Front skirts in production

[NeilBlanchard]

The issue with having the skirt attached to the kingpin is that it adds to the sprung weight. (This probably doesn't matter much on a bus!) I'm hoping to attach it to the inner fender and only connect the steering tie rod move the skirt.

It is interesting that it would seem to worth doing this on a local metro bus.

[NachtRitter]

Neil -

Seems like it does make more sense to mount the skirt "support structure" to the body of the car rather than to the wheel itself. Might be able to use the top of the shock tower and the control arm mounts as the three attachment points for the swivel at the top? I think the issue there is that swivel piece would need to be relatively beefy to hold up over time.

On the other hand, the heaviest part of the support structure would be the frame... that wouldn't be more than a pound or two, would it? The skirt material itself can be relatively light. So even if it were mounted on the wheel, it isn't much unsprung weight.

It probably comes down to the ease of construction and maintenance vs the ideal.

[Fr3AkAzOiD]

I would love to do something like this but how would you change a flat tire?

[NeilBlanchard]

You would have to undo the fasteners on the skirt, to get access to the wheel and lug nuts?

[miket]

what happens if that bus hits a bump while turning i dont see much of a gap between the skirt and the top of the fender.

[XJguy]

Originally Posted by aerohead

I'm not sure if GOOGLE IMAGES has any photos,but the Ford concept had the complete inner wheelcover.
4-season performance might limit these to areas outside the snow-belt.Don't know.
P.S. The French 'Dauphin',circa 1934 had virtually an identical setup.Back to the future!

Many of the Delahayes have front wheel skirts, but I have not been able to find anything showing how they function.

[NachtRitter]

Originally Posted by miket

what happens if that bus hits a bump while turning i dont see much of a gap between the skirt and the top of the fender.

Or hits a bump at any time! Ya, I was wondering that too... I'd be very interested in seeing the mount mechanism.

Originally Posted by XJGuy

Many of the Delahayes have front wheel skirts, but I have not been able to find anything showing how they function.

From the pic, it seems like the front fenders are wide enough to allow the front wheels to space to turn... so they sacrificed frontal area for the ability to completely cover the wheels.

A reference from a reproduction house indicates that

The front tires steer lock to lock inside the somewhat bulbous front fenders...

(see Delahaye USA - Bugnotti).

[NachtRitter]

Neil -

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

The issue with having the skirt attached to the kingpin is that it adds to the sprung weight. (This probably doesn't matter much on a bus!) I'm hoping to attach it to the inner fender and only connect the steering tie rod move the skirt.

Thought about your idea (of a front wheel skirt with a vertical hinge so that only the half that needs to get out of the way moves during a turn) some more and I would agree that is an excellent approach... not that you need my approval or anything It could be done really simply (I think) using a basjoos-style interference approach (no need to tie into the steering rod necessarily). Getting the proper support framework in place would be the trick.

[NachtRitter]

OK, found a few better pix...

First, I realized that the picture of the white NABI BRT bus shows it after it has settled down on it's air suspension, so the gap on the front wheel skirt is less than it would be while driving... a bit deceptive:


The actual gap when the suspension is at driving height is a bit more noticeable:


Second, a good side shot of the Las Vegas bus (the StreetCar RTV by the Wright Group) shows very well what I meant when I said:

I realize one issue with my suggestion is that you'd have to account for suspension travel within the wheel well... Might be able to mitigate that by limiting the "height" of the cover (so it doesn't extend much beyond the top of the wheel) and maximizing the "width" (front to back of wheel well).

Now that I look at the original pics of the StreetCar posted by XJGuy, I notice the gap on the top of the front skirts a lot more.

[cfg83]

NachtRitter -

Originally Posted by NachtRitter

OK, found a few better pix...

...



Now that I look at the original pics of the StreetCar posted by XJGuy, I notice the gap on the top of the front skirts a lot more.

This reminds me of the capads, aka a weighted floating cover, except they are extending the "cap" outside the diameter of the wheel :

Originally Posted by cfg83

ai_vin -

...

Oh yeah, I've considered those, but I think they are very pri$ey :

CapAds not rotating wheel cover - No non not rotating advertising media hubcap

This is actually the "effect" I wanted to create with my old SC2 back in the 1990's. I wanted to make it look like my car was "floating" over the road.

Because you are adding a heavy "weight" to the outside of the wheel (at least that's how I *think* it works), I suspect that the driving characteristics change.

...

CarloSW2