SAS's First Trip Awesome to Sasquatch Museum... But Rock Chips Galore

My wife and I took our first long 10 day trip in our 2 door Sasquatch. We drove from South Florida to Blue Ridge, Ga. We put 2000 miles on the Bronco. We have a 2022 2 door Base Sasquatch with 2.7, no modifications. We rented a cabin at a high elevation accessible only by 4 X 4 down dirt and gravel roads. It had awesome mountain views. The last ¼ mile was a steep climb. We barely drive our Bronco as I have a long work commute and use a commuter car. So the Bronco sits most of the time and this is the first time we have spent a lot of time in it.

It was an awesome trip. We even went to the Sasquatch museum- see photo!! The Bronco did great- so comfortable even after driving it 10 hours. The front seats are super comfortable. We fit everything in the 2 door with the seats down. A little tight of a fit for everything, including a big cooler, fishing gear, luggage, etc. but everything did fit. On the road the Bronco was effortless to drive. Such nice steering and tracking. We cruised between 65 and 70 MPH on the interstate. In Blue Ridge the roads were very hilly and curvy. The Bronco pulled effortlessly up the hills- between 1500 and 1900 RPM. Amazing torque in the 2.7. And down the hills the Bronco downshifted and used engine braking. Love the 10 speed auto. We used 4 X 4 to get to the cabin and also exploring various places and down forestry roads for hiking and fishing. High and low range worked flawlessly. I got high centered once and could have rocked out of it but simply locked the rear diff and just crawled out. Wow never had locking diiffs and it was wonderful. We had 0 problems- the Bronco was so fun to drive. We even had my son and his wife in the back seats for part of the week and they were super comfy back there. And oh we averaged 22.6 MPG.

The only issue we had were rock chips- and lots of them- in the doors and rocker panels. Even with the Mabbett mud flaps on the front- I installed them before the trip. One rock even flew off the tire up in the air and back down and chipped the windshield. Need a new windshield now. The stock mud terrains are terrible for retaining and flinging rocks. I read about it although did not think it would be that bad. Went to a body shop even to see about what to do. They suggested touch up paint with a brush rather than re-paint the doors. So they are making me a paint mix. Going to take me a couple of hours to do the touch ups. I have owned many 4 X 4’s, been 4 wheeling all of my life, never had such a major problem with rock chips. I assume it’s the tires. What do you all do when you go off road- pick out the rocks after wheeling? Are there better tires out there that will not retain rocks? Such a nice vehicle but why put tires on it that destroy the vehicle?

I have a 2 door sas as well, with the mabett front mud guards and oem side steps. Rocks dont make it through now, maybe out the back but that isnt my problem.

These side steps have been a life saver for door dings and rock chips. They also help with shorter people sgetting in.

Cowboy4x4 said:

These side steps have been a life saver for door dings and rock chips. They also help with shorter people sgetting in.

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Second this! Have the same set up plus the Mabbet mud flaps for my 2-door.

That's some fancy second shooter geometry on that broken windshield rock.

You have several options on different tires. Mainly you're looking for ones with wider gaps in the tread. I would recommend checking out the Falken Wildpeaks:

https://www.falkentire.com/wildpeak/at3w
https://www.falkentire.com/wildpeak/rt

The Nitto Ridge/Trail Grapplers and BFG KO2s generally don't have those issues, although they can have other issues like road noise and wear. I personally like the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss, but that's a pricey buy.

Nice suggestion on the side steps although my wife and I are old school and like the look without side steps or running boards. We hop in easily and like the "clean" look. Would the rock guards that are not side steps help? I like the look of them but jeez they are pricey for the 2 door.

SasquatchLocatedInTheAtl said:

Second this! Have the same set up plus the Mabbet mud flaps for my 2-door.

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This ^^^

If you get mudflaps that hang down 4-5” lower and 2” wider you’ll stop most of the rocks. Otherwise the step bars are the way to go.

JT58Bronc said:

Nice suggestion on the side steps although my wife and I are old school and like the look without side steps or running boards. We hop in easily and like the "clean" look. Would the rock guards that are not side steps help? I like the look of them but jeez they are pricey for the 2 door.

