Completed Wheel Well Covers
 

I hate calling them "skirts", especially on an F150 - so they are covers. This construction method would work for any car though.

Made an aluminum frame out of 8' aluminum angle pieces by cutting triangles out of one edge. This allowed for it to mold to the inside of the wheel well lip and still give me a surface to attach the cover to. I did drill and screw this aluminum piece to the well lip. Next the cross braces were bent so that they would clear the tire, and were then riveted to the half-circle. A little brace piece was added for the bottom bracket - I wanted more than 2 rivets holding that on!

https://www.doodlebuckets.com/epnc/IMG_2266.JPG

https://www.doodlebuckets.com/epnc/IMG_2267.JPG

https://www.doodlebuckets.com/epnc/IMG_2268.JPG

Next I used metroMPGs newspaper method to get an outline of my wheel well, transposed that to a piece of choroplast. Cut the choroplast, taped it in place on the wells, drilled holes for plastic rivet/screws that would hold it onto the frame. Drilled the frame holes while the paint was drying on the choroplast (4 coats - we will see how long it lasts... at least its an easy quick spray paint touch up to scratches that may occur). I put door edge around the edge of the choroplast to give it a finished look and then attached it to the framework.

https://www.doodlebuckets.com/epnc/IMG_2269.JPG

https://www.doodlebuckets.com/epnc/IMG_2270.JPG

https://www.doodlebuckets.com/epnc/IMG_2271.JPG

https://www.doodlebuckets.com/epnc/IMG_2272.JPG

https://www.doodlebuckets.com/epnc/IMG_2273.JPG

https://www.doodlebuckets.com/epnc/IMG_2274.JPG

https://www.doodlebuckets.com/epnc/IMG_2275.JPG

https://www.doodlebuckets.com/epnc/IMG_2276.JPG


I designed it this way so that I can remove it easily in 2 steps...cover first then the aluminum frame... when I need to have tires replaced. If I have a flat, the lug-nuts are all accessible when I lift the truck. Not sure if there is clearance to get a tire swapped without removing it, but hopefully Ill never find out. (of course now that I say that, Ill have a flat tomorrow).

I have another 800 mile round trip run next week - will see what kind of difference these things make - hopefully a pretty good one - those wells are huge back there.

Take care.
-Jeff

Looks nice, too bad the skirts hardly cover your tire, :p

:thumbup:

Those are wicked clean.

jeffreymccoy -

I've never seen the "cut triangles" into the aluminum angle pieces before.

Man is that a clean mod. You'll be starting a new fashion trend in no time!

CarloSW2

eh - I know I know, but it is a truck, and Im going for something similar to this when Im done.

https://www.evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=870


I got 23.1 hwy tank before this change...Im really hoping to see 24-24.5 with it. Will find out next monday/tuesday. The hard part for me is not making some other change before the trip, so I know what each change does. Then again - I may get ambitious...who cares what changes makes the most impact - they all work together to give the biggest bang.

Thanks for the feedback.

Very nice :thumbup:

isn't most of drag(in that area) from the wheel wells, not the wheels/tires themselves? not criticizing your post, just really interested.

Well, I'm not so sure, but I think a lot of it has to do with the wheels, particularly how much air they suck in and all that. I know for bikes the inside of the wheels pose lots of drag, but of course that's different, I was just excited to learn it.

Another source of drag is just plain old how far the wheels stick out under the vehicle. I'm not the best person to really answer the question though.

Another user joins the wheel skirt group. Love it. The only problem I can see for you is this. When you tell certain people that you get 24hwy they'll say stuff like "I have a v6 dodge ram and I get 30mpg all the time". But of course that really isn't a problem is it.

Nice work.

jeffreymccoy -

Ha ha. That's what I was thinking you would need in the long run, but you're already there.

Speaking as someone who is totally impatient, wait and see what the mod does first. You'll be happier in the long run because you will know what is working for your truck.

Is there any place convinient for you to do a "coast down" test? I'm guessing that all aero mods are subject to this. Right guys and gals?!?!?!?!?

CarloSW2

Holy smokes that looks pro!

Thought about trying to extend the body lines through the skirts?

looks liek excelent work, but i have 2 comments,

1 its a huge box, not much aero at all.

2nd is most trucks (dunno about new 150's) but on mine , in front of the tire and behind it theres no wheel well much at all so you still got all the air goin under the truck and hittin the tire and causin a pocket of air...

You might consider some stickers. Mine save me some time talking.

