[zukmeista]

Are they required? Just seem to hold mud

[Built4thrashing]

they help with getting the discs up to operating temp quicker. I never had a problem with mud on my old zook.

[christover1]

always remove mine, got sick of rocks getting wedged in....
You should trim them down, to keep the bit that keeps mud out of bearing.

[steak_knife]

Not sure about N.Z rule's, but over here the disc has to be covered, by law...

My rear one's are missing tho...

[Gwagensteve]

There's a few good reasons to run them, the best reason is that they protect the inner hub seal.

However, there is a good reason to not run them - without them on it's possible to fit a ring spanner (and from memory a ratchet spanner) onto the spindle bolts, making pulling the hub off 48565847564 times easier.

I don't run them front or rear ( I have front hubs on the rear too)

I'm not aware of them being a legal requirement. May well be true - I'm not discounting it.

On a mild/road driven car, I'd run them. On a car that will get worked on a lot and driven little (like a trail car) I'd pull them.

Steve.