Boat tail on a normal car? (3-box sedan)

[Weather Spotter]

With my tail I have not had wind issues. I do get more.sod load but the ballance.seems to be in the same spot.

[skyl4rk]

Make the tail panel as small as possible, only large enough to fit a license plate and taillights.

I had no issues with sidewinds and tracking. The car performed as it did before but it coasted much further.

[NachtRitter]

Originally Posted by cliffyballs

That side turblance i think is coming from my mirrors, because rear of the car actually is tapered somewhat. I am planning on making new mirros to practice my fiberglass skills (i do not want to delete them completely).

This is not my Jetta, but I like the mirror design... supposedly a Euro company that makes them:

[COcyclist]

Does anyone know of a source for these or similar mirrors for a Mk IV Golf or Jetta in the U.S.A.?

Edit: I just did a little searching and came across these.

http://www.ngpracing.com/store/index...ategory_id=708

[cliffyballs]

Okay i started building last night (pics to come) I decided to go with 1/2" pvc pipe as my internal support/shape. I will be using 1" steel pipe on the bottom part of the tail and where I need extra strength.

My thinking is using stronger pipe on the bottom is better because that is where the weight will be pushing. I went with PVC and Steel pipes because they are cheap, easy to cut, has fittings I can use (elbows, Ts,45s). Once the frame is built I plan to fiberglass it. I will drape the fiberglass cloth over the frame pull it tight and "paint" on my fiberglass.

Any thoughts on this?
Am I overlooking anything by using PVC?

Here is a pic of internal structure plan
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...pportbuild.jpg

[Weather Spotter]

Looks like a plan.

[cliffyballs]

Okay guys hope y'all haven't lost interest in my project i really ramped it up this weekend and got some good building done. Here are the pictures, please give me feedback!

Tail off
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ls/tailoff.jpg

Tail on
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...sidetailon.jpg

Tail on angle
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ngletailon.jpg

Tail on
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...sidetailon.jpg

[NachtRitter]

Not a huge deal, but you can embed the pics now... click on the icon, paste the link, then click OK. You'll end up with something like:


Looks good, BTW!

What's your idea for long term attachment? Not tape, I'd guess?

[Weather Spotter]

looks like a good start. I want to see your plans for attachment

[orange4boy]

Nice progress on the tail. Subscribed!

keeping in mind that all low rolling resistance tires have made compromises which have made the tire's performance in braking and wet weather traction less than many of the tires which are not marketed as low rolling resistance.

Just had to correct you here. All the studies I have seen do not back this statement up. LRR tires have to be taken on a case by case basis. In a recent tire test in Europe many of the LRR tires tested had higher traction numbers than the HRR tires. In fact the two top tires were LRR. The Nokian H came out first in the test followed closely by the Michelin Energy saver. This was in a group of premium tires of which 4 out of 9 were LRR. Nokian also sells a LRR snow tire, the Hakka R which is one of the best winter tires out there. On the other hand, the famously ultra LRR Bridgestone B381 for the insight is a pretty mediocre tire in the traction dept. The carcass has a lot to do with LRR which does not factor into traction much. It's all about quality