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...28697745d4.jpg

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...ed35117eef.jpg

Looks like some very solid looking skirts. Good luck on the mpg battle with that beast.

that's a very nice skirt! looks especially good on this type of vehicle.

i like it when custom FE mods actually look stock... tape and cardboard have a a certain charm, and it's fantastic that with the addition of these one can actually improve their FE, but people will quickly start to make fun of a good idea if it looks a little to DIY...

this looks like something people would pay for.

i hope the stock wheel covers of the 30's will come back some day

Excellent skirting on the F-150.
One thing to keep in mind. Put a layer of something between the aluminum and the steel truck body because those two metals create a static corrosion. Semi trailers use a strip of nylon between the two.

nope - i have no idea how I would do that. Maybe someone else could give that a shot. Im done with this one, save removing it all and inserting that strip of nylon BMac suggested. Thanks BMac - I didnt know that, sure wish I had before it was all assembled!

Thanks to all for the encouraging feedback! It inspires me to continue...that along with better FE gains!

Yup. I was at a Honda dealership yesterday asking about a Civic HX they had listed. They had no clue that it was 10-20% better FE than a regular Civic, let alone any details on why or how it achieved that improvement. Wasn't there either, sold earlier and Cars.com's listings were outdated.

OK, that was way off topic. I apologize.

Those wheel covers are very, very nice. Even someone who could care less about FE or true aero would appreciate the look.

I hope your paint on coroplast holds up better than mine. I eventually resorted to colored duct tape; the paint came off too easily. But it was on an air dam; it took a real bashing up there. That air dam is now removed; replaced with thin plywood.

These give me some inspiration for covers for my car. I think by putting the horizontal braces on the cover instead of attaching to the wheel well, that might make the whole thing quickly removable from the curved aluminum edge strip.

It looks like you got the coroplast to flex to a compound curve? Details?

How about calling them "Wheel Kilts"...sounds a bit tougher. Now if you lower your truck 1" or so, you would really get some MPG gains.

With the crossbraces on the rounded aluminum frame, the attaching of the choroplast to the frame created the compound curves. I think it would have been more difficult to put the cross braces on the choroplast first -although it would allow for easier 1 step removal as you said.

I also went ahead and added the wheel covers themselves - since they go hand in hand with the well covers... ok - no more changes before the next long trip...:)

https://www.doodlebuckets.com/epnc/IMG_2277.JPG

https://www.doodlebuckets.com/epnc/IMG_2278.JPG

I hear brake heat can be a problem with wheel covers like this - how do you know if its getting too hot? are there symptoms? or sudden braking failure? or...something else? Thanks!

Did you make the wheel covers too?

I'm thinking your skirts are going to make a better than average improvement on your truck vs. the average car.

A major characteristic that should dictate skirt effectiveness is the tire/wheel arch gap; the larger the gap the bigger the potential improvement from adding a skirt.

Yeah, made the wheel covers this morning - couple of hours work with left over choroplast and black rust-o-leum paint. Used double-sided edging tape to hold them on at the center and edges of the wheel. Black duct tape covers the air valve hole.

I was commenting on that same thing today to my wife - that the covers should make a bigger difference on the huge gaping hole of the truck than it would on a tighter fitted car's well. Most trucks have a huge opening there, that appears to me to act as a big parachute.

Gonna go do some preliminary testing on the test route I have - but the big indicator to me will be next weeks travel between NC & MD.

The covers look pretty good...you'll have some crazy steal truck in no time.

I think lovemysan did brake temp experiments back in the day with his fully covered rims, so search around a bit.

Nope, wasn't me. Although I drove through the smokey mountains with no ill affects a month ago. Unless you're hauling over 1000lbs I wouldn't worry. I think the front wheel covers would be the first thing to cause a problem. If I ever try to autocross the GW I might find the limit of cooling for the rear brakes on mine.

Crazy steel truck - that'll be fun.

Test route = out bypass highway with stoplights (45-55 mph) / out interstate to 1st exit (70 mph) / back interstate to 1st exit (65 mph) / back bypass highway with stoplights (45-55 mph)

Previously, without the covers, my test run yielded:

20.4 / 22.5 / 20.5 / 20.6

Today with covers:
23.6 / 22.6 / 20.6 / 23.7

I did not do a-b-a testing - as I dont want to take the time. I realize that there are certainly differences between the environment today from 2 weeks ago when the previous results were recorded. However it is interesting to me that the highway mpg is almost identical 65-70 mph, while the two runs at 45-55 yielded a 3.1 mpg gain each. 3.1 MPG GAIN is huge in my estimation.

Again - I will reserve final judgement for the trip to baltimore next week, but this is encouraging data.

Thanks SVOboy - Ill search the forums for that.

very interesting. my wheels(rims) have a very smooth surface(flush with tire and no mags or plastic cover to drag). perhaps this is to my advantage. thank you for your frankness(not knowing).

A rose by any other name....

----
looks good :thumbup: