Well I just took delivery of a Suzuki SX 4 to tow behind the RV. The gear to hook it up is quite expensive and if I get a stone guard it will add another $550 on top of the cost. This is not the real issue however as I have read that sand can do a lot of damage to the paint work. The stone guard will do nothing to protect the car from any sand.
So my questions are
1) Is this sand blasting effect real?
2) Would it be better to invest in paint protection film (3M) which would protect the paint from sand rather than the mesh type stone guard?
Cheers
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I may not have gone where I intended to go,
but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
I built a full width mudflap under the rear of my Motorhome after finding that a stoneguard on the 'A' frame did not stop the sand from covering the Suzuki Grand Vitara in sand both over the car and under the bonnet. Needed a clean before using the 4x4 after a trip of any distance and much worse after it was wet or raining.
These are just the anti spray mudflaps you find for trucks, Two cut in half and the four then mounted across the full width of the MH. I used a piece of 25mmAngle and a 20mm piece of flat bar clamping the flaps between them and mounted to the underside of the MH. It is not 100% but I would say it's about 90% effective.
Much better than the stone guard. I have been told that you have to be careful that it doesn't affect the temp of the diff but I have had no problems over the last two years of using it.
Maybe a system like this and a car bra would be the ideal.
The galvanised steel cost me aprox. $40 and the mudflaps were $29 each(Two) I was lucky I had two mounting points on the chassis that suited. I think that the bolts came in under ten bucks. Stainless.
I like that solution better than the full width flat mud flap old mate has ...
The one you have would have the effect of taming the stones and sand off the wheels.. whereas the flat ones just pass them back onto the road to bounce up again near the towed vehicle..
Don't have a cheap solution but I have the best solution. Just travelled to Cairns and back "mucho roadworks" towing my Grand Vitara. Spent days cleaning the tar etc off the motorhome but not a mark on the towed vehicle. The solution is the Stone Stomper.
