WIND DEFLECTOR
QUESTION: Would investing in an "Aero Shield Wind Deflector @ $400.00 worth the investment? Cost/benefit? Anyone have any practical experience? (Forum search... but did not see any information...
Forum Discussion
Bumpyroad wrote:
those trailer skirts seem to be increasing in number according to my limited "survey", so I must assume that they do produce a savings. but that in no way justifies the standard wind deflector.
bumpy
The skirts are =required= for any commercial box-style trailer towed in Kalifornicate (there are a few exceptions). A lot of truckers hate them, especially those that might have to travel on rough roads as they are easy to FUBAR; I know I've seen any number that are tweaked to some amount. Yes, they =do= work, but you've got to have lots and lots of miles for them to do so. So do the rear folding caps, and probably more than the under-belly skirts, but the complexity and relative fragility of them make them expensive to install and expensive to replace if some forklift driver take a panel out.
IIRC, a full aero-package on a semi, aero-style cab, belly skirts, tractor skirts, flush wheel covers, aero nose and rear caps, gives +/- 3 mpg increase for a cost of several tens of thousands of dollars. As I said above, a lot of these mods are somewhat easy to damage and expensive to fix/replace. Then you have the cost of doing even routine maintenance that requires removing some of these panels.
Lyle
