Wheel Well Underside Material

[KrowNB]

Resurrecting this thread. We recently purchased a 2017 Hideout and I just noted our trailer has this fabric over the wheels. My first thought was that I'm going to have to build some sort of wheel well that will better stand up to the elements. In searching forums I see this construction has been used for at least 5 or 6 years. I was expecting to see lots of complaints about the fabric tearing or wearing out and subsequent structural issues. However, there's almost nothing to be found about it, except (as in this thread) when a tire blowout tears everything to bits. Do I take this to mean that this "landscape" type fabric actually lasts through miles of traveling without coming apart/shredding/leaking?

Keith

[JRTJH]

Keith,

The fabric you see in your wheelwells is called "DARCO". It is a polyethylene coated nylon fiber material (think blue poly tarp), It is commonly used in almost all "trailer" RV wheelwells and is surprisingly durable, as you've commented. Virtually nobody has any issue with it unless they have a tire damage it or, possibly towing in extremely cold weather and have ice accumulation that they try to physically move by "knocking it out of the wheelwells"....

Keep in mind that "light weight" trailers use "lightweight" materials. That said, if a manufacturer decided to "beef up" the wheelwells by adding 100 pounds or so to the wheelwells, then where would they "cut the weight" to keep their model competitive with the other manufacturers? It's more a "balancing act" than you'd think, trying to keep weight down, costs competitive and products reliable. If you do decide to add extra protection to your wheel wells, understand that if you have a tire tread separate at towing speeds, you're going to have a 20 pound whip slapping against your improvements. Few materials can survive that kind of destructive force without damage, so I'd suggest that since there's so little complaint of damaged DARCO, likely your efforts wouldn't benefit you as much as using that weight, money and effort on some other area of your trailer. Improvements are personal, priorities of one owner aren't usually the same as another owner, but think any wheelwell improvement through completely before stepping off the deep end with that kind of mod.

[bdaniel]

I put roofing V-tin under my 2002 Wildcat. After my tire blowout on my 2014 Keystone the black stuff was destroyed and you are right, the puffy stuff is insulation. That was gone also.

I repaired the damage myself. The local Camping World said they use a piece of the corrugated plastic underbelly to repair tire blowouts. They gave me a piece for free.

I consider myself a caulk nazi also. Water is an RV's number one enemy. I am confident my repair will last and is water tight. Eventually I plan to put the corrugated plastic on the other side.

It is light weight and can probably be held in place with adhesive caulk with no screws. By being a little pliable I think it will dent when hit by rocks where something more firm like flashing might be punctured.

Just my 2 cents.

Bobby

[KrowNB]

Thanks for your replies, John and Bobby. I did a bit of reading about the polyethylene fabric. Seems it been in use since the '80s, though on stationary homes. It's apparently much more durable than it looks. I think I'll leave well enough alone and just keep a close eye on it for tears, rips, etc. "If it ain't broke..."

Keith

[sourdough]

I've never had any problem with the Darco in normal operation. I will say when I had a tire self destruct and tear out the fender well the Darco shredded completely....along with part of the underbelly...$7000.00 worth. The Darco is probably OK for normal use except for something like a blow out, or as mine was, the tread separating from the tire and whipping everything into pieces. I've had trailers before that had thin sheet metal for lining instead of the Darco....they leaked every time I was in rain (Jayco). I guess I will stick with the fabric until I come up with something else.

[Tbos]

I had a tire take out a 6x8 area of the DARCO. I patched it with gorilla tape and Flex Seal. Seems to be working well.

[KrowNB]

Originally Posted by sourdough

I've never had any problem with the Darco in normal operation. I will say when I had a tire self destruct and tear out the fender well the Darco shredded completely....along with part of the underbelly...$7000.00 worth. The Darco is probably OK for normal use except for something like a blow out, or as mine was, the tread separating from the tire and whipping everything into pieces. I've had trailers before that had thin sheet metal for lining instead of the Darco....they leaked every time I was in rain (Jayco). I guess I will stick with the fabric until I come up with something else.

I'm thinking a shredded tire would destroy almost anything reasonably light in the wheelwell. Polyethylene is probably easier to patch than metal. Neither do you want anything there that traps water/dirt behind it. Wondering if comprehensive insurance would cover unforseen damage like that.

[KrowNB]

Originally Posted by Tbos

I had a tire take out a 6x8 area of the DARCO. I patched it with gorilla tape and Flex Seal. Seems to be working well.

Looking at their site I see they sell a tape specifically for repairs.

[oldfamer]

I don't know if you can put anything above the tires that will stop everything. This past July I had a tire shred going down the interstate. It tore the lining above the tire and ripped a hole the size of 2 footballs in the wooden floor and tore cabinet door off the hinges. After seeing how it shredded the wooded floor I don't think sheet meatballs would help.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by KrowNB

I'm thinking a shredded tire would destroy almost anything reasonably light in the wheelwell. Polyethylene is probably easier to patch than metal. Neither do you want anything there that traps water/dirt behind it. Wondering if comprehensive insurance would cover unforseen damage like that.

Insurance covered it all.

[Dave W]

Ours will be receiving a metal 'coating' as that wheel well fabric cover was damaged last year by virtually launching the 5er into low orbit on interstate bridge approaches and compressing and driving the tires into it. Currently the damaged area is coated with bed liner spray. I added a 1" spring spacer this year and even after a few more interstate launches, that seemed to put the damaged area into remission. First and foremost, ours has, IMHO, too light springs (5200#) for the 12,000 pound, ready to travel 38' trailer and possibly the MORryde CRE/3000 which allows too much suspension deflection. This will be cured with some 6000# springs and possibly a better equalizer/suspension - but to repair that damage, metal will be installed (16-18ga steel I have on hand) then sealed to the surface, again with bed liner spray. The tires are LTs, no sign of an ST Blow Max on our home away from home, including the spare.