First a little bit of backstory...

My first brand new car was a 1998 Dodge Avenger ES. I have done all the scheduled maintenance and it has been good to me over the years. In fact today at 140,000+ miles it still runs great. Sadly though I have to let it go. Anyone familiar with winter in this part of the country knows what they do to the roads around here. They basically dump dirt, sand, salt, and stones on the road and a good majority of it is concentrated toward the center of the road. This has taken its toll on my Avenger and it is rusting out bad. So bad that I don't believe it is going to pass inspection again. It looks fine from the top but underneath it is a mess especially on the drivers side (center of the road).

Now the question...

The only good to come out of this is that I am getting a Mailbu and am a little wiser as to what happens to vehicles around here. I want to try to protect the Malibu from this if I even can and saw the splash guards. Does anybody have any experience with these on a car? Think they would help by keeping at least a bit of the crap from the tires from beating on the bottom of the car or would it just be a waste of money?

Splash Guards (http://www.conquestauto.com/servlet/the-2119/2008-dsh-2009-Chevy-Malibu-New/Detail)

I will be adding the splash guards at my first oil change. I've had them and they do help to keep the lower portion of the car cleaner. They will also offer some protection from the salting and cindering you speak of. You may want to give these a look (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2008-Chevy-Malibu-4p-Rocker-Panel-Trim-Auto-Accessories_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33654QQihZ0 04QQitemZ140222931010QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW"). I've been looking, but not yet sure about them. They may give you some added protection.

I have the GM splash guards you pictured and they look good. They will help prevent the paint being sanded off by the road debris as you mentioned.
My last work truck I did not get splash guards and after three years bare metal is showing behind the tires.

So it sounds like I should probably get these like I thought. Now the question is how good is the price from the link I posted vs what the dealer would probably charge me? It sounds like installation is easy and I am guessing cheaper if I did it myself. So how much were they and how did you get them or plan on getting them?

Those rocker panel covers look interesting too bad you can't tell how much they wrap around under if at all. On the part that they are showing covered my car still looks fine, it is just past that where things are going bad so I am not sure how much protection they would offer. They seem more like a for looks thing.

The list price is around $80 and the dealer gave me 25% off because I bought them the same time as the car. I don't remember the labor charge, but it was not much.