3rd gen Prius aeromod thread

[ThatDudeOrion]

thanks for the info.

Those rear wheel skirts look really cool, I can't wait to see how you attach them to the car and maybe borrow a few more of your ideas!

[Vman455]

It's been a while, but I finally got a chance to do some work on the Prius. As of today, it has side skirts once again, this time in coroplast to prevent the wrinkling I had before:



And, you can see that bar over the rear wheel where I'll be attaching the wheel skirts.





I used a door sweep, pictured in an earlier post, bent by hand to a nice curve to clear the tire. It's bolted in the front to the plastic rocker, and in back has a notch that slides over a spaced bolt in the bumper cover:







This allows me to flip the bar, and eventually the whole skirt, up and out of the way with no tools:

[Daox]

Very nice design!

[freebeard]

Butterfly skirts.

What's to keep air from infiltrating the leading edge? Additional fasteners?

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by freebeard

What's to keep air from infiltrating the leading edge? Additional fasteners?

I think I'm going to use heavy-duty exterior velcro to attach the skirts around the top and front. I have some left over weatherstripping I might use to make sure they're airtight on the front.

[ar5boosted]

Originally Posted by Vman455

I think I'm going to use heavy-duty exterior velcro to attach the skirts around the top and front. I have some left over weatherstripping I might use to make sure they're airtight on the front.

You might be able to drill some holes inside the wheel arches and get some metal bracket to run to the outside by bending it and securing it with self-tappers or metal-screws. Making a U.

[ECO-AKJ]

Originally Posted by ar5boosted

You might be able to drill some holes inside the wheel arches and get some metal bracket to run to the outside by bending it and securing it with self-tappers or metal-screws. Making a U.

That is what I plan on doing....l brackets with bolts ran through, using the first nut to set depth, second (lock nut) to hold to car

[Vman455]

Drilling holes in the body is a no-no here in the rust belt (I plan on keeping this car for at least the next decade), and after further thought I didn't like the idea of velcro. So, I ended up using plastic rivets--typical automotive body fasteners for things like bumper covers, underbody panels, etc.

On to the pictures:


Fastener for the skirts; clamps to the wheel arch lip.





With skirts attached:

[gone-ot]

Very clean and stealthy! But, now those green fronts gotta go black (ha,ha).

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

Very clean and stealthy! But, now those green fronts gotta go black (ha,ha).

Ha! You're the second person to tell me that.