Rear window air-flow deflector?

[NevadaGeo]

I think EAndy and powerboatr should get their collective Bernoulli brains together and design what we need. It could be marketed widely and you both can retire as very wealthy men!!

 

[USMCBuckWild]

I think EAndy and powerboatr should get their collective Bernoulli brains together and design what we need. It could be marketed widely and you both can retire as very wealthy men!!

I'll volunteer to be a non-partisan 3rd party product evaluator. For a small, small portion of your future earnings of course.

 

[NevadaGeo]

I'll volunteer to be a non-partisan 3rd party product evaluator. For a small, small portion of your future earnings of course.

I, of course would claim a 5% royalty on all future profits for the initial intellectual property... Of course, I can claim whatever I want, right??

 

[jeff kushner]

Gotta appreciate a guy (USMCBuck) who graciously donates his efforts in the name of science...and cents!

LOL

I have to disagree though. I believe the wet dirt is coming UP from the bottom more than wrapping around from the top. I drove in this morning after it had rained last night. The center of the righthand lane was dry but when I drove on the still-wet white & yellow lines, the rear window got wet/dirty much faster than when I stayed in the center/dryer portion of the road. That would indicate to me that the source was indeed coming from below rather then over the top. Otherwise, it wouldn't have made a difference....but it did which tells me that you guys are working on the wrong direction......but heck, I'm just a dumb plumber so let's keep that part of the equation too! LOL

All three of my Expys have been the same with regards to the rear window and the top, flat section of the rear bumper....they sure do get filthy quick. I'm just wondering if anything can be done if it's true that the source is down below.

As scientists, you have all seen how the air curls from underneath the rear of our trucks back onto the rear window and I can tell you as fact that removing the 8" front dam did not seem to effect this trait a bit. I had removed mine last Monday when we were expecting a large snowfall....that in typical Maryland fashion, did not develop!


jeff

 

[NevadaGeo]

Gotta appreciate a guy (USMCBuck) who graciously donates his efforts in the name of science...and cents!

LOL

I have to disagree though. I believe the wet dirt is coming UP from the bottom more than wrapping around from the top. I drove in this morning after it had rained last night. The center of the righthand lane was dry but when I drove on the still-wet white & yellow lines, the rear window got wet/dirty much faster than when I stayed in the center/dryer portion of the road. That would indicate to me that the source was indeed coming from below rather then over the top. Otherwise, it wouldn't have made a difference....but it did which tells me that you guys are working on the wrong direction......but heck, I'm just a dumb plumber so let's keep that part of the equation too! LOL

All three of my Expys have been the same with regards to the rear window and the top, flat section of the rear bumper....they sure do get filthy quick. I'm just wondering if anything can be done if it's true that the source is down below.

As scientists, you have all seen how the air curls from underneath the rear of our trucks back onto the rear window and I can tell you as fact that removing the 8" front dam did not seem to effect this trait a bit. I had removed mine last Monday when we were expecting a large snowfall....that in typical Maryland fashion, did not develop!


jeff

Jeff, you are absolutely right about the dust and dirt coming up from road way, kicked up by the rear tires. It is moving upward to fill the slipstream vacuum created by forward motion of the vehicle. The idea of an air deflector on top of the lift gate would be to fulfill the vacuum from above, keeping the dust away. As mentioned earlier, most '70s and '80s station wagons and square back vehicles had them for this reason. I don't know why they have fallen out of favor.

Sorry you missed your 'Nor'easter storm. I would be bummed. My daughter is in Ithaca NY and got about 2 feet! Being raised a Western girl, she loved it!

 

[lakesidebluexpy]

Nevadageo-

Back in the day (1st gen expys) a rear air foil in fact existed as an actual Ford product. I had one on my '97 eb expy. You never saw many of them- I think over the 15 years I had mine I saw maybe 3 others. They could be found in the Ford expy parts catalogs.

It did just what you are looking for imho. The carid one pictured won't do any good as it is mounted tight up against the top rear of the lift gate. No air slot. The Ford foil, on the other hand, was mounted on 3 legs and was designed in such a way as to move air coming off the roof down over the glass.

I found one on eBay a few months ago with the intention of mounting it on my 2010 eb. Shape of the rear hatch is basically the same. My only concern is that rear hatches now are aluminum unlike back in '97. So I have not been able to determine if mounting this thing (very robust and must be mounted using holes/bolts into the upper hatch) would lead to problems down the road.

I too have rear window dirt issues I am trying to solve. I'll stay tuned to this thread to see if there are effective solutions found.

By the way, navigators had the air foils I am referencing available also. Either should fit and do what you want.

Lakeside

 

[NevadaGeo]

Nevadageo-

Back in the day (1st gen expys) a rear air foil in fact existed as an actual Ford product. I had one on my '97 eb expy. You never saw many of them- I think over the 15 years I had mine I saw maybe 3 others. They could be found in the Ford expy parts catalogs.

It did just what you are looking for imho. The carid one pictured won't do any good as it is mounted tight up against the top rear of the lift gate. No air slot. The Ford foil, on the other hand, was mounted on 3 legs and was designed in such a way as to move air coming off the roof down over the glass.

I found one on eBay a few months ago with the intention of mounting it on my 2010 eb. Shape of the rear hatch is basically the same. My only concern is that rear hatches now are aluminum unlike back in '97. So I have not been able to determine if mounting this thing (very robust and must be mounted using holes/bolts into the upper hatch) would lead to problems down the road.

I too have rear window dirt issues I am trying to solve. I'll stay tuned to this thread to see if there are effective solutions found.

By the way, navigators had the air foils I am referencing available also. Either should fit and do what you want.

Lakeside

Thanks Lakeside, I did not even think about the Navigator. So they may be available in a parts catalog somewhere. I will investigate this. Probably easier than getting EAndy and powerboatr to develop one... Yes, stay tuned, something is out there that will work.

 

[Flexpedition]

A company called Sorana makes a product that has a slot in the middle. Product number is LC-003-RW. The few websites that list these explain each are made to order, so can take a few weeks.







Shown on a 03-06 Navigator, but no logical reason it wouldn't fit any Gen 3 Expedition/Navigator.

I'm skeptical that these work for what you want it to do. Applying a regular a coat of rain-x on the glass probably your best bet as glass is porous. You can buy a lot of Rain-x for what these places want for a few hours of (unpainted) fiberglass work.

 

[NevadaGeo]

A company called Sorana makes a product that has a slot in the middle. Product number is LC-003-RW. The few websites that list these explain each are made to order, so can take a few weeks.







Shown on a 03-06 Navigator, but no logical reason it wouldn't fit any Gen 3 Expedition/Navigator.

I'm skeptical that these work for what you want it to do. Applying a regular a coat of rain-x on the glass probably your best bet as glass is porous. You can buy a lot of Rain-x for what these places want for a few hours of (unpainted) fiberