E39 Rear Mudflap DIY

So... Here's my first first DIY...

*NB* This is a frustrating job... You may teach yourself new swear words when attempting this. You have been warned

I purchased the OEM Mudflap set a couple of months ago but never actually around to figuring out how they actually work...

The other day I actually managed to find the original instructions in German on the net and decided then to take the plunge and fit them.

I highly recommend that you jack the car up and remove the wheel to do this. With the wheel still on the car you really don't have any room to work.

Original Instructions: http://www.bmwtips.com/tipsntricks/Mudfl...ctions.htm

The Mudflaps come nicely packaged with all of the mounting clips and screws but no instructions.

Part Number: 82169405190






Unpackaged and ready to give it an attempt... You can see that the flaps are perfectly molded to fit the wheel well. At this point I should mention that these arent made to fit an MSport bumper, however from what I've read they can and do fit



First thing I did was to test fit and mark where I needed to drill the holes... I used a really tiny drill bit (Cant remember the size) to make the holes for the two self tapping screws.



Self tappers are in. You will need a Torx T20 for this.



This is where it gets tricky. You have these clips. The plastic part sits on the mudflap while you push the steel part into the plastic clip. As you can see it curves round and goes through a gap in the mudflap. It then pushes between the fender liner and actual bumper to gain purchase. It sounds simple in theory, however in practice its a bit of a pain. In the end I pulled a Clarkson and resorted to a hammer. which did the job.



Nice and snug fit. Took me about an hour and lots of foul language



At this point I noticed that the right hand corner was lifting a little bit... So I pulled the drill out again and another self tapping screw... Just for added insurance.

Obviously the same process is then repeated on the other side. Once I had it all figured out, the second one took me around 10 minutes to do.



A pic with them both fitted.

I'll update with some more pics of them on the car in the next day or two.

So yeah, overall its really not that difficult to do, just a little frustrating. This probably also due to the limited space in the wheel well.