The 8 Best Trailer Fenders

Editor's Notes

October 26, 2019:

I’ve highlighted what I think are 3 of the best fenders for tandem-axle (i.e. 4-wheeled) trailers and 5 of the best fenders for single-axle (i.e. 2-wheeled) trailers, since the latter configurations is the more commonly used type of trailer. Fender sets for tandem-axle trailers tend to cost 2-to-4 times more (although there are much cheaper options, though none of which I thought were worth highlighting based on some sort of quality/price payoff continuum).

While I’ve chosen to only highlight fenders for tandem-axle trailers that I felt had the most merit (or I simply wouldn’t have included them here), I would rate those I’ve highlighted in quality (from least-best to best) as follows: the Tow Zone Round Frame with Teardrop, followed by the RecPro Rectangular Pair, and finally the Fenders Inc Aluminium Pair. Both the Fenders Inc and RecPro are excellent, sturdy models; however, on the basis of weight alone, I feel like the RecPro loses out - the steel-cast RecPro can be tricky to deal with, since it weighs around 40-lbs, while the Fenders Inc, being made of aluminium, weighs just over half as much.

Continuing on with the single-axle trailer fenders, I’ve observed a similar sort of material-based ranking hierarchy/denomination - although I would say that there is more variation in quality than such a denomination can account for alone. As a rule of thumb, usually the plastic fenders are the cheapest (but tend to lack the most in qualitative advantages), followed by steel, then aluminium. However, with the single-axle fenders I’ve highlighted, I would adopt the following ranking (from least-best to best): the Tie Down Engineering Black Standard 86751 (cheapest), followed by the Best Fender Black Round Pair, the Tiedown Engineering 44916 Pair, the Toughgrade Rectangular Pair, and surprisingly, the (plastic) Ecotric Round Top Frames as my number one pick for the best trailer fender.

I was a little surprised by my decision to put the (plastic) Ecotric frames ahead of the (aluminium) Toughgrade Rectangular model here too – however, although the plastic model may not be as strong as the aluminium if truly and rigorously tested under extreme duress, it has a large enough weight capacity (300 pounds on each frame) and stress tolerance to handle everyday use, and I found that this model brought to attention some practical features and properties that may not have existed had they used a cheaper plastic. For instance, HDPE has a very high heat tolerance, and resistance to corrosion (both mechanical and chemical). It’s naturally rust-free (which steel isn’t) and it’s cheap (which aluminium isn’t).

Finally, I think that the Tie Down Engineering Standard 44916 Pair is a great all-round pick, however, there have been complaints that the skirts can get loose at certain areas due to spot welding. I don’t know how common this is and I certainly never experienced this issue myself. I wonder if the people are using very thick tires that actually put pressure on the skirts. Either way, I rather think that having a skirt is a nice added perk and the price between the skirt and ‘sans-skirt’ model variations are barely a few dollars. I personally like the addition of the skirt both for aesthetic and protective purposes, since most models don’t have skirts; and if I had any issues, I would simply re-weld it on. However, if you don’t like that idea, there are a plethora of models that don’t have this feature that you can choose from.