Wheel Well Coating

[scottarue]

I will soon be taking delivery of a 21C. I am wondering if any of you have problems with the fiberglass chipping in the wheel wells. I am considering having my wheel wells coated with LineX pickup bedliner. You can get it color-coated to the color of your vehicle, so it can be done in white so it is not noticeable. Do any of you with Escapes find chipping to be a problem that needs to be solved, or am I just looking for trouble?

[JohnK]

In eleven years and thousands of miles of fiberglass trailer ownership we have not had a problem with fiberglass chipping in the wheel wells. We do have a few dings on the bottom front corners outside of the equipment box/rock shield on the nose area. Back to the wheel wells, a very small amount of WD40 takes road tar off very effectively. The wheel wells then clean up nicely with water and soap, and you may call me anal, but I wax our wheel wells along with the rest of the trailer twice a year. In my opinion it's easier to keep wheel wells looking good when they are smooth as glass as opposed to rough as a LineX coated pickup bed.

John

[Centex]

Originally Posted by JohnK

In eleven years and thousands of miles of fiberglass trailer ownership we have not had a problem with fiberglass chipping in the wheel wells.

Eighteen years between the Casita and Escape with the same experience, wheel-well damage isn't issue, IMO / IME.

Even the gloss-finish 'Premium Line-x' has some texture and IMO would be more difficult than the smooth-slick fiberglass when it comes to cleaning-off the mud that can accumulate in wheel wells of any material on certain road surfaces in wet weather.

Just one opinion.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by Centex

Even the gloss-finish 'Premium Line-x' has some texture and IMO would be more difficult than the smooth-slick fiberglass when it comes to cleaning-off the mud that can accumulate in wheel wells of any material on certain road surfaces in wet weather.

Original owner had the lower front half of our trailer coated with a white bed liner material. It's well done but I can attest that it is more difficult to keep clean versus smooth fiberglass. I think it is overkill to spray the wheel wells. In the event of any minor chipping 20 years from now just use some Marine-Tex to fill in the chips, sand and you'll never know they were there

Amazon.com : Marine-Tex RM305K Marine-Tex - White, 2 oz. : Automotive Adhesives And Sealants : Sports & Outdoors

[Allan Bornestig]

Good morning.
We have been Escape owners since 2005, never had a problem with chipped wheel wells.
Take care.

[Iowa Dave]

We have not had a problem in ten years of towing Escapes. I rotate the tires every 8 to 10 thousand miles. When I have a side “off” and the trailer jacked up and jack stand solid, Rita takes the opportunity to clean and wax the wheel wells. Our biggest concern and challenge has been road tar as opposed to rock chips. We use Rejex polish on the wheel wells and the rest of the trailer . Two coats per year on the front, the awning arms and wheel wells when we’re running up the miles. Admittedly very little gravel road driving though. The trailer is parked in a building when not on the road.
Iowa Dave

[YakRV]

I have no idea if this works, and not necessarily endorsing it, but this thread from a couple years ago discusses using 3M film for the wheel wells………

https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...ent-20337.html

P.S. If you type “wheel well” into the Google Search box at the top of the forum page you’ll find other threads here on the topic as well. Hope that helps.

[splitting_lanes]

Put about 8000 miles on our trailer and recently washed and waxed it, even the wheel wells. I didn’t notice a chip anywhere, not in the wheel wells, nor on the front of the trailer.

I must say though, I did put mud flaps on the truck before picking up the trailer. I’ve read in other threads that mud flaps or guards help minimize the amount of road debris that gets thrown at the trailer.

Mud flaps and tow mirrors are about all you need beyond the hitch and brake controller.

[brroberts]

I wondered about the wheel wells when we were buying ours. Even thought about protection film and diy white bed liner. I have done nothing, and 20,000 miles, 2 1/2 years and 240 nights later they still look good and clean up easier without any coatings.

[Doug2000]

When we sold our 2007 17B in 2018 the wheel wells looked fine to me. I cleaned them regularly and never noticed any damage.

I washed our 2020 19 today and waxed the roof. The wheel wells still seemed new. Again I didn't inspect closely.

[skiman]

Alaska and back, 11,000 miles, probably 50,000 miles over the years, not an issue.

[Escape_19]

Originally Posted by Doug2000

When we sold our 2007 17B in 2018 the wheel wells looked fine to me. I cleaned them regularly and never noticed any damage.

I washed our 2020 19 today and waxed the roof. The wheel wells still seemed new. Again I didn't inspect closely.

How could you SEE ANYTHING with all that reflection shining off that newly waxed trailer