"rock guards"

[Wunfiddy]

It is not clearly shown or stated what the "rock guards" are on the escape 19 trailer, listed in standard equipment.
The front storage box obv will take the brunt, but other than the front window shield, what are the rock guards?

Do they work?

Has anyone Rhino Lined (or whatever brand of bed liner) front of trailer, or done a vinyl wrap?

[Ron in BC]

They are snap on vinyl covers at the two front lower corners.

I haven't unsnapped mine to look at the bare f.g. underneath but I'm guessing that without them after Alaska and Baja etc. they've saved some serious chips from flying rear wheel debris from the tug.

Ron

[Ron in BC]

Here's what the vinyl rock guards look like. The box is home made. I wasn't wild about the factory one. Mine follows the front slope of the trailer and has more volume.

Ron

[StarvingHyena]

If you are on gravel a lot, maybe bigger 'mud flaps' on the TV would be a good idea .... or those broom looking contraptions clear across the TV rear bumper. as seen on many Sun Blockers.

Tom

[Wunfiddy]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Here's what the vinyl rock guards look like. The box is home made. I wasn't wild about the factory one. Mine follows the front slope of the trailer and has more volume.

Ron

thats a nice looking front box. Are you a sheet metal worker by chance?

[P&L]

We learned the hard way. Our rock guard either wasn't secured properly or shook loose. It flew off and stayed on the back of our storage box. Unfortunately, the rock guard AND the window are one piece and we had to replace the entire window with its attached rock guard.

[MyronL]

I added mud flaps to the truck. So far no problems - just a little mud here and there.

[War Eagle]

The vinyl "rock guards" have a foam backing that can trap road dust which, over time, I'm guessing could start acting like sand paper against the jell coat underneath them. So I think it's a good idea to remove them occasionally for cleaning. We leave them off except when travelling.

[Donna D.]

I guess I just look at things differently. I find those vinyl "rock guards" ugly. They stain, discolor, somehow always look dirty even when clean. Sorta reminds me of leaving the plastic on lampshades. I understand the need/want to protect the front of the trailer. I suppose eventually when the front of mine warrants a fix, I'll put some sort of spray/brush on coating over the chips, etc. YMMV.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by Wunfiddy

Has anyone Rhino Lined (or whatever brand of bed liner) front of trailer, or done a vinyl wrap?

Previous owner of our trailer had an off white truck bedliner sprayed on the the front lower half. You can barely tell and it seems to work pretty well. This was before the storage box was available which takes a lot of the beating if you have one. See attached photos.

Originally Posted by StarvingHyena

If you are on gravel a lot, maybe bigger 'mud flaps' on the TV would be a good idea .... or those broom looking contraptions clear across the TV rear bumper. as seen on many Sun Blockers.

Like this: www.escapeforum.org/forums/f7/gravel-roads-and-escape-trailers-11174.html#post214767

[Greg A]

I got rid of the vinyl flaps and sprayed with Plastic-Dip. The white is pretty much a color match. Working great and can be easily removed if inclined.

[Vermilye]

I don"t know about rock guards, but I'll take any mud guards available. Over the last couple of days I drove through two cattle drives (right down the middle of the road). They don't like to get out of the way, and leave many "presents" deposited on the road that end up on the truck & trailer. Gives you that "down on the farm" smell for days!

[Jim Bennett]

I put 3M Paint Protection on the front of my trailer. So far so good, though I slow down to 70-80 on gravel roads, sometimes even slower.

[GregandTeresa]

Originally Posted by Wunfiddy

It is not clearly shown or stated what the "rock guards" are on the escape 19 trailer, listed in standard equipment.
The front storage box obv will take the brunt, but other than the front window shield, what are the rock guards?

Do they work?

Has anyone Rhino Lined (or whatever brand of bed liner) front of trailer, or done a vinyl wrap?

Is this standard equipment on the newer models? My classic 19 did not come with any. Not that I would want them, cause I think they are ugly and cheap looking.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by GregandTeresa

Is this standard equipment on the newer models? My classic 19 did not come with any. Not that I would want them, cause I think they are ugly and cheap looking.

Good question. They are listed for the 17, 19 and 21 under Exterior features on the ETI website, but none of the trailer pictures show them. Although there are front storage boxes on all of the newer trailers shown. My guess is that at some point Reace stopped installing them when a front storage box was ordered. Does your trailer have the front box?

[GregandTeresa]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

Good question. They are listed for the 17, 19 and 21 under Exterior features on the ETI website, but none of the trailer pictures show them. Although there are front storage boxes on all of the newer trailers shown. My guess is that at some point Reace stopped installing them when a front storage box was ordered. Does your trailer have the front box?

We do have the front storage box, and I'll bet you are correct, not installed in that case.

[MyronL]

But like mud guards they can't be everywhere. Do rock guards work? Of course they do - except when they don't. My 19 came without the factory tongue box but with the rock guards. Didn't stop this ding from happening.

[DMPortland]

Yeah - they kind of look like dirty diapers. We would like to remove ours but don't know what to do about removing the riveted snaps to maybe apply some sort of coating.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by DMPortland

Yeah - they kind of look like dirty diapers. We would like to remove ours but don't know what to do about removing the riveted snaps to maybe apply some sort of coating.

Just take them off. You hardly notice the snaps are there and I've never heard or seen of other problems like rusting snaps or water intrusion. If you need to replace your snaps there are plenty of SS options out there. For a slightly cleaner look you could find snap caps to put on.

www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B072HNLPNM

[cbraswell]

Originally Posted by War Eagle

The vinyl "rock guards" have a foam backing that can trap road dust which, over time, I'm guessing could start acting like sand paper against the jell coat underneath them. So I think it's a good idea to remove them occasionally for cleaning. We leave them off except when travelling.

Our vinyl rock guards are in desperate need of a cleaning. What has been your most effective method of cleaning them? Washing machine?