StormyKnight, RapidTyphoon and Greenfoam,
These are the stone damage calculations. I've rechecked them and pretty much stand by them. Mudspats need to extend to within about 4 cm of the ground to stop stones kicked up at speed above about 60 km/h from hitting the leading edge of the wheel arch where it is exposed by the recessed door aperture.
As it is the speed of the car that does the damage I suspect most of the chipping occurs above 60 km/h. At 100 km/h the car will travel 1.8 metres - the distance from the front wheel to the rear wheel arch in only 65 milliseconds. In that time gravity will have little effect, so if you want to check if the mudspats will work, get a piece of string. Wedge one end of the string under the front wheel. Hold the other end up at the base of the rear door near the wheel arch. If you have mudspats, does the string go under them? If not you can imagine how close to the ground the mudspats need to be.
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