Protect-A-Tow

[cseidel]

Has any one used a protect-a-tow and what did you think of it. Did it protect your toed from rock chips? Is it built rugged enough ?
Thanks in advance
Chuck

[Snomas]

I wanted to buy one but with rear diesel exhaust they said it will be damaged due to the hot exhaust.

[Dutch_12078]

About 40,000 towing miles so far, using a PAT on two different toads. I have been very pleased with the protection and quality, and bought it after paying several hundred dollars for repairs of paint chips and other road debris damage. For me, the PAT has been an excellent investment. Installation and removal is simple and quick.

[BaldyD1]

Brother has towed for 20 years + and I have towed for 12 years. Neither of us has any protection between motor home and dinghy and we have had no damage/nicks on the dinghies. Never had any problems with the rear camera getting dirty, but did have a couple of times rainwater did get on the camera.

[Gjac]

Thunder Mountain wrote:
Have used one for past three years. Works as advertised. Easy on and easy off. Bit pricey considering the materials.

I thought the same when I was considering this for Alaska. I made my own from material from an old trampoline that my brother was trowing away. It worked well on gravel roads. Unless I am going to travel dirt roads I don't install it. I got more stones and chips from trucks traveling the other way than from my MH. The protect-a-tow does not protect you from that.

[cseidel]

Thanks for all the helpfull tips I think I will order one.

Chuck

[maanpaontheroad]

Well worth the money. It stops chips and helps with less washing if your toad.

[zmotorsports]

We had the same dilemna a couple of months ago. We have towed our first three Jeeps for well over 100k miles with no real issues, however, our current Jeeps seems to be a rock chip magnet. So bad infact that this past season we hauled it in the enclosed trailer almost the entire season to save the front end. This however presents its own issues with finding large enough sites and is somewhat limiting to where we can stay.

I looked at both the Protecta-Tow and the Roadmaster Tow Defender. The Protecta Tow is a little less expensive but in the end we went with the Tow Defender.

Here is a link to the installation and review.
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27298508.cfm

Mike.

[Thunder_Mountai]

Have used one for past three years. Works as advertised. Easy on and easy off. Bit pricey considering the materials.

[kjbkjb]

Used one for 13,000 towing miles on our previous motorhome and do not have one chip on our toad. Didn’t sell it with our previous motorhome and will be using it on our new one. I think they are great.

[Pattwood]

I have used the Protect-a-Tow for a couple of years and find it every bit as good as advertised. Two thoughts though; pay attention to the warnings about diesel coaches, and make sure of the length required. The PAT comes in 2 sizes. The regular size suits most applications, but in my case, I have a drop-down hitch extension and needed the longer version.

[Semi_Retired_Gr]

Have hadone since 2005. Used it on two trips to Alaska towing a Honda Element. Still have numerous rock chips on the Element. We continue to use it, but do think it wards off only the worst. Don't expect your toad to be totally protected.

[campguy3040]

Don't use one with a drop receiver. I know. Did not get much use out of it. This is not to say they won't work well otherwise. I just tow unprotected and no damage so far.

[AliCat]

We have a Protect-A-Tow for our CR-V. It really does a good job. Certainly something like this is a necessity if you want to protect the toad on difficult roads. I believe that should you encounter an "Alligator" in the road it would prove invaluable. I don't like the extra time it takes to hook it up and unhook it. I know it is only a matter of about five minutes but that adds to the overall process of getting ready to go or leave. I've found that as my toad has gotten older I no longer use it for trips of 100 miles or so. I towed an old Mazda pickup almost 20K miles w/o an incident with no protection other than mud flaps. This does not argue against Protect-A-Tow for it is a good product with equally good customer support.

[randallb]

36,000 miles and it along with the Rock Solid kept the Smart unchipped. They do not stop the mud thrown up by a rear radiator but nothing really does. I no longer have the RV but the P-a-T is still in the trailer's tongue mounted tool box.
Randy