Mitchell,
Which, in your opinion, works better, the Air-Dam or the rear seat defector? Or are they about the same in terms of effectiveness?

 

I give up. But.....I wear a baseball cap and never had it blow off. One day when I was going to the bank with a bunch of papers laying in the front seat I noticed in the rear view mirror all the papers going up. I stopped as quick as I could. Papers were all over the inside of the car including the right floor. Not one paper left the car. They just swirled around over head. Must have one heck of a vortex there. That is why the wind dam works so well. But I like the thingy that attaches to the windshield better.

 

I have lower back length hair and usually bun it up, then wear a hat on top. Otherwise i get painfully facewhipped with my hair, and even if it is freshly flat ironed, it looks like a tangled mess in mere minutes.

This air dam is very interesting to me, but I still think putting my hair up is necessary, but this enhancement would make the noise lower and conversations be able to be had at lower volumes. I think this is very cool.

 

How does this affect the drag coefficient of the car and mpg?

 

Mitchell, Very nice design. I've always considered a rear wind screen but never bought one. I would buy the wind dam. Thanks for your efforts!

 

Same goes for me! If it's comparable to a windscreen, i'm all for it. It's half the price, and I still get the back seat for the dog :P

 

Pending price, I'd be in for this too.

 

I wondered out loud about this very sort of product back in 2012. Glad that someone has finally come up with one. I might be very interested in getting one myself.



Old 08-15-2012, 02:41 PM
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Default Front wind deflector?

I just read Keith's post about his 6'10" friend whose head was above the windshield and it reminded of me of something I think about nearly every time I drive my car with the top down. (99% of the time)

I am 5'11" which is not tall, but I get a lot of wind right into my head and when driving, so I can only imagine what it does to the tall guys, and in the afternoon when driving into the Sun, it is directly into my eyes, which almost makes me want to pull over and put the top up.

I envision a tinted plexiglass deflector that could be attached to the top of the header and secured into the same latch that holds the top down. What I see is something that would rise about three or four inches and then curve back six inches or so that would deflect that stream of air over the top of your head and also give some relief from the Sun right in your eyes.

Is there such a product? Does anyone else think that this would be something that they would like to have?

 

Hello and happy Memorial Day weekend to all.

I am planning on doing a second prototype Wind-Dam.

I will extend the sides down to take up the gap between the top and the windows, hoping to even make more quiet ride. Also going to make a 1 ½" taller and extend the top 1 ½" deeper into the cab.

I would think there is a point where if you go to big, there will be unwanted effects. But we will see, hopefully get started this weekend.
Thanks for your comments.
So for now enjoy your weekend!

Mitchell

and remember
Happy Motoring...

 

Be careful guy about making it bigger. At high speed that thing is carrying a lot of load. One other thing. On hot summer days do we really want to stop all the airflow swirling around?

 

Thanks EZDriver for your concerns!
I thought about the wind pressure and since the Wind-Dam is made of fiberglass (one complete piece) and connected to the windshield frame in 3 different spots, exactly the same way the top is connected, I really don't think there is a chance it could fly off and even if it did my head would just deflect it
to the stratosphere never to be seen again!

As far as the hot summer air swirling around the cockpit that is one of it's benefits of the Wind-Dam it stops most of the swirling and allows the A/C cool air to stay in the cockpit longer thus cooling better and longer.
If the air is hot it is still hot when swirling around. I prefer cool air.

Hi Stamford, the Wind-Dam is by far more effective by itself or in conjunction with the rear wind deflector than the wind deflector by itself.
Thanks

And remember
Happy Motoring...

 

Ok, after an outing with the wife on a super windy day (we get a lot of those here) I'm even more interested. Are you still thinking of production?

 

Fantastic design. Please take the proper steps to protect your work. I think you have a real product that could be marketed by the larger aftermarket companies, but you don't your idea and design stolen. It will be worth spending a couple hundred by talking to a patent attorney.

cheers

 

Hello to all, K westra thanks for interest.
And all the other member that have shown their interested in the Jaguar convertible Wind-Dam. Thanks.

Right now I am going to create another protype and make a few tweaks to the Wind-Dam.

At this point I am not sure about production, have definitely had some interest, but unfortunately at this time not enough to justify production. Production would take a lot of work and a lot of money, about 4-5K to get started. I did not do this project with the idea of selling or making money, but I cannot afford to lose either!
But I love the idea that others will love it too and I would have a piece of my invention being used by other Jaguar convertible lovers.

I feel the Wind-Dam is a very good product and works as expected but I need to figure a way to prove it, to get widespread interest for buying.
I am thinking video, but that will be another learning curve for me.

I am hoping my new protype will be even better, I have learned a couple things after using the Wind-Dam on my car for the last month or two and even though it is great I think I can do a little tuning to make even better.

So at this point I would still appreciate your thoughts and interest in the Wind-Dam.

Please stay tuned for more info as things progress and again thanks for your interest and thoughts.

And remember
Happy Motoring...

 

Great idea and the product looks amazingly oem.... If I had a convertible xk I'll certainly purchase one!!!

Hey as stated above get a patent or whatever you need to do to protect your work !

 

If you had a product that was suitable for hundreds of thousands or even millions of vehicles then you should go the patent route to protect your interests in your device as a patent attorney and filing and so forth is VERY expensive. With the relatively low number of these vehicles, I doubt that any large firm would try to steal your concept to make millions, but it is worth looking into. I think that you could provide a good service and make some money providing them on a small scale to people who would want one, but I'd be very careful, if I were you, before I spent a lot of money on this project.
I do think that you have a good concept here, and as I noted before, I inquired about some such device a few years ago and I am happy that someone has come up with one. I wish you good fortune going forward with this venture. Thanks.

 

Why don't you patent it, and then sell it in kit form? Most Jag owners are handy enough to make it work, and you would also make money supplying materials. Would be one way to tackle the special-interest, low volume aspect of your design.

 

I saved a lot of money. I just say you look very attractive and sexy with your hair messed up like that! But I'm a charmer!