Designing/building front wheel skirts v.1.0 (Geo Metro)

[some_other_dave]

Originally Posted by moorecomp

If you read this thread posts 83 through 87, you will see he did use plastic for rub strips.

Yes, but the person I was responding to, Ernie, said that he did not. I thought MetroMPG's solution was a bit more optimal. Sorry if I did not communicate that clearly enough.

-soD

[MetroMPG]

More rubbernecking reactions to the car on the highway today. And at the gas station: "OK... what's the story of your freaky looking car?"

[Funny]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

More rubbernecking reactions to the car on the highway today. And at the gas station: "OK... what's the story of your freaky looking car?"

I hope you went into a long-winded explanation as to why your firefly looks like a Bonneville racer! That car gets looks because other people are jealous! Or it could just be the fact that they have never seen such radical aerodynamic modifications on a street legal vehicle. Keep up the advertising, maybe sometime in the future the auto manufacturers will stop you and give you a job!

[Ernie]

Originally Posted by some_other_dave

Yes, but the person I was responding to, Ernie, said that he did not. I thought MetroMPG's solution was a bit more optimal. Sorry if I did not communicate that clearly enough.

-soD

You are of course right that there will be some wear and the idea of smooth steel sounds pretty good. A little wear will soon mark the place where I need the protection. This is what it looks like after a few hundred miles of use. The full depth of the texture of the shower stall material is not gone yet.

The original point I was trying to make was that I was letting the best be the enemy of the good and I was making no progress.

Ernie

[MetroMPG]

I like that saying, Ernie. Glad to see you forging ahead.

First make it. Then make it better.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by EVDRVR

I think it is the the solar car from McGill University that has full wheel fairing that just sort of "fly out" on there own in turns. Now, that might be a great way to get to know the local traffic officers. Wave at them in the corners with your front fenders.

Maybe McGill does, but I just saw a video showing U of Waterloo's solar car and they have front, top-hinged skirts (but actuated, not pushed open by the tire). Not the best screen grab (tadpole config., viewed from rear in right turn):

[desotojohn]

Wouldn't it be better to make the front fender skirts more conformal to the cars shape to keep frontal area closer to original? There is obviously a problem with a conformal design approach when it comes to turning (leading edge of one wheel and trailing edge of the other), but that could be overcome by using a flexible material with a linkage syncronized with the steering to push the skirt out on turns.

[MetroMPG]

Avoiding increasing frontal area would be best, yes. Haven't seen any DIY'ers attempt this with linkage actuation yet. Will you be the first?

[Bicycle Bob]

The rubber on a tire sidewall is not a lot different than the rubber in a bicycle brake shoe, which is much smaller, and applied with a lot more force than a tire opening a skirt. I'd just let 'em rub, and monitor the situation.

When I do mine, I'll put the hinge well above the wheelwell opening, and have the skirt overlapping the existing fender. That will make the seam easy to fair, and help minimize rubbing forces and troubles over, say, turning hard to open the skirt and then hitting a driveway ramp for maximum suspension travel.

[MetroMPG]

Forgot to link this thread to the testing I did:

Tested: front wheel skirts, A-B-A-B