Wheel Well Silencer - Splash Guard

[amcordo]

Hi all,

OK, so in my other vehicles there's a splash guard / wheel well silencer - it's a piece of fiberglass, carbon composite, plastic, or metal that curves up around the wheels. In addition to reducing road noise by reflecting or abosrbing the sound waves it also serves to intercept road debris and liquids that are thrown off by the wheels before they can hit the metal body of the car inside the wheel well.

I'd like to see if anyone has jerry rigged something similar on their series rover. Such a setup could help me to keep road salt off the frame of the vehicle. Please show me pics!

Thanks.

[thixon]

Rubberized undercoating is your best bet, if noise reduction from road debris (rocks) is your goal. As for protecting the frame, building something into the fender wells really isn't going to help much.

[TedW]

Yup. I did it many moons ago. I think in '92.

After I had my truck for a while I couldn't stand the noise from dirt being kicked up and trashing all the wiring, lamps, etc. that are exposed in the wheelwells.

So you can do what I did:

Go to an industrial rubber supply place and get some sheet rubber - usually neoprene with a cloth binder in the middle. You buy it by the foot or the yard. They may have some ends that they want to get rid of, which is a big help.

I used two sections per wheel well: one long section to wrap from the back to the front, and one section for the inside of the well. I attached them with SS nuts/bolts drilled through the body.

The difference in noise is considerable, as you might imagine, but IMO the biggest benefit is that everything is kept clean and dry. I don't have the problem with mud caking onto everything, either. and no more sandblasting of your components.

People that do a lot of wading might find problems with this approach, but it works for me.

I'll take some fotos and post them later.

[TedW]

Here are photos of my project.

The rubber I used measures about 1/8" thick, and is a bit stiff to work into the curves at the upper corners of each fender. But once it's in there the tension of the material holds it in place - no droops or sags (I hate when that happens). Just a few nut/bolts for security.

In the back, I start below the support for the rear mudflap (and behind the fender stay) and wrap up and around to the front to protect the outrigger on the left and the fuel tank on the right.
In the front I start below the mud flap and go all the way up and around to the lip in the front edge. Two bolts through the b-bright on the lip in the front hold it in place.

The flat pieces on the inside of the fenders keep the sound down and keep dirt from being sandblasted onto the frame and engine areas. You might get away with omitting these pieces but IMO they are worth having.

Keep in mind that this was put on 17 years ago - I think it has held up quite well. When I take it out to do stuff everything looks just the way it did when I put it in. Kleen and new.

I should reemphasize the noise reduction - remember that with this mod you have great sound deadening and no sand/rocks hitting the aluminium.

[LRMAN]

Timely thread. We just drove our new bugeye down a dirt road in Windham tonight.

Ted, where did you purchase the material? Looks like something McMaster may carry but it sounds like you picked it up locally.

[amcordo]

Ted this is fantastic! Thank you for the post. I'll be putting this on my truck shortly.

The rubber I used measures about 1/8" thick, and is a bit stiff to work into the curves at the upper corners of each fender. But once it's in there the tension of the material holds it in place - no droops or sags (I hate when that happens). Just a few nut/bolts for security.

In the back, I start below the support for the rear mudflap (and behind the fender stay) and wrap up and around to the front to protect the outrigger on the left and the fuel tank on the right.
In the front I start below the mud flap and go all the way up and around to the lip in the front edge. Two bolts through the b-bright on the lip in the front hold it in place.

The flat pieces on the inside of the fenders keep the sound down and keep dirt from being sandblasted onto the frame and engine areas. You might get away with omitting these pieces but IMO they are worth having.

Keep in mind that this was put on 17 years ago - I think it has held up quite well. When I take it out to do stuff everything looks just the way it did when I put it in. Kleen and new.

I should reemphasize the noise reduction - remember that with this mod you have great sound deadening and no sand/rocks hitting the aluminium.

[jac04]

... so in my other vehicles there's a splash guard / wheel well silencer - it's a piece of ...carbon composite...

OK, I'll bite. What vehicle do you have that uses carbon composite in the wheel wells?

[LaneRover]

I did something similar to Ted's using a truck mudflap - Palmer Spring in Portland Maine carried them when I got it. The outside edge sits on the upper lip of the fender/wing then you wedge the inner part far up into the fender/wing as you can and add a bolt or two.

Not only does it deaden sound a bit, it also keeps the nice little star patterns off of the top of the fender from rocks being thrown out of the tread and hitting the top of the fender from below.

[Mercedesrover]

I lined all four of my wells with splash shields from a Ford dually pickup truck. I bought four of them, trimmed them up to fit and screwed them in place. Keeps the mud off the bulkhead, tub, etc and stops rocks from hitting the inside of the tub and fenders. Pretty easy job.

[Dav1550]

Here is a photo of the OME wheel well silencers/splash guards…..circa SIII 6/cyl.


Regretfully the templates I made did not hold up…. But this may give an idea of how they were mounted up.

[frans]

In my town we have a rock quarry. They use rubber belting to transfer the gravel here and there on a conveyor belt system.
When the rubber belting tears or gets worn, they chuck the entire strip. It sits in a huge pile and they let anyone take what they want from it.

Mud flaps, wheel wheels, trailer strips, etc. it does a good job. Almost a half inch thick. It is hard to work with, but I did notice a big difference in road noise.

I hesitate to post pictures of what I have done to my 109 because the pictures I see posted here are of such nice rovers, I don't want to piss anyone off by showing my frankinstein of a vehicle.
but here goes:
Rubber wheel well arches

[thixon]

Ted,
How far under the footboxes did you go? Got any more photos? I've got miles of scrap rubber sheeting laying around where I work.

[TedW]

Ted,
How far under the footboxes did you go? Got any more photos? I've got miles of scrap rubber sheeting laying around where I work.

I'll take pics of any part you need to see.

In the front wells: I go all the way from front to back. It starts at the front lip below the headlights, runs the full width of the well all the way back to just below the stays for the front mudflaps. That way everything is protected with rubber - headlights/signal lights, sidelights, the mudshield, the steering box, everything. And it completely protects from the star pattern dents that Lanerover referred to.

For the inside I did the same thing as Dav1550 except that I covered everything all the way to the top. Same treatment in the back.

In the back wells: Same idea. Right side: I start in the front below the bottom of the fuel tank and run up and down the back, going behind the fender stay and ending behind and below the top of the mud flap. On the left I start below the outrigger and end the same way.

[TedW]

Ted, where did you purchase the material? Looks like something McMaster may carry but it sounds like you picked it up locally.

Go to Portland Rubber - 21 Commercial St. under the end of the new bridge. Get plenty - I have found lots of uses for it on my truck.

They sell it from rolls - 24" wide, if I recall. The 1/8" stuff is stiff enough to stay in place but not too hard to work with.

I'm happy to help you install it. However, it's my anniversary this weekend I don't think my wife would be too crazy about me cancelling our weekend so I could do another dirty Rover project. She spent last weekend at the British Invasion, so I think it's only fair.........I guess.

[LRMAN]

Thanks for the info and offer Ted. I can probably handle that installation. What I would like to speak with you about before winter is the Waxoyl(sp?) application. My Bugeye has a new ungalv. painted frame that I would like to protect.