1) First determine the point where the mudguard struts are supported. Apply tough protective film to protect the paintwork and frame material from abrasion.
2) With powder-coated frames, open threads often have to be recut first. Penetrated paint overlays the threads in the metal.
3) Apply a drop of medium-strength screw adhesive to the screw thread if it is a frame thread. The adhesive prevents the screw from loosening automatically.
4) Always fit plastic strut feet with washers on both sides. These distribute the pressure better. Otherwise there is a risk of the plastic tearing if the torque is too high.
5) If possible, use self-locking nuts for mounting on frame elements. Their plastic ring prevents the screw connection from shaking open again due to vibrations. Place a washer between the screw head, strut socket and frame. This distributes the contact pressure and ensures a stable connection that is gentle on the material.
6) Initially, attach mudguards to the frame or fork only hand-tight at their highest point. The parallelism to the tyre and the strut length can then be adjusted more precisely.
7) The variable strut clamps from SKS are convenient: a screw clamp allows the exact longitudinal adjustment of the struts in the mount and thus the exact alignment of the plate to the tyre surface.
8) To align the plate, first insert the struts loosely into the mount on the dropout. Adjust the distance and angle of the plate to the tyre and then fix the strut mount.
9) Once the strut length has been finalised, shorten the excess length at the clamp. A side cutter is sufficient for thin aluminium struts, thicker steel struts are cut to length with a hacksaw.
10) The plate should have a continuous distance of at least 15 millimetres parallel to the tyre over its entire length. This prevents mud and stones from blocking the wheel.
>> You can find a test of mudguards for retrofitting here
