mud flaps vs. bumper apron or none at all

My first coach had one and I never thought about it much. My current coach also came with one and I removed it after about 6 years. Sometimes (actually not very often) we landed in a camp site that was very difficult to level. Leveling meant driving the full length skirt into the ground. Anyway I removed several years ago and haven't regretted it.

We flat towed our vehicle near a construction area and a very slow speed and stopped (still in the same construction area) for fuel. There was gravel on the hood near the windshield. We spent the extra money and got a Protect-a-tow.

I think if the conditions are ideal then you can get away without any protection but with the amount of construction on the roads and debris that comes with it...well it is not worth taking the chance.

We have towed more than 100k miles in all states(except Hawaii) and all provinces with a low cost Rock Solid shield from Camping World. In a trip to Alaska it was far superior to the solid board "scrapers" in side by side comparisons.

I am extremely fussy about keeping dings off my vehicles. I use a Guardian Tow Shield, and a Guardian Tow Defender between the motorhome and dingy. There are never any rocks or dings in the toad. Not cheap, but considering how it lowers my blood pressure, worth every penny.

I've never used anything other than the stock mud flaps that came with the motorhome and have never noticed any damage to any of the three vehicles I've used as toads.

Mud flaps behind the tires is all you need. That's what we had for 10 years and no dings on the Jeep - even a full summer in Alaska and gravel roads for boondocking.

In the Yukon we saw folks removing those big advertisement flaps across the rear. They showed us the damage and a layer of big stones laying at the base of their windshield.

For good protection in all driving conditions... Neither the mud flaps or full apron will protect your toad. Something that covers between the back bumper of the motorhome and the front bumper of the toad is best.

For example my FIL built a panel to mount upright, right in front of his Honda, that ended up working for him.

Driving on gravel roads up to Alaska, we noticed that the big flaps as wide as the RV were hitting the ground (due to bumps in the road) and kicking a lot of gravel up on their toads.

I've never noticed that on smooth paved roads.

There are rock guards that go from under the rear of the motor home all the way across to the underside of the front bumper of the toad all the way across. I suspect these might do a good job of keeping rocks off the toad (in combination with flaps behind the RV wheels of course).

YMMV

Similar questions have resulted in a couple of different camps on this idea. Let me start by saying I towed a couple of boats all over Cal with nothing more than what the tow vehicle (including 2 motorhomes) came with. No problems. When we started towing a car, I found the Guardian system to be just one more thing to do. For the last 20k miles, I've used one of those aftermarket mudflaps that are the width of the coach (no brand I can read, but it was the best Camping World carries) and have had no damage to our Honda behind our 37' Class A.