Blackout or leave raw-Mazda CX-5 skirt brace

[Daox]

Looks good.

[Joggernot]

Yep. Better.

[Xist]

So why did you use Lexan if you just made it black?

[Fat Charlie]

I'd have said body color, but was the arch already black? Body color wouldn't work then. But painting black over the tire and "wheel" over the wheel would have been the bomb.

Not worth the time and effort, but when is art ever "worth" the time and effort?

[kafer65]

I did lexan because bracket placement was critical and I could see where to drill through the lexan to hit the bracket without taking the wheels off or making errors. I had some plastidip black sitting there so I used it.
There is a two inch lip around the wheel well that is black. Its all one unit with lip. The lip is where I attached the brackets.
If I can find silver plastidip I can try that later since I can remove the current coating. I even thought of painting a picture of the wheel turning to try and make it invisible at speed like when they paint cloths on naked models.
I just did 200 highway miles at 62 mph,2500 rpm, 80-90 degree temps, full air conditioning and winter regular grade fuel and still did 45.4 mpg. That's an epic improvement for this rig. Tank avg is up to 43 mpg as I parked it.
I had one of the owners at the Mazda dealership take pictures and ask several questions about my ecomodded whip! I get lots of attention in this vehicle.

[Xist]

If you needed to redo it, would you use the Lexan as a template for something opaque?

[kafer65]

I've got several sheets of aluminum and aluminum/plastic sandwich sign material I could use but the Lexan is just as tough as the plastic it's attached to and won't dent and it's relatively light.

[Xist]

Few members have made front skirts. Basjoos may be he only one currently using them. When I was first on here, one member described how he covered his front wheels. He actually made rubber skirts, using bungee cords to hold them tight. People created a wolf pack around him as he drove, apparently looking at his strange setup, so he painted a white circle around where his rims were, and people seemed to notice less.

Good points regarding Lexan, but doesn't UV make it brittle?

[kafer65]

The fronts I had to trim some more, but they just cover the air gap around the well. I let the wheel covers do the rest.

[Xist]

Ah. Gap fillers.

I am glad that I have not seen spinners in a while. Where did they go? Someone could take "floaters" (or make them "drill and tap the spindles and bolt the hubcaps on to the spindle after you make sure nothing hits (valve stem,hubcap tabsweights) (Floating Hubcaps. | The H.A.M.B.)) and fabricate wheel covers that cover the rims, upper portion of the tire, wrapping around at least somewhat.

Someone posted wheel covers for buses like that, but they were to reduce run-over pedestrians.