Unless you drive an American sedan from the 1950's, there seems to be a lack of commercially-produced rear wheel skirt kits. So after chatting about fuel economy with a buddy of mine who owns a local tool and die shop, we put our heads together on how to commercially produce kits and make them economically feasible. At his shop, we have the options of stamping/forming them out of metal (expensive but
heavy-duty), or vacuum forming ABS plastic (inexpensive and light, but lower durability). Fiberglass would be right in the middle, but neither of us have expertise in this area. We estimated that metal could be viable at around $200/pair while ABS reduces that to about $80/pair. Color-match paint not included, but possible for an additional fee assuming availability. Our intent is to produce quality kits that match the OE styling of the vehicle and require little effort to install and remove, not a "universal" kit that requires plenty of DIY for fitment.
These figures assume a certain production level of each skirt per month, and of course popularity would be a factor in pricing the kits by demand.
Just based on the statistics of the garage here, we came up with a list of vehicles considered to be priority:
Honda Civic
Toyota Corolla
Geo Metro
Saturn SLx
Toyota Prius
Chevy S-10/GMC Sonoma ( based on my own ulterior motives
)
So the questions for the group are simple:
- How would you prioritize or alter this list?
- How attractive are those price points?
- Which material would you prefer?
Thanks for your insight (no pun intended). We'll be seeking donor vehicles in the Memphis-metro area for a gratis pair per model once we settle on priorities.