GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I am thinking of buying mud flaps for my Vibe and I wondering if non-OEM ones will work as well ?When temperature get a little higher, so much stuff got threw up to the back hatch it's not even fun anymore, even worse on highways.I have 03 cladding so I am waiting for the new style but I sort of want something right now, which is why I am considering non-OEMs.thanks

Even with mudflaps, Vibes are notorious for spray swirling back onto the hatch. I have rear mudflaps and on a snowy day there is an inch of snow all over the hatch in just a few miles. The rear wiper gets a lot of use as does the rear defroster.

Yes, I have the OEM mudflaps installed and I still get all the salt spray on the rear hatch anyway. They really cut down on the spray on the sides of the body, though, so I'm happy with them.

i have driven 3 small wagons over the years (toyota tercel '85 4WD- nice but very whimpy 1.5l..., a ford escort wagon '95 and now the vibe).all small wagons have had the back spray issue. The tercel and ford had slightly longer overhang in the rear so the spray was a tad less, however both required regular use of the rear wiper and defroster anyway.The vibe does have a very short rear overhang (i could have used the exta 6 inches or so they shaved from the corolla but with the intermittent rear wiper, it will be less hassle actually than the previous 'on/off' only wipers i've had. that short overhang, with the wide track design, makes for the nice handling though.i am planning on adding the mud flaps when the new 2004 front ones become available (i'd like the rear ones now but i'll wait and pay labor only once .

You can install the rear flaps now, as the '04 side cladding doesn't affect those. The front flaps will need to be changed to accommodate the new '04 cladding. I installed the front flaps myself (the old ones for the '03 cladding). It's real easy. The rear ones require removing the wheels and drilling a hole, so I had the gas station install those later, when they installed my snow tires.

thanks guys