I towed our van just 65 miles to the last site we visited, and when we arrived the front was absolutely filthy.
Fitting rear mud-guards on my car might help a bit but it will not keep all the road muck off the caravan.
I have been looking at the Pro-Tec website and they want £165 for a towing cover specific to our van.
Do I or don't I? Would love to know what experience others have with these things. I do not see many of them on the road so assume that they are not a popular option, is that because of the cost or because they are a pain to fit, have to be stored whilst you are on site, etc.?
Hello, we have a front end cover and do use it. Fitting it to the van for the 1st time is time consuming to get it just right, but after that I just take the tension of all the buckles on one side only and slide it down and out of the channels. It rolls up quite small and lives in one of the storage bays when not used. One tip, suggest not to leave it installed when van in storage, we had some nasty water stains to get rid of after about 4 weeks of winter weather. Finally, it does work very well in keeping road dirt and insect stains off the front end of the van.
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We've just got a generic front towing cover and we don't take the van anywhere without it now. Not only does it keep the front of the van clean it also prevents getting stone chips in the windows/front of the van. As said in the post above we leave one side fastened and just undo the buckles on one side, now it only takes us about 5-10 mins to put on.
Hadn't thought about stone chips (duh, can you tell I'm new to this?).
I guess a generic one would spread the cost better, because we're already thinking of changing the van in a couple of years time. Must have a word with Santa . . .
Got a Protec generic front cover from their web site. This one was a return, had a Yorkshire rose on it, got it for half price, £80. Also seen a few on ebay.
We always use a front towing cover to avoid stone chips. As we are changing the caravan in the new year, it will be up for sale as getting a new one for the new caravan.
Hi, spend the extra and go for a tailored one. Easier and faster to fit than the generic (which will always be a compromise). I've had both and do not regret paying out for the tailored variety. Give them a call, give all the 'vans details and you'll get all the information you need.
Adrian
We returned our "Universal" Specialised towing cover in 2012 as after less than 6 months it was fraying at the bottom edges. Not sure if their custom made ones are any better.
After a lot of arguing and intervention by Trading Standards, they refunded us and we bought the Protec cover and have been using that for the last 3 years.