Mini-skirts, THE only Side Skirt for small SUVs
 

Found out about these mini-skirts Solus - Mini-Skirt
Here's a pdf http://www.solusinc.com/pdf/SOLUSL&MLicOpp.pdf

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...railerdemo.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...routfitted.jpg

On a 16wheeler, these mini-skirts are suppose to be the equivalent of
a longer single skirt, but with a lot more ground clearance.

So, could some PVC gutter be used at a smaller scale? Like on my CRV?
(I do like the idea of not loosing any of my ground clearance)!

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...10ftGutter.jpg
Raw stock. 10 feet long and not really what I wanted. It would have been
better if it had two identical vertical walls.. But, it was cheap..

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1.../gutterchk.jpg
Test fit in white.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1.../blkgutter.jpg
After painting, they are hard to see. (Notice, you can still see the exhaust system. The lowest point).
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...gutterGone.jpg

I made them 5 feet long and kept the forward end clear of the jack-point.
Made a small cut-out on the inside of the rear, since it overlapped the rear jack-point. I also pushed them towards the inside a few inches, so they wouldn't stick out under the doors. The outside wall is about dead center on the tire thread.
I put square 1/4" thick aluminum washers (2"x1.2") between the gutter and car. This keeps the gutter from deforming / pulled up into the depression where threaded holes are (side-tube holes).

They don't weight much, easy to mount using exiting side-tube bolts, look like they are part of the car, so my wife likes them.. :)

I'm wondering how I'm going to test them?? Maybe I'll just wait until I get the mini-boat-tail attached..

Xringer -

Me likey, especially the black. For lack of a better term, I also have a black "running board" under my doors, so I may do the same to keep it stealthy.

For me, I would extend the skirt to be flush with each wheel well, and then cap it, maybe with a mudflap. Because my running board is removable, I am pretty sure I could drill holes in the horizontal part and insert screws that point down. That way the skirt would be held on by nuts. I would have to remove them to repair a tire and/or when I go to my mechanic.

I am guessing that others will say they need to extend lower, but I also think you are "demonstrating the concept" very well. Do they make rain gutter's for King Kong's cage :D ?!?!?!?

I think this is the way to test for aero-mods, but I can't find a (safe, legal, no one bother me) place in LA :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...test-2992.html

I think there is a URL where someone does a very detailed coasting test (makezine?!?!?), but I can't find it.

CarloSW2

Very well done, Xringer!
I can see this becoming as de riguer as grille blocks, skirts, and moonies for the ecomodder crowd. :thumbup:
I'm going to see if this can be implemented on my Vibe.

Gutter talk
 

I do have them mounted about 3" under the car, instead of under the bottom edge.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...utterInSet.jpg
I wanted to use just one bolt at each end (instead of the two, since their heights were off-set). And, I wanted that bolt to be in the center of the bottom(my top) of the gutter. Just in case I wanted to use a large washer inside.

It will be a simple task to remove them and drill some new holes, so that
they are not so far under, if I decide to make them less stealthy.
If I were to bring them out 3", I think the bottom flare would kinda look like a little running board..

Anyways, the outside edge lines up with the center of the tire pretty close.
I'm wondering if it will have some effect on the turbulence coming off the front tire.?. Maybe it will split the turbulence and channel it down towards the rear..

Now, I'm thinking maybe a small rear tire-air-dam to defect the flow off the rear tire..

The goal here is to block some of the cross-winds from getting under the car. I'll be testing that concept by watching my MPG during highway driving. I'm not expecting to see big effects like the inventor? is claiming.

If I can get some kind of boat-tail attached to the rear hatch, that might show some noticeable gains.

I'm hoping the mods I'm doing with all add up to 35 MPH highway.
If they do, I'll be one happy sailor.. :cool:

I think those would work good on my Metro. Nice idea and cheap, me Likes! Almost can't see them in black, and they should hold up good to weather. I am going to check some out.

Not a lot of money..
 

$6.46 plus sales tax..
10' White Repla-K Style Vinyl Gutter

Withstands weather extremes from -30 degrees to 130 degrees
Will not rust or corrode and never needs painting
Durable and maintenance free
-----

I think mine might need re-painting after a few thousand miles or so..
(Krylon superbond Fusion for Plastic). :p

I bet these are wide enough to cover the entire width of my tires too, I may go buy some to play around with a 10' section would almost do both sides too I think. Mad props for this idea.:thumbup::cool:

Nice!

But my mazda6 already sits pretty low :( I do not know if i would have to cut them a little I dont want to high center on every speed bump...

If anybody does it in a fairly low car let me know (I mean it is stock height but still pretty low for something that high I would think)...

basslover911 -

You could also look into a rain gutter downspout. That's a closed plastic tube with a rectangular cross section, so you would have the choice of two dimensions.

This message has been brought to you by the RGAA (Rain Gutter Association of America), :p .

CarloSW2

$5.12
 

Lowes has a smaller (cheaper) version gutter. I didn't use it because it looked too small for my CRV.

http://images.lowes.com/product/038561/038561001006.jpg


10' White Gutter

The walls have a bend in them and there is no front or back side. (Symmetrical).
I have a feeling that this one might have some speed-bump flex, since the sides are angled out from the bottom..
They just might survive a 1 to 1.5 inch compressor by a speed bump..
Maybe get a little road rash on the bottom edge..

Xringer -

Me likey even more for my ground-hugger-moe-bee-lee

CarloSW2

Oooh. That may be what I need for the Vibe. I'll hafta check it out next time at Lowe's.

