Why aren't trucks wide enough? Jason question.

[freebeard]

Having driven a few Type II transporters at high speed (back in the 20th Century) it looks like pushing the front wheels forward is more effective than adding weight and explosives. IIRC they shear off down and under the passenger compartment.

The open wheelwell with internal duct looks odd, but might be aerodynamically efficacious.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

The blunt nose made me think of this, but cars that have adaptive cruise or pedestrian braking sensors should just have an airbag that deploys from the bumper when the vehicle calculates it is not possible to slow below x MPH before impact. It might be possible to run into a brick wall at 20 MPH and sustain no damage at all (minus the blown apart bumper and airbag).

Airbags are located on the wrong side of the vehicle.

I think this could be possible. It's the calculating it on time that would be the most critical part of operation, but not at all impossible with today's technology.

Another solution would be to increase the crumple zone with another crumple zone that's designed to pop back out (basically: fit the airback onto the front of the car and just inflate after impact).

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Jason is too proud to weigh in on a topic he's probably most suited to answer.

Is the question why do trucks have fender flares?

Short answer - they are a cheap way to offer a vehicle with different track widths.

Flares started out in the aftermarket community. A guy lifts his truck and puts big tires on it. They stick out past the fenders so he has to fabricate extensions to meet laws about exposed tires. Then someone starts making plastic injected flares that bolt on. They were black and you painted them to match your truck or if you were cheap you left them black. When I was young you bought these from the JC Whitney catalog.

Somewhere along the way manufacturers started offering their own 4x4 options with wide tires from the factory. Fender flares are cheaper than making new metal fenders to cover the tires because steel stamping tools are expensive. They also visually differentiate the more expensive 4X4 trim from the cheaper 2WD trim. My Nissan Frontier 4x4 had big factory fender flares

2WD - narrow track


4WD - wide track


Then somewhere along the line black matte black plastic fender flares that used to be the sign that someone that couldn't afford to get their truck painted became fashionable. They were a sign of a vehicle's "rugged" off-road status and now we have them on $80,000 Mercedes wagons.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by JSH

Short answer - they are a cheap way to offer a vehicle with different track widths.

Then somewhere along the line black matte black plastic fender flares that used to be the sign that someone that couldn't afford to get their truck painted became fashionable. They were a sign of a vehicle's "rugged" off-road status and now we have them on $80,000 Mercedes wagons.

Perfectly answers my question.

... still though, if the wheels extend out a certain amount, seems like a no-brainer to extend the body out to encompass it and provide the interior volume increases everyone apparently cares about.

Manufacturers already make aerodynamically inefficient design choices by squaring off the backend of a vehicle to increase volume. Why not increase frontal area too?

Your answer that a 2wd platform with skinny wheels on the same platform with wide wheels pretty much answers that though. Stamp the hard parts with the same tool, and throw plastic at the modification.

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by JSH

Flares started out in the aftermarket community. A guy lifts his truck and puts big tires on it.

In 1972 I had a 1960 VW walk-through bus with 8" rear wheels. I went to a sheet metal shop and had them cut two circular sectors approx. 3" wide on a 4ft radius. Those bent into a conic section and riveted onto the cutout slab sides of the bus.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Sure I wouldn't expect the width difference between a truck and a regular econobox to be at the same proportion as the width difference between a classic Vespa and an early Piaggio Ape


But anyway, even though a flatbed might have a higher boarding height in order to clear the rear wheel wells, it often leads to a much more useful width of such a small bed.

[redpoint5]

That looks like it's guaranteed to kill you every time, or your money back.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

That looks like it's guaranteed to kill you every time, or your money back.

LOL

I'd still be tempted to get one. Easy to drive around town, yet mostly unsuitable for a road trip, unless the engine would be tuned the hell out of.