Quote:
Originally Posted by Tesla
I just stumbled across this concept the other day, for those that need to keep them in place may be a good solution.
Basically there are a couple of different variations, they come as various louvred and grilled designs, the idea is 50-70% of the air passes through, but 90% of the water spray is channeled down to ground. Trucking papers quote circa 3% FE improvement along with safety improvemennts by reducing sidespray, hence improved visibility.
Has anyone tried anything like this?
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Just by looking at it ...common sense tells me Vortex Splash Guards are the only "legit" option ... having dibs on first design ( Patents commercialization ) Air flows through & is clearly forced down. Their sleek slats look like high performance lemons air extractors for cooling engine, brakes and spray dispersion for better traction. Seems they had benefit of engineering the most practical design and everyone else is evidently a knock off. Could it be vortex is the only one that offers for cars and Pickups for a reason ? Would you want a "fly swatter" ( they reference themselves by ) hanging off your sport car or pickup ?
For starters since you can see straight through the others', commons sense also tells me... air, tar & road grime spinning upwards from the tire would flow straight up onto fenders/rocker panels ... What baffles my mind is, besides the fact ( for such reasons )they are unavailable for the car market ... how could they ever have been approved for road use- when we have a hard enough time navigating in heavy rain to begin with while following a Semi under normal white knuckled conditions - let alone being subjected to a barrage of sand blasting, tar sticking, road-grime assaulting debris to flow straight through a "Semi flap" ! onto my car ! until I have the chance to pass ... Seriously? Imagine following on the roads to Alaska ? These other ones have up to a 1/4 opening straight through Semi tractor/Trailer allowing up to 1/4 inch. Conversely, Vortex's removable tow guard has tons of testimonials from RV folks protecting their towables on the roads to Alaska ... I'm just say'n ...Hope this helps !
Regardless one thing for sure is logic screams they'll all reduce drag and side-over spray while saving fuel and the environment !