I'm not sure we should be calling them mini skirts, though. To me, a mini skirt is a wheel skirt that doesn't cover the entire wheel arch. How about interwheel strakes?

Cost of damage
 

If you did completely wreck both gutters, you are out of about $5 plus paint cost!

I'm not worried at all, since mine are higher than my exhaust system and it never hits anything.

When I measured the ground clearance, it was 9.5" front, 9.75 middle and 10" in the back. (I think getting rid of that rear wheel drive junk has really lighted up my CRV). :cool:

That would work, i could also just cross brace it since it does look much more flimpsy with something simple like screws running from side to side...

Oh, and i dont have much to loose i mean its only $5 and that works for both sides...

Then again how good might it work in a really low car as opposed to it being very high from the ground like in a truck??

More gutter talk
 

PVC is far from being flimsy. It's not your granddad's plastic..
I'm pretty dang sure that you won't need any cross-bars to make it
more solid than it already is.

Mine is bolted in with one bolt on each end and it feels rock solid.
There is no way that anything but a 89 MPH crosswind is going to
flex the middle of the skirts more than a 1/4 inch..

If your car was white, you wouldn't even have to paint them! :D

I'm not sure the claimed vortex effect that produces the virtual longer side skirt is even real and will actually work. Maybe it's all BS to cheat truckers.

BUT, if it does work as stated (URL above):


"The Mini-Skirt device employs a controlled vortex to generate an upwash field that is captured by the inboard vertical panel of the device. The use of upwash generation and capture technology results in a virtual extension of the device providing greater fuel savings for a given ground clearance, compared to traditional single panel skirts. This technology provides fuel savings up to 6% for ground clearances as large as 20 inches. These savings have been demonstrated in scaled wind tunnel testing and full-scale fuel economy testing under operational conditions."



I would think there is a chance that it would work even with a lower car type ground clearance.

AND, even if it does not work as stated, you still have the Normal side skirt effect that will block out crosswinds..

And it's MHO, that having 2 gutters mounted under your car in such a way that they do not increase your frontal area, will not harm your FE.

Just maybe they will break up the turbulent air and channel it past points of drag (hardware like mufflers, cats etc), aiding in cutting your cd.

Covering the bottom of your car with gutters, might be better than a solid belly pan! Since it would keep air off your tires!!

We got to test out our ideas.. That's why God gave us screwdrivers! :)

That's basically the double side skirt setup that I've been running on my car for the past 2 years, except mine has a different placement relative to the tires. I have one skirt parallel with the outside edge of the tire and the second skirt parallel with the inside edge of the tire. Its made of coroplast, which is flexible and non-brittle, so it just flexes out of the way without damage when contacting the road surface. I made it by using a heat gun to make 2 lengthwise 90 degree bends in a piece of coroplast so that it resembles a rain gutter and screwed it onto the underside of the car covering the distance between the front and rear wheels, including the jack points (I just flex the outer skirt out of the way when I need to jack up the car). Mine sticks down about 4" from the bottom of the car. I initially made it 6" deep and then trimmed it back until it rarely dragged when hitting a bump. It improved mileage by about 1mpg, but its largest noticable effect was that it greatly reduced the amount of dirt kicked up when driving down a dirt road.

The Master has spoken. Lets go get some guttering, boys! :p

Ah, you just want to do because it looks cool under there.. :cool:
And, it won't be too weird looking.. Meaning no problems from the wife! :D

It's good to hear that a double wall skirt worked well on the amazing basjoos rocket. Adding one MPG to that rocket means the side skirt is really working.

I've been worried that maybe those Solus guys had stuck a bunch of VTs generators inside the two walls or done some other unseen mod..

All I can tell from their pics, it's a rectangular box with 2 sides..

i've been think thinking of doing something similar useing plastic L beams intended for covering table edges etc... these are about 3cm/1inch high and wide. which is not a lot but might add a small advantage on already low cars.

i'm just not comfortable with drilling in such a rust prone area but i need to have them removable so i'm looking for a better way to attach them.

I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic or not, but adding one MPG to the aerocivic means that you will not notice it on your car.

No, I was just thinking that if a car was already aero optimized as much
as the Aerocivic, it can't be real easy to add on more weight and get
better MPG.. No low hanging fruit left on the tree.?.
Or, maybe I've got that backwards.. Maybe it's real easy.?.


I'm aware that my CRV might not see any noticeable boost, but if this mod does work at all, it might add a tad to the sum of the mods I've made (and those I plan to make) to get me to my 35 MPG Highway goal.. :)

At the time I installed the side skirts, all I had installed on my car was a basic grill block (no reshaped nose), rear wheel well skirts, underbody panelling, smooth hub caps, and front and rear wheel spoilers. The coroplast side skirts weigh a total of about 1 pound.

So... is it worth it? Only 1 mpg... ??

I'll take every one I can get! And this looks pretty easy to install.

If you actually got 1.0 MPG and the cost of the skirts was $6.12,
how many miles (or days) until you broke even??


Not really worth it to me, since I'm retired and hardly drive at all..
But, I did have some fun doing it! FE is my new hobby.. :)

Went to Lowe's on lunch today and got you guys some measurements (ok me some but I will share.) :turtle:

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...w10/gutter.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...10/gutter2.jpg

bbjsw10 -

Thanks. 4.25" and 4.75" are pretty close, so either one is a good bet. I like the 4.25" one.

CarloSW2

Good Gutters!
 

I think the bottom and the back wall of the bigger gutter is pretty much at a 90 degree angle. That would make it a good candidate for using (like an angle-iron) to mount longer coroplas side skirts.

So, when you were doing the measurements, what did you think of the material? Pretty solid or what?