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Updated:
8/3/2003 

Audi S4 Mud Guard installation VFAQ

This little webpage illustrates how to install Audi OEM mudguards on a 2000 Audi S4. These are the same as the ones you buy from Clair Parts. That’s where I got them anyway. I’ve seen some pictures of flaps with Audi rings on them. As you can see I don’t have them and personally I like it better that way.

The instructions that come with the parts are pretty good and the quality of the kit is excellent but I figured a little writeup couldn’t hurt even such a simple operation. For a larger version (10x7) of the pictures simply click on the thumbnails.

Common sense disclaimer: while I tried to give accurate information you yourself are still responsible for any damage done to your car when following these instructions. I have no affiliation with Clair Parts, I’m not (yet :-) getting paid by them for maintaining this page.

Section 1: Front guards

Step 1: Preparing parts and tools

To install the flaps you need only the following (notice this is not quite the same as what’s listed in the instructions):

• T-25 Torx screwdriver
• 10 mm box wrench
• ball-peen hammer (regular hammer is OK too)
• jack to raise the car (either stock or hydrolic)
• Adjusting widemouth pliers
• philips head screwdriver (I used a power screwdriver)
• 17 MM socket and extension bar to quickly remove the wheels with a power drill (not necessary but it speeds up the process)
• a knee pad is handy

The kit looks as follows:

Step 2: Preparing the car for the front flaps

To install the flap on the left turn the wheel all the way to the left, vice versa for the right hand side (duh!). Here’s what the left front wheel well looks like with arrows to the screws for the next step:

Step 3: Remove 2 screws

For this you’ll need the Torx screwdriver. Don’t discard the screws.

Step 4: Fit the mudguard

Fit the mudflap so the two holes overlap with the two in the car-body. The notch should align with the body molding. I tried to do this carefully but as you can see in this picture it probably won’t look perfect. If you’re looking for the ultimate neatness then I guess it would be possible to glue this in place. Carefully fasten with the two screws, making sure you don’t crossthread the holes. It will look something like this:

Step 5: attach the clips

This is somewhat trickier but once you see how they designed this you'll agree that it's ingenious and almost foolproof. Assemble all 6 clips (3 per side) according to the instructions. You'll need 2 small and 1 large one per side. All 6 plastic pieces are the same. I recommend you carefully insert the metal clip 'one click' into the plastic holder. This makes attachement easier. To illustrate how the clips are going to fasten the flaps I took the following picture:

You can see how I've bent the flexible lip on the flap (hehe) backwards, I'm holding it with my index finger. I'm pushing the plastic part onto the flap with my thumb. You can see that when the metal clip gets compressed with the pliers at the points indicated by the arrows it will slide over the flexible lip and fix it in place.

Before attaching the clips you have to fold the rubber lips back so they go over the plastic body part that the flaps attach to. Since this is kind of hard to describe I tried to draw a simple diagram:

To avoid cluttering the picture too much I left out the plastic fastener that the clip gets inserted into. There's an indentation in the mudflap that the plastic piece fits into. The clip will get pushed to the left, fastening the mudflap. Use your adjustable pliers to do this. Be careful though, the clips can be compressed only once. After one clip it looks like this:

Insert the other 2 clips in a similar fashion.

Step 6: Enjoyment

The finished result looks like this:

Step 7: Repeat steps for other side

Section 2: Rear Mudguards

Here left and right are not quite the same. First the driver's side is shown, then the discrepancies with the passenger side are highlighted. A total of 7 large and 1 small screws are provided. I can't find the instructions on where the small one fits. I used it on the inside most hole on the driver's side.

Section 2A: Driver's side

Step 1: Raise back of vehicle and remove wheel

There are no screws to be removed in this case. Here you see the edge that the mudflap will be fit over.

Step 2: Fit the mudguard

The fit on this part is excellent. It takes a few moments to get it in the right spot. If it's cold it may be helpful to warm up the plastic in a bucket of warm water. Be sure that the corner indicated in the picture fits snugly inside the guard.

Step 3: Fasten it with clips and screws

Put a clip on each of the three indentations and carefully tap in place while holding the mudflap in the correct location and all the way pushed onto the car. Insert 4 screws as shown in the picture below. These are selfdrilling and self tapping since there are no matching holes present in the body already. A power screwdriver works real well here.

Step 4: Secure two non-blind screws

The lower 2 screws are not blind ie. you can see the business end of the screws once applied:

This was shot from below, aiming forward. You can see two screws poking through the plastic. Take one of the plastic 10 mm nuts and push it over one of the screws with a 10 mm box wrench. Tighten the screw yet again. This will probably ruin the thread it made in the plastic but that's OK since it will rethreat in plastic nut. Repeat for the other screw.

Step 5: Re-attach wheel, be sure to torque at 89 Lb/ft

Section 2B: Passenger side

Step 1 and 2: same as steps 1 and 2 for driver's side

Step 3: fasten with clips and screws

As with the other side you'll need to hammer the guard in place with 3 clips. There are also 4 screws to fasten. These are a litle trickier than on the other side, especially the inside most one. You may have to push back a little on the plastic wheel well to make the screw grab.

This shows the location of the screws. The one pointed at with the right most line may take some pushing and shoving.

Step 4: Secure screw with nut

As you can see in the picture below

there is a real need to secure screw # 1 because it's dangerously close to some hose (fuel vapor return?). First place the plastic nut in postition with a wrench, then retighten the screw from the other side. I did not attempt to cover up the other screw, it hardly protuded the plastic and the little hose it touches seems harmless.

Step 5: like other side

Section 3: Enjoy!

He, you can hardly see the flaps in this picture because of lack of contrast. I'll take some more later on.

These show the front and back a little clearer. Still the black plastic guards don't contrast real well with the wheels. I guess that's good :-)

I hope this was helpful to someone. Please feel free to send me feedback.

This page was written by Sander Pool.

The VFAQ name was originally coined by Tom Stangl.

10/1/00: initial version

10/3/00: Added right rear wheel since it was different from left side. Added two more 'result' pictures and changed 'flaps' to 'guards' since that's what they are called by Audi :-) Added some extra annotation to some of the pictures, added some extra comments here/there.

11/2/00: moved the page over to a NetObjects Fusion controlled site. Added some pictures (1 and 2) and made the thumbnails a little larger for easier viewing. The thumbnails now also include the annotations.

11/5/00: added a comment regarding Clair Parts, a link to the VFAQ line at the bottom.

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