Member - Duncs replied:

Hi Lyndon,

I am not a fan of the big mud flap.

There is a school of thought that says the big mud flap across the width of the vehicle creates a low pressure area which lifts stones into the path of the trailer.

From my experience this school of thought has some merit.

Again from my experience the only way to protect the front of your trailer is to put a barrier on the trailer immediately in front of what you want to protect.

Duncs

Sand Man (SA) replied:

I don't subscribe to the low pressure theory.

In practice, there is (should) still be a gap of around 100mm-150mm between the bottom of the skirt and the ground and with the inclusion of a stoneguard on whatever you may be towing, you will provide adequate protection to that towed object.

As well as this though, I still recommend a rear window saver of some kind. You never know when a small stone may ricochet off the stoneguard's frame, or whatever, as happened to me, and then you will have the additional drama of a broken rear window.

And folks, it WILL happen.

Lyndon,

If you fit a full width skirt across the back of your vehicle, you will not need larger individual mudflaps. Better still, if the skirt is removable, so you don't have it on when not towing offroad, you will have the best and most flexible solution.

I see it like this.
1. The skirt stops the majority of stones from being flicked up by the rear wheels and will not be adversely affected by mud also flicked up.

2. The Stoneguard mounted on the trailer/camper/caravan A-frame will provide protection from stone chips to the the front and sides of that object being towed and also will reduce the build up of mud in certain conditions.

3. The Window Saver saves windows from any stray stones and chips that WILL escape the other barriers from time to time, in certain conditions.

I have learnt this from previous experience.

Gossy replied:

Lyndon,

Depends on what type of 4wding you do also. If you let down your tyres if you driver on sand you need to take this into account as it will drag. You will also notice this when you reverse in soft sand or where the ground is higher above you.

I have put separate extensions on my original mud flaps but finally got it right after two trips. First trip they were too log and when reversing on big red on flat tyres ran over one (sucked up under the tyre) and ripped it off. Cut then shorter and on my recent trip to the simpson was much better but did rip one off reversing up a step incline to make way for a car coming the other way.

I think now I have the length just right but yes it is worth taking into account.

Dieseldude replied:

I just got back from Birdsville and the Simpson Desert and would recommend putting as many and as large as you can on the vehicle and drawbar of the camper because the stones WILL do damage!

I have a 100 series cruiser and fitted flaps to the side steps to protect the rear shocks and these flaps now have holes in them. All my flaps were made from industrial conveyor rubber with about 3 or 4 layers of canvas. They wore straight through.

I also ran a full width sweeper and it was very much worth it!

The camper trailer also had a front stone deflector with large mud flaps hanging from it.

After all these attempts to stop stone damage, the front of the camper still got peppered.

As said above, stones will find their way to the trailer no matter what you do, therefor I'd whack as large a flaps on as possible.

Cheers

Anthony.

PeterInSA replied:

I drive a Cruiser with a wide mudflap bolted to the towbar the mudflap is about 130mm off the ground.

My friends tell me at above 60k the mudflap, flaps up and down, so this action must allow stones to hit the front of our van.

Am seriously thinking of making two vertical cuts in the mudflap so I have a 400mm section behind each back wheel and a separate centre section, so air travelling underneath the centre of the cruiser will only lift the centre flap.

Definitely the height above ground also affects the wind flapping, the lower the height the more flapping.