Did you take care to clean out leaves/junk from behind molding? I found a lot of junk in there - used a garden hose to clean it out. That seemed to help with things fitting nicely. Also fronts are much easier with wheel turned to be out of your way.
Lifting the vehicle should make life easier for fitting the rear mud flaps. Also be sure that the exhaust is cool!
Did you take time to look at videos online? I found them quite helpful.
