Reducing Stone Chips, Better mud flaps or?

DannyMoe13 · March 28, 2021

My truck is riddled with stone chips after only 14k miles. (mostly on the door bottoms) I have the OEM "wider" mud flaps on the truck now. What mud flaps are people running that help keep the stones off the truck and also look halfway decent? Are there other options for paint protection like clear bras? Looking for tips/advice, thanks!

Spyderwebb · March 30, 2021

I like these and so far they are doing a great job, though its fair to point out I've only got about 6500 miles of mostly highway and city driving!

Are they like what you are running?

Edited March 30, 2021 by Spyderwebb

Grumpy Bear · March 30, 2021

I use the Weather Tech No Drill on my 2015. They seem a few inches longer. No chips in 135,000 miles on my rockers. :dunno:

Dirtbiker · March 31, 2021

Might not be the answer you are looking for but this is one of the reasons I always have running boards on my truck. Some kind of flat ones not the nerf bar style or power ones. They protect the bottom of the truck better than a mudflap can. The other reason is that I am short and need them to get in ha ha.

Grumpy Bear · March 31, 2021

1 hour ago, Dirtbiker said:

Might not be the answer you are looking for but this is one of the reasons I always have running boards on my truck. Some kind of flat ones not the nerf bar style or power ones. They protect the bottom of the truck better than a mudflap can. The other reason is that I am short and need them to get in ha ha.

The guy that had Pepper before me changed the mounts on the Rhino tube running boards to lower and set them back in a bit further under the truck. Combine with the longer Weather Tech flaps I haven't had a single rocker chip yet in over 100K miles. Note. I NEVER drive on gravel...ever. I also run street tires and not A/T or dirt tires that like to 'pitch' rocks. So there's that. The GM flaps in the photos look really really short. Wide but short.

Dirtbiker · April 1, 2021

The reason I said not the nerf bar style was because when driving on a lot of gravel roads, the rocks from the front tires will hit the back of the bars where they turn in under the truck and ricochet up into the bottom of the truck removing all the paint in that spot. Where as the flat ones don't allow that. I had a company truck with them once and there was no paint left right above the back part of the bar. About a 3 inch round area. I have never bought that style since. If you are not driving on any gravel then it wouldn’t matter. That is just not an option for me ha ha.

Grumpy Bear · April 1, 2021

36 minutes ago, Dirtbiker said:

The reason I said not the nerf bar style was because when driving on a lot of gravel roads, the rocks from the front tires will hit the back of the bars where they turn in under the truck and ricochet up into the bottom of the truck removing all the paint in that spot. Where as the flat ones don't allow that. I had a company truck with them once and there was no paint left right above the back part of the bar. About a 3 inch round area. I have never bought that style since. If you are not driving on any gravel then it wouldn’t matter. That is just not an option for me ha ha.

I would have never notice that. Thanks! I'll double down on the no gravel.

wurgs · April 3, 2021

I had same issue. I have mudflaps also but didn't help much.

When new in 2019, less than 700 miles on it, I took it hunting and drove around 100 miles on gravel roads and the paint on the box in front of rear tires on the orange peel like paint " rock guard" almost looked like they had been sandblasted. The dealer was great and took care of it under warranty. In the fall of 2020 took a couple more hunting trips, maybe drove 150 miles of gravel and same thing happened along the bottom of both doors and a little bit of chipping along the on the rock guard again. Total miles on truck less than 8000. I hadn't drove any gravel since my 2019 hunting trip. Went back to the dealer and he said he saw only one other truck come in to the dealership with this issue. He had heard of a few GMCs having this chipping issue, not common to any certain color, and sounds like its rare but unfortunately I have one. They reported the issue with GM but GM said they haven't heard of this before and basically too bad for me.

My dealer is amazing. They easily could have told me it isn't their problem either, trucks over year old but they were concerned and worked with me on a solution. I ended up having them remove the rock guard on the box, had everything on bottom half of doors and front of box repainted and had them apply 3m film over those same areas. They did an excellent job and were very fair on the price. That was the best solution we could come up with besides trying to basically repaint the whole truck which would have been very spendy.

Edited April 3, 2021 by wurgs
clarify wording

Bgill · April 3, 2021

I've noticed guys around here who are using offroad regularly or on dirt/gravel roads and range land using Line-X from the door beltline down and around the wheel wells (with about the same coverage as wheel flares). Heck, some have even down their frontend done.

Problem solved.