So a friend of mine who is also a g owner but not on the forum asked me a question the other day but I wasn't sure of the answer so I thought someone here may know...

As many of you know, when we run a lower offset wheel (or even on stock wheels to a lesser extent) our cars are prone to little knicks or chips just in front of the rear wheel well (from debris coming from the front tire). Right now my buddy has the stock sides with no splash gaurds. He is thinking about getting either splash gaurds or ipl/aero sides. He likes the look of both but his biggest concern is which will do more prevent the issue above. I've only had experience with ipl/Aero sides or stock sides with no splash gaurds so I'm not sure how to answer which option is best for his concern.

Anyone have any input based on the criteria above?

 

I do not think that there is an answer to your question. All areas of the world are different when it comes to road debris and all people are different when it comes to style of driving, etc.
Go with how you the owner of the vehicle wants their vehicle to look and deal with any fall out from those decisions.

 

Of course there is an answer. One or the other most likely sticks out further providing more deflection from debris coming from the front wheels. Regardless of the debris and how much due to location, one or the other still offers more shielding (unless of course they rest at the exact same positions).

I'm not looking for the percentage of debris it can protect from or the type of debris it can protect against...just which offers the most protection on a general basis based on how they sit.

 

Stock Sides are narrow... vs Aero are wider providing more deflection of debris .... I'm running a wide rim all around and see more chips and such... but patched them up and polished it out but looking at a clear bra to help... gets costly to have them chips fixed... running a 9-9.5 rim front would be good... though my rims are a square set up 10.5's +25 offset with 255/30/20's... so since the new set up its kinda a pita! But looks good!

I also have the full Aero... there's no mud guards made but a Clear guard film which I'm looking into...

 

Right... But I'm not asking about stock sides (without splash guard). I know both the splash guards and aero / IPL provide more deflection than stocks sides alone. I'm asking about splash guards (on stock sides of course) vs IPL/aero sides and which of those two provide more deflection.

 

I doubt you'd find anyone that has done a comparo and most people that do exterior modifications do them for aesthetics not for functionality. You're going to run into chips and such when driving. There's no way around it, other than to not drive it.

The only way you'll be able to get a decent answer is to try both out with 2 different sets of the same wheels (in new and in perfect condition) in similar conditions for the same amount of time at the same speeds. That's the only true way you'll get an answer.

 

Ok well then to see that as well is look or find a G with the splash guards and measure them across... see if they are as wide as a Aero? But too... the Aero are wide all the way back... not like a Stock side with Guards ... make sense? Meaning yes the guards would catch some but not all debris vs the Aero would catch more... just being wide all the way back... but none the less wheel size along with tire size plays the most in this case for debris to pop up...

 

Get the IPL sides. They're way wider. I had sport sides with splash guards and now I have IPL sides. Definitely wider.

 

I have IPL sides myself...just didn't know if they sat wider than splash guards since I've never had those. Nonetheless, this is the info my buddy was looking for. I'll pass it along so he can decide