Damage without Splash Guards - Pic

Can't you buy the clear protection tape (for lack of the correct term) for behind the wheels? That would protect the paint as well as a mud flap and not cause an aerodynamic drag.

Rokeby said:

Rally car.

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First person to modify their LEAF into a rally car will get some MEGA points from me!

EVNation said:

That's my car guys. It is just road dirt. Wipes right off. But looks terrible on the white car.

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We have exactly the same patch of grunge on our car after 200 miles, also on the left rear...oddly the right rear is (relatively) clean.

Rokeby said:

Apparently adding the guards/flaps doesn't make it any worse. Remember, if they work properly, the air dams in front of the wheels are deflecting air around the tire in something like a parabola. Arguably, the guards/flaps are in this "wind shadow."

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This is exactly correct. The small black flaps in front force the air around the wheel/tire. The mud flaps are within the "wind shadow" as noted above. No additional drag.

Nissan has thought the aero through very well on the LEAF. Almost the entire underside of the car has a belly cover to improve windflow - very similar to what you will find on the $90,000 GT-R. LEAF is in good company!

EvNation, thanks for clearing that up. Being from Denver, CO I am very aware of what gravel can do to exposed paint areas behind wheels. Thanks! I did not see the turbulators in front of the wheels before. Thanks for posting pics. Those "plates" turbulate the air ahead of the wheels. Since turbulated air has less than half the drag of seperated air, it is a good trade-off for efficiency at higher speeds. 100% Laminar flow 100% of the time is the holy grail of aerodynamics but is pretty much a theoretical ideal and useless in the real world. It's the reason they put dimples on golf balls, etc.

A pair (ahem) of these should solve the problem:

http://www.uatparts.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=uatparts&Product_Code=VU190056&Category_Code=MUDFLAPS