give you coated hardware so rust from the fastener is not a issue. Some silicone on the holes to seal out the water will do you just fine. The Ford ones have to attach the same exact way.

 

My friend has the factory Ford ones and they go on with screws too. Get stainless screws if you're worried about rust, and... I don't know about the metal that the screws go into - maybe a dab of bearing grease on the tips as you put them in??

 

The Ford factory mud flaps look great on the superduty trucks I have a set and love them, just put some sealer after you drill the holes. They are the form fitted flaps with the ford logo on them.

 

Thanks for the replies. It sounds like it's just a matter of preference for me and whether or not I want to drill the holes. I think I will check out the factory ones so I can compare.

 

I bought after market custom fit had to drill 2 for each also, just how it is I guess..You can buy arasol can of undercaot and treat the new holes after install, that is what i did!

 

That sounds like a good idea with the undercoat. Thanks.

 

After looking for mud flaps for my '04 trucks, I decided to go with the Ford factory mud flaps. Didn't like the look of the black flaps so I custom painted them yesterday to match the lower Arizona Beigh accent on my white truck. They look awesome, but I did paint over the Ford emblem. I can still see a faint outline of the emblem (it is slightly cut into the plastic), but nothing too obvious, kind of like a ghost image. I was thinking of hand painting in this with a maroon paint (too match the pinstripe on the King Ranch package), but may be too much work just to advertise for Ford.

I should have the flaps installed this afternoon and will try post pictures for everyone to see. It is very time consuming (I am doing 8 flaps, enough for both trucks) for the custom painting and don't know if I'd do it again. It was about 2 hours prepping the plastic with a plastic cleaner to remove the slick coating. I then spent about an hour undercoating the front (tire) side of the flap to protect the paint on the back side from rock impacts which could star the paint. Sprayed 2 coats of plastic adhesion promoter, 1 coat of sealer, 3 coats of the metallic Arizona Beigh, and 2 coats of clear coat. About 6 hours total before I even begin installing.

 

Wow! Motivation at its best. I, too, have opted for the Ford mud guards. In fact, I installed them yesterday and it took me a few hours because I ended up having to remove the rear wheels to get a straight shot with the drill. I didn't time it, but it took a few hours. One thing to note, the instructions actually tell you to coat the exposed metal where you drill through for the rear flaps. The front flaps only require drilling through plastic, so no coating needed there. I decided to use a little dab of roofing tar to seal the metal because the touch up paint they provide normally doesn't adhere to un-prepped metal very well. The area to be re-sealed doesn't show from the outside. The truck bodies are dipped with a special coating before they are painted to provide the corrosion protection and you lose that in the local area when you drill through. I am satisfied with the stock look of the Ford flaps. I just hope they keep the mud and dirt off of my running boards now.

 

Why don't you use some silicone cault on the screws? Put some on the hole before you tighten the screw and it will seal. That's what the directions said to do with the bed rail I installed on the top of my tailgate and it seemed to work well.

 

I chose the tar because it has organic compounds (promote adhesion) that would not be affected by any wax or oil film (may be present) that would otherwise tend to prevent silicone from adhering. I've had bad luck with silicone. I will use silicone in some cases where I know the chemical 'condition' of the surface, but this was an area where I know water and salt are going to attempt to penetrate and I didn't want to chance it.