Ontario Highway 556, known locally as Ranger Lake Road, runs northeast from Hwy 17 just above Sault Ste Marie to Hwy 129 at more-or-less the midway point between Chapleau and the North Shore town of Iron Bridge. I first discovered this road on my second Big Trip in a Tiny Trailer in September 2023.

Hwy 556 is a beautiful, meandering route through remote Algoma country of extensive forests and numerous lakes. And about two-thirds of its 110km length is unpaved, which is to say a gravel road. This came as a surprise to me—I guess I’ve had a sheltered life living in southern Ontario but I just assumed that any numbered provincial highway would be a paved road—and so I drove for about an hour listening to an at-times musical chorus of pinging by gravel picked up by the car wheels and shot back toward the metal surfaces of the trailer.

When I got to my destination I inspected the Teardrop and there was extensive stone chipping on the fenders. Since the “box” of my teardrop is just 4 feet wide, the fenders which extend out from the sides are almost directly in line with the car wheels. The underside of the trailer didn’t fare quite as badly, in part because when I had ordered it I added the option for diamond-plate cladding underneath, though the chassis was also showing numerous minor war wounds.

Teardrop Life does require a degree of resourcefulness. Our little trailers are not necessarily finely-honed pinnacles of engineering throughout. There are inconveniences, from time to time problems occur, and part of the fun in Teardropping is figuring out best ways to solve them so that things flow more smoothly on future outings. The solution to this one (in addition to multiple coats of Tremclad paint!) was mud flaps for the car.

Installing decent mud flaps on your tow vehicle can be thought of (and justified to your spouse/partner as) an upgrade investment to your teardrop camper. On mine, they have eliminated 95% of what the rear car wheels throw back against the trailer. In addition to minimizing damage to painted surfaces of the frame and fenders, there are also sections of wiring strapped to the frame plus a spare tire mounted underneath which are now spared most of the gravel shot.

I chose to get Rally Armor brand flaps which seemed kinda pricey for four pieces of rubber and a few small pieces of metal bracing, but they are vehicle-specific fit and stand up really well to all road conditions and all seasons & temperatures—they have been on my car through two full years, including winters, now and have proven their durability.

Mud flaps are an essential upgrade and a 100% worthwhile investment for the trailer’s longevity. Initially I was not pleased they only came in sets of four.. no option for just rear wheels… but those front wheel flaps are probably saving both the trailer and the car some road surface damage too.

Speaking of upgrades, I was giving the teardrop fenders a repaint last week and instead of just redoing the original black I decided to get some paint to match my car colour for a little bit of understated flair 🙂 While I have a long history of screwing-up spray paint projects, this time I sought some advice and it came out fairly well… here’s how I changed my ways:

• Most importantly, I didn’t try to get full coverage in a single application, which will inevitably result in drips and lines. It’s all about making 3-4 light applications 30-ish minutes (or per directions on can) apart.
• I started the spray stream just before, and ended it just after, the metal fenders rather than on them.
• I applied paint while the trailer was still in the shed for winter storage rather than outside, so there was no air movement or breeze.
• I meticulously masked off and covered up every part of the trailer within about 3 feet of the fenders I was painting.

As a semi-related aside, should you wish to paint your fenders to match your tow vehicle you can of course get spray paint from the vehicle brand dealer. But it’s expensive. At Canadian Tire they have a line of colour-match spray paints for major vehicle brands—mine (Subaru) wasn’t one of those brands but I found a very close match and since there is some distance between the car and the trailer fenders any difference is indistinguishable.