2010 Prius belly pan set up
 

If you would like to see the factory belly pan set up on the 2010 Prius (.25 Cd) here are some pictures for your amusement. From a poster over at Prius Chat. Not 56K friendly

2010 Prius belly pan

Oooh pretty. Thanks for posting that.

...If you'll pardon the pun...they're groovey!

Any way to get a horizontal shot while it's on the lift so we can see how flat it looks ?

We only get what was posted on another forum.

Here are smaller versions in the original thread that may help you out.

photos-taken-bottom-my-prius

If I remember correctly there is a Mercedes Benz that has large sheet metal underbody, and it looked much smoother than this. It may have been a race car though. The one that gets 14mpg at 200mph, I think. Cool pics though.

those grooves at the sides remind me if this
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...009_152404.png


btw here's some shots of a merc c class for comparison
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...derside_02.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...derside_03.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...derside_01.jpg

maybe we could start a thead on these views for various low drag cars...

...that's what I (vaguely) recall seeing once upon a time, ie: the "bathtub" shape of open-wheel Indy and Formula cars.

I'm surprised at how aero-dirty it still is. The mercedes looks somewhat better.

Interesting.

thanks,

troy

...might be "...interesting..." project to simply "foam" the whole bottom and then 'hot-wire' shave the whole bottom flat, just to see just how "smooth" you need things.

imagine the top of you car looks like this.. noone would buy it (unless your into hummers)

what i don't get is why, at least on these cars where aero is a big thing, like the prius etc, they don't start the design with a clean smooth bottom shell, and then cut out some holes for the exhaust, and chop the shell up in managable bits...

right now it seems like they build the car and than patched up all the holes... some coroplast jobs over here are smoother.

afterall isn't that how the top of a car is designed? you start with a concept sketch do some computer modeling, build a real mock up an a test version, and along the way deside how the panel lines should go and the whole thing will be broken up into bits that can be mass produced and assembeled. so if that production process works so well why not use it on the bottom as well?

the only reason i can think of why the bottom looks like this is that the difference between this and a smooth cover is very small, but that is hard to believe

...many running dimples and creases are there to "strengthen" panels and keep them from "tin-canning" and flexing to death...but, they're usually not curvey like those on the Insight.

Neither the Prius nor the Merc is even close to being as good as some of the work seen on this website, from Coroplast or aluminum sheeting.