Toad is getting abused

DSDP Don,

That wrap material is something that I would be interested in!

I have the Coastline Car cover for the Honda but don't use it much anymore, just too much trouble, especially, when it's dirty. I found that it does scratch the paint a little so I use the 'blue' painters tape where the rubbing occurs.

Our rear mud-flap is non-flexible and is positioned at the very rear just under the bumper. This set-up seems to work better to keep the rocks at bay from hitting the toad. We do have a couple of rock chips on the bumper and at the edge of the hood on the Honda but I'm not sure it didn't happen just driving it on the interstate without the motorhome.

Safe travels,
MM.

DSDP Don wrote:
I have a different view on some of these devices.

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Second....the Protect a Tow is a nice unit, but I like to keep everything simple or you just won't use it. Everyone says it takes just a minute. I call foul on that. Many low slung cars using the Protect A Tow will require you to get down on your knees to connect, walk around the toad, get down on your knees again, which gets tougher as we get older. Then install the cross bar.

The unit also gets filthy duirng travel and now you have to handle it when disconnecting. Some of us are more particular than others and when stopped for a few days, I don't want a bunch of stuff hanging off the back of my motor home. When stopped, and the toad is disconnected, I use a storage bag to cover the tow bar.

Now if I was going to Alaska, I would probably use the Protect A Tow.

My wife and I are both in our 70's and have no problem reaching under the front of our toad and clipping the PAT on the eye bolt on each side without even looking. No need to kneel down, and I can do both clips without walking around to the other side. The center support bar can easily be snapped in place by one person from one side. It takes longer to hook up the tow bar arms than it does the PAT.

I've never seen the open mesh fabric on our PAT get so dirty that rolling up and stowing it under the rear bumper required anything worse than a quick hand rinse. We also use a tow bar cover, and I if you object to having a PAT rolled up and secured under your bumper with a couple of small bungee cords, you could completely remove it in that case by just unsnapping the remaining 4 clips and stowing it in a bin out of sight. It comes with a nice storage bag. That would probably add almost another minute to the installation time though, when you're ready to leave.

I wrap the front and windshield with collisions wrap when towing.

Ya, I disagree. Protecta tow is perfect.

I have a different view on some of these devices.

First.....I disagree that the rear mudf laps cause the issues many claim. I've been towing with one for over 11 years and don't have the problems others do. I find many remove them because they're not adjusted properly and they keep damaging them. Rather than admit they caused the damage, they blame the mud flap (that should piss off some people...sorry....JMHO). In this particular situation, I think the point is moot since the OP doesn't have a full width mud flap. The full width mud flaps do protect your coach as another poster pointed out. It can knock down a large item, like a road gator, before it wipes out your toad. With or without a mud flap, especially on a DP and even more on a rear radiator DP, there is a lot of air movement under the engine and road debris is going to be kicked up. It's just the nature of the beast.

Second....the Protect a Tow is a nice unit, but I like to keep everything simple or you just won't use it. Everyone says it takes just a minute. I call foul on that. Many low slung cars using the Protect A Tow will require you to get down on your knees to connect, walk around the toad, get down on your knees again, which gets tougher as we get older. Then install the cross bar.

The unit also gets filthy duirng travel and now you have to handle it when disconnecting. Some of us are more particular than others and when stopped for a few days, I don't want a bunch of stuff hanging off the back of my motor home. When stopped, and the toad is disconnected, I use a storage bag to cover the tow bar.

Now if I was going to Alaska, I would probably use the Protect A Tow.

Third...The Coastline car cover is a large bra that covers the front end, up over the hood and over the windshield. It gives great protection, but if you own a rear radiator DP, by the time you reach your destination it's covered in dirt. If you want to just disconnect the toad and move it a few feet, you have to partially remove it so you can see. My BIL tried one and hated it. It had to be cleaned before you could handle and store it.

Fourth....MY choice for many years has been a bra. LeBra makes a bra for pretty much any car for less than $100.00. The bra gives good protection, but you have to still deal with keeping it clean and any kind of rain or really dirty conditions get under it and will scuff your paint.

As you can see, just like braking systems, there is no perfect set up.

I've been experimenting with something on the last few trips. I thought I had a new idea for a product and bought a roll of clear carpet protection from Home Depot and used it to protect the front of my Silverado. I just stretched the material across the front of the truck (2' wide strips) and trimmed it. It's like adding the 3M film on the front of a coach, but thinner. In the area of the grill, I just cut out an opening with a razor in case I wanted to drive the truck on an overnight stop. It worked GREAT, but was too sticky and didn't come off as easily as it should. I started looking for a company to produce something thicker and with less stickiness. Before I went too far I figured I should check the internet. Darn if there wasn't already a product.

During the internet search I found a product called "Road Wrap" on Amazon. It's what I was looking for. It comes in a 18" x 100' roll for about $20.00. You can get about 15 - 20 uses out of a roll.

I apply it when the toad is clean at the beginning of a trip. Often I leave it on for a couple of days until we reach our destination, at which time I remove it. When were ready to leave, I give the front end a quick wipe with a wet towel, if it's really dirty, and apply another sheet of film. I found once I figured out where to start on one side, I just stuck down the film on that side and rolled out enough to cover the front and sliced it off with a razor. I got good with using just one sheet across the front of my Honda CRV. I started jut on the side of the bumper/fender and stretched it across the front and part of the hood and cut with a razor. They make a 6" x 100' roll which is just there large roll cut into thirds. Installation got easier and faster as I got good at it. No kneeling required!

Some may disagree with what I said and that's fine. I just like to keep things as simple as possible so that connecting and disconnecting the toad isn't such a chore.In an emergency, I can have my toad separated from the coach in less than 2-3 minutes.

This isn't the a solution for every one, but it seems to be promising, easy to use and you just throw away the dirty film, without getting dirty.

Thanks for all the great advise. I now have a lot of great ideas to protect the toad...

Triker33 wrote:
I have used one of these for a few years now. It is easy to keep stowed on the rear of the MH when not used.
Protect-A-tow

Price is not bad either,compared to other protectors.

Been using this product for 10 years. Works great and I kept my full width mud flap which has been abused by road debri but saved the jeep (all three over 10 years).

Had the same issue towing a Honda CRV with my 2016 Newmar Ventana. Toad did not have a rock chip on it at all until I towed it. Read were the full width mudflap was the issue. I removed the mudflap and no more rock chips and the engine bay stays much cleaner. Newmar mudflap now hanging in the storage garage.

Maybe to hijack this tread I have read many times on here about the rear mud flap removal. I am ok with the idea and those with experience. My question is I have a brush style across the back of our motorhome and tow 2008 Caravan on a tow dolly is that also something I should be removing I have no problems but also don't tow that often.

The shield attaches to both the Toad and the Coach by way of eye bolts that you must install on both, shield clips to eyebolts. The shield hangs under the tow bar and cables, protecting them also, and is supported by a plastic cross bar over the top of the tow bar.