Road Wrap

[DifferentPointofView]

^but that would cause higher frontal area. We shall see.

[peakay]

Originally Posted by shovel

It's not shrink wrap like for wrapping pallets, it has adhesive on one side - it's the stuff gaffers and convention/rigging teamsters use on carpet when they have to drive a vehicle or forklift indoors to protect the carpet from its wheels.

Carpet Protection: Protect your Carpet and Save Money

Yes, I own this company and it is not generic plastic wrap. It's a linear low-density polytethylene carpet protection film that is extremely durable and has adhesive on one side for adhering to carpets.

We're also car nuts and besides performance cars have a Prius that we try to use for very high mileage.

If anyone is interested in working with our product and developing somethign useful for these purposes, we would be happy to work with them. We may even have some remnant samples we can send out for free.

Thanks for the interest!

[MadisonMPG]

Originally Posted by peakay

Yes, I own this company and it is not generic plastic wrap. It's a linear low-density polytethylene carpet protection film that is extremely durable and has adhesive on one side for adhering to carpets.

We're also car nuts and besides performance cars have a Prius that we try to use for very high mileage.

If anyone is interested in working with our product and developing somethign useful for these purposes, we would be happy to work with them. We may even have some remnant samples we can send out for free.

Thanks for the interest!

Hello peakay, could you send some samples big enough to cover the front of a car where I could test aerodynamic benefits of it?

[peakay]

Originally Posted by MadisonMPG

Hello peakay, could you send some samples big enough to cover the front of a car where I could test aerodynamic benefits of it?

How big do you need? How would you measure the benefits...do you have a wind tunnel?

[MadisonMPG]

Originally Posted by peakay

How big do you need? How would you measure the benefits...do you have a wind tunnel?

I would need enough to cover the opening in geo metro. I do not have a wind tunnel, but I can do various "ABA" testings. I can also do "homemade" Cd tests.

[99LeCouch]

Wow, that stuff looks perfect for wintertime use up north! Wrap the front of your car with it, and bam, instant grille block and more aero!

How does it survive in cold weather?

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by shovel

I was just thinkng.... this stuff might be GREAT for those of us with roof racks that 1. we actually use fairly often and 2. are difficult to remove (taking off my cross bars necessitates removing the entire rack)

If this stuff sticks well enough, it could be stretched from the windshield to the rear hatch, over the top of the cross bars.... encapsulating them and possibly reducing/eliminating their drag.

Time for some testing

I think you'll make drag much worse by increasing frontal area with a nonaerodynamic bunch of plastic

[Christ]

Originally Posted by DifferentPointofView

^but that would cause higher frontal area. We shall see.

I don't think it will really increase frontal area, simply because there is a "ground effect" between the front cross bar and the roof. I believe you'd count that open air space (on smaller racks, anyway) as frontal area as well.

Yakima sells optional front panels to make their aftermarket racks more aero... not sure if they actually do anything, or if it's snake oil.

Interested in results, for sure.

I think you could probably just use some window covering stuff, though... tape it in several places so that it's tight, and then go over it with a hair dryer to make it shrink so that there aren't any folds/wrinkles in it.

When I couldn't take the cross bars off my Minivan, before I actually took the rack off, I just moved them both as far forward as they'd go, hopefully to make the flow reattach before it got off the back of the roof.

[DifferentPointofView]

I was thinking about using the window insulation stuff for a clear Kammback. But it's not on my current list of priorities now.

[BamZipPow]

The key I have found with my various testings of different plastic wraps is that they don't have UV protection...and they start to break down after about a month or so in the sun.

How well does the carpet protection hold up outside in the sun?