"Wing Worms" By Rebadge Designs

[LostinTransit]

Originally Posted by freebeard

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I like your thought process and positive attitude towards our invention. 23 sets of these winglets should arrive later this week. then I'll mount enough to cover one side of the van and do the sprayer hose test to see if there's any disruption of air flow. Rebadge has asked me to take a video of this for their records. ideally, I'd like to hope that by placing these on the rear of the van will help with some cross winds and better air flow. I'm not hoping for better fuel savings.. but we will see. Installing the front air dam maybe a hindrance instead of helping we'll see on that also. just think these things look better and not as noticeable as the things on the turner cars..

[LostinTransit]

had a concern this morning. I was thinking the rebadge guy made just 23 stickers.. so I sent an email just to confirm.. he sent this pic back.. confirming he made "23 set" of these sticker winglets. These were shipped yesterday and should be here Fri.. and with nice weather coming up. I'll have a chance to get that view and photos of the winglets on the van.

[LostinTransit]

The wing worms arrived on time and carefully packaged. I was under the impression these would have bene in a larger box.. but there's 23 sets in a small USPS mailer box.. not to get to work on mounting half of these on one side of the van and doing the pressure washer spray test.. just to see if these divert any air flow. Even if there's no or not much air being diverted, I'll still use these on the van.

stay tuned for the spray test along with photos of these on the van.

[LostinTransit]

I can't say that this was a "big" success, but when spraying the water down the side of the van, I could see a difference in the flow stream of water.. the video we shot did not pick up much and when we slow the video down. I can see these vortex working to some degree. We're not disappointed, and we went ahead to placed all of the wing worms on the van were we needed them. The roof top shot, reminds me of those "things" tuners are using on their cars placed right before the rear window. maybe these things will work for others, but our van is designed too much like a brick for these things to actually work like they should.

[freebeard]

...but when spraying the water down the side of the van, I could see a difference in the flow stream of water,,,

Pix don't disclose the flow of the water, but it's not a good test in any case; due to the relative mass of air and water.

Maybe try a lot of small tufts around one or two (or two or four?) wing worms and a leaf blower.

[LostinTransit]

I still have plans to do the tuft test at the track so I've set out to cut these strands and get them ready. But I did more testing over the weekend.. While driving to our powder coaters.. I-70 heading west has a speed limit of 70 mph.. But cars and trucks still fly by me.. I was testing how well my wing worms worked while passing trucks or while trucks passed us. I was get some disturbance, but not like before and it was windy.

Let's say I was weaving in and out of traffic mainly around semi trucks cargo haulers to get an idea of how well the wing worms worked. I could tell a difference as without these and it was a windy day.. the van was all over the road.. this time.. not as much which made the van more stable. let's just say I was able to reach a new top speed.. which I'll not disclose. Another thing that will help this setup is that we're having our powder coaters, recoat our designed front coil springs.. these are 20% stiffer than factory. once these have been installed the front end wont be as bouncy.

Another thing I still want to add some home made skirts along the rocker panels.. using the 1'' or 2'' gardening trim I'll have to see if my buddy in Goldsboro can take the current plastic skirts off and make some adjustment to adding these gardening trim. Another thing I'm going to do after the new vinyl wrap has been applied to the areas where windows would be on the passenger wagon.. is to add my wing worms as the rear portion of the van has the had 90 bend which I feel is the main reason for so much disturbance.

In the attached image, the red arrows show where most of the main drag is occuring.. this molder edge in the metal of the side walls is very sharp and pronounced.. need to see if more wing worms mounted at or near there the arrows would make a difference lifting the air flow up and over this sharp hard edge.

[freebeard]

I could tell a difference as without these and it was a windy day.. the van was all over the road.. this time.. not as much which made the van more stable

Sounds similar to fletching on an arrow.

[bandit86]

Do you guys think these wind worm things would work on top of a fender on a Volkswagen new beetle? Like all four? Or maybe just the back two?

[freebeard]

Seems possible, the question becomes where with what orientation, etc.

[LostinTransit]

pardon the late reply as we've been very busy as our springs have been powder coated last week and we can pick them up Monday.. sp[rings you say?.. the springs are part of a leveling kit we created. These springs are 20% stiffer than factory and the rear springs are 2'' shorter than stock.. this give the van a lower profile and a better stance. it was getting tot he point where I just couldn't take it anymore as the powder coated factory front springs have weakened and are bouncy as hell. Our set will stiffen up the entire suspension all around.

Now onward to your question.. My first thought here is that I feel (while others may differ) that these wing worms are offering some benefit but we've not went through any proper testing.

In other words while on I-70 reaching speed of 75 mph and passing semi trucks.. I could tell the van was more stable even during windy days.. Not perfect but I can tell a difference.

As in your case with the VW.. I suspect that adding these to the rooftop just before the rear window would offer you the best benefit. even adding them to the rear window could offer some benefit.

As for adding these to your fender.. you might try adding a row of two along the top or near the back side of the fender.. this would divert the air flow for sure. You may not have enough room to apply these to the outer fender edge. Doors and side panels would see a bit pointless.

There might be a space were you could add a couple of these right behind the rear side window.. remember the opening must be forward and comes to a small point without actually joining.. One thing here if the VW is the air cooled ver, then you will need to watch how you add these things cause if no air is diverted to the vents above the engine.. you may have overheating issues.

We're not done with adding these, as I just need a few located in the hard edge of the rear panel just before where I've already added. As for the front of the van, I was asking rebadge if they could make these a bit longer but like a big smile or swooped upward and place these on the front of the van right at the front bumper edge leading to the and around the fender edge.

The front of our vna is snub nosed for sure.. but adding that air dam in a few weeks.. still up in the air about lowering the side skirts.