Ah I haven't seen much water/mud in the offroading I've done so I don't think about that. I'm in the rocks/desert so I drive up and know what I'm getting into. Slow drive up to a rock to crawl over it not a whole lot is going to happen to the front end as long as I'm taking it slow.Next in my book is the front guard. It's very affordable and it prevents damage to radiator/condenser. In places i offroad where you have to drive through some water/mud, you're very prone to a large stick or something popping up and getting caught in that area (i've seen it happen).