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I feel like a set of rocker guards, if they mated better with the flares, could prevent some of the stuff getting thrown at the body side. But usually I see in photos, a decent sized gap between the front flare trailing edge and the rocker guard, and stuff getting shot through that gap.

I'm talking about this sort of gap shown below, which in the example is rather small, but still letting stuff through. If the rocker guard extended outward the distance of the flare, and also didn't have that gap for stuff to shoot through, I feel like it would go a decent way towards protecting the body side.

JT58Bronc said:

Nice suggestion on the side steps although my wife and I are old school and like the look without side steps or running boards. We hop in easily and like the "clean" look. Would the rock guards that are not side steps help? I like the look of them but jeez they are pricey for the 2 door.

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Longer flaps, running boards (check take off market for decent pricing), different tires, or PPF.

I have an Outerbanks with the step board and a set of Advanced Auto generic, cut them to fit, screwed into the running board flaps... zero rock marks on my 2dr.

Oh, should probably mentioned I swapped out rims and tires day 1, which might have helped. Am running Wildpeaks on 16" rims to replace the 17" SAS original tires and wheels.

indio22 said:

I feel like a set of rocker guards, if they mated better with the flares, could prevent some of the stuff getting thrown at the body side. But usually I see in photos, a decent sized gap between the front flare trailing edge and the rocker guard, and stuff getting shot through that gap.

I'm talking about this sort of gap shown below, which in the example is rather small, but still letting stuff through. If the rocker guard extended outward the distance of the flare, and also didn't have that gap for stuff to shoot through, I feel like it would go a decent way towards protecting the body side.

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This might work well with my Mabbet mud flaps, which will close the gap. Will they fit with the Mabbet mud flaps? Anyone else have this set up on a Sas? I will invest the $800 for the rock guards to prevent further rock chips if it will do the job. Unfortunately it's too late as I have so many rock chips I may have to get the doors repainted anyway. The guards and doors re-painted will be a few K, very, very expensive investment.

I drive past the expedition bigfoot place probably 2-3 times per month and have yet to take the time to stop in and check it out. Maybe one day.

As far as mud flaps I installed a set on the front only and have been very happy with how they have held up. They are rokblokz clones and offer quick disconnect so you don't destroy them on trails.

Hopefully you took some time to check out lake blue ridge and the downtown area both are a pretty decent way to kill time.

If you ever make it back up look in the Georgia Broncos group for ride postings there tends to be one almost every other week put on by various folks.

https://www.amazon.com/IAG-I-Line-R...hEJPgrEPws5kLETE6MzhObTQ4nR3vw6UaArmZEALw_wcB

One of the guys I ride with has these or similar if you have the factory "rock sliders" it actually does a decent job keeping debris from running down the side of the car.

Rspayde said:

I drive past the expedition bigfoot place probably 2-3 times per month and have yet to take the time to stop in and check it out. Maybe one day.

As far as mud flaps I installed a set on the front only and have been very happy with how they have held up. They are rokblokz clones and offer quick disconnect so you don't destroy them on trails.

Hopefully you took some time to check out lake blue ridge and the downtown area both are a pretty decent way to kill time.

If you ever make it back up look in the Georgia Broncos group for ride postings there tends to be one almost every other week put on by various folks.

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I am very pleased with the Mabbett mud flaps. They are flush with the wide Sas flares and go down quite a ways. The tire is completely shielded. I don't think I got many chips going slow off roading. It's when I went to pavement the rocks in the tires came out and I could hear them hitting, which I though was underneath but obviously some of them came up and hit the doors and rockers. I can only imagine if I did not have the mud flaps I would have probably destroyed the doors and rockers.

As far as Blueridge, yes we explored downtown twice actually it was so nice. We went to the lake twice as well and went on a short hike. We also spent time on the Toccoa River- fishing, kayaking and tubing. Gorgeous and the trout fishing is amazing, one of the best trout waters I ever fished!

Hold up, you put mud flaps behind your front tires but not your back ones? Haha, never seen that before. RIP to anyone who got stuck behind you on your road trip.