These plastic fenders are crap !

[wintertree]

Hello All...out ...and walked past our RW this morning....saw a crack on the road side fender....just showed up....Man!.... these plastic fenders are junk... I am NOT buying more Junk.....I already took the camp side fender off and fixed it...
filled in the back side of the fender with a layer of fibreglass and cloth....now it looks like this job will continue on the road side....As soon as the weather inproves I am going to remove both....do some "body work" on the faces and re paint...No use buying new ones....they will only go south ....same as the originals
When I worked at the dealership....we ordered more fender skirts than almost any other part....when will the industry (and us)...demand better quality...another example of on going junk in the industry...

Hope everyone is staying safe..

[Talisker]

I agree; after our first trip and both sides cracked I bought some Icon fenders that now have 18,000 miles with no issues. Somewhat pricey but a much better product.

[DannySawyer]

Our fender on the awning side if our redwood cracked.. we reinforced if, then after arriving back home the whole fender was gone. So what is icon fenders?

Also has anyone had any trouble with fading paint. Makes trailer look 100 years old

[r time soon]

I believe they are referring to www.icondirect.com they have single, tandem and triple axle wheel fenders. Many kinds and sizes. Lots of skylight covers and other RV parts.

Paint usually on the full body painted Redwoods is covered with clear coat just like cars and trucks. Paint doesn't fade. You might have gelcoat that has faded or oxidized from the sun. Front and rear caps that aren't painted do fade and usually do look bad. Sanding and painting the gelcoat is usually the best but costly way to fix it.

[wintertree]

What RW do you have ?...Also ....does yours have body paint....or filon with decals ?....Icon---plastic fender maker/manufacturer , google the name and it will link you to a site

BTW....I have not found Icon Plastics ...parts to be much better than what usually appears on RV's...Just my observations after ordering replacements for hail damage units that came into our dealership...over drive an attachment screw ever so slightly and a crack will appear as soon as the sun or cold hits the fender.
Its all expensive crap ...

[Denny]

Mine also has been fading and am planning to have it buffed and a ceramic coating applied. Has anyone done the ceramic coating? I’m told it’s supposed to last 10 years.

[woodman1]

I would check to see how well secured the fenders are, because as you drive, the wind will cause them to flop, which probably contributes to their early failure. I believe the RW fenders are made of a polypropylene plastic. Some of the other brands use a more fragile plastic, that are thinner and less durable. Our fenders on our '17 RW are still in good shape after nearly 15K miles. Shortly after purchasing our unit, I noticed the driver's side fender flapping while driving on the road. I then took the liberty of securing both fenders better, with additional screws, to the "L" shaped brackets which are either attached to a steel frame member or to the inside aluminum skirting, all of this underneath and out of plain view. Subsequently, they don't flop around anymore. I also finish my whole unit, including fenders with a UV inhibiting auto wax. My son has a Heartland Mallard TT same year as my RW with considerably less miles, yet his fenders are cracked, especially around the trim screws. The Mallard fenders are made of a far less quality plastic and failing badly.

[Denny]

My fenders have also cracked because of the wind. I’ve removed them and reinforced them on the back side with Epoxy.

[r time soon]

Most skirt braces as well as fender skirt braces are secured with self tapping screws. The vibrations from simply towing your RW down the road along with the wind loosens these screws in the braces The holes elongate from the vibrations and cause more movement. You are best to make sure that the braces are secured to the steel tubes of the slide outs or the bottom of the floor tightly. Remove the self tapper screws at the bottom of the braces and replace with nuts and bolts and washers so they don't get loose from the wind and allow more movement. Plastic is going to break from either the vibrations and wind or from the screws being too tight in the holes.

[RWJSIM2003]

When we were looking at RW I noticed how flimsy the fenders were I took them off and then glued plastic strips to the back of each and added pcs to each screw hole. Glad I did this in the beginning our look like new still after 5 years. If they did crack I would change mine to a metal fender.

[Ford truck guy]

I noticed they would stay tighter without cracking if I removed the self tapper, place a washer between the fencer and the RV side, then add a machine screw with lock nut to re attach.

These fenders have a small LIP at the edge, just large enough to allow cracks from movement.