hey guys,
One complaint of my new baby is the back of the clubman gets REALLY dirty REALLY quickly. After washing it, the rear barn doors and bumber are filthy a few days later.

i don't have mudflaps installed.

does anyone know whether mudflaps would actually aid in this? or is the dirt just wind and rain generated and mudflaps won't help me.

cheers
Dave

 

I have the mudflaps, but haven't driven Otto in the rain in the nearly 8 months I've had him. His rear doors are always dusty, but from what I've read it is inherent in the design of all the MINIs. I just keep his California duster in the back and wipe him down before I cover him.

Spoiled MINI. I actually had him out today on a quick mail run and he got about 6 drops of rain on his windshield before I got him home. I know he won't melt, but I dread hail. A bit OC with my MINI and BMW. Thank God the truck likes rain.

 

I just drove Edgar over 3000 miles from NY to Phoenix, AZ and can't really compare it to a Clubman without mud-flaps, but as already mentioned - it still gets dusty on the back. How much less/more dusty or dirty, I can't say.

On my trip back, I went through the remnants of Tropical Storm "Fay" and had substantial rain squalls each day. The back got pretty dirty.

There was ONE instance where I had to detour on a WET dirt road - and did notice that the sides of the car weren't as muddy as Edgar wanted them to be!

All in all, I'm sure they provide some protection but certainly don't keep the back clean! (I'm not complaining though)

 

It's inherent in any hatchback styled car. The hatch back shape leaves a large amount of aerodynamic disturbance behind it while it drives down the street. This creates a vacuum and is prone to pulling dirt back up towards the rear of the car. Mudflaps wouldn't do much to help this situation.

 

thanks guys , whilst i was typing the original question i thought this might be the case.

cheers

 

As this is very true, i did find that on dusty dirt roads it does take a little longer to get the same amount of dirt on the rear. Instead of it being covered in 1/2 mile it took about 3/4 mile after putting the mud flaps on the rear. SO does it help - Very Little, but what it did do was keep the rocks form hitting the lower portion of the bumper.

As for front mud flaps they do keep the sides of the car cleaner. I have a lot less mud/dirt up on the doors after running on dirt roads.

 

+1

 

Since its aerodynamics and not mudflaps, does anyone know if adding a spoiler and a rear skirt/diffuser make a difference?

or would those parts be overkill for real world use?

 

Regarding the spoiler/diffuser question: While I don't have experience with our Clubman along these lines, our family had several station wagons when I was growing up and I recall that the ones that had the roof rack with the diffuser that washed air down over the rear window kept the rear of the car a lot cleaner than the one that didn't.

 

It would have to be specifically designed for that purpose to have any real noticable effects....but yes, things such as spoiler extensions and diffusers can work to keep the rear cleaner.

 

The Clubman's boot has been staying much cleaner than my old coupe though. So something has improved.

 

Overall the new R56/R55 definitely has better aerodynamics. I believe that's one of the things they mentioned that the really focused on when doing the whole redesign. I have to agree with you...having done 4 road trips already in my clubman, the boot still gets dirty, but no where near as fast as my 02 MC used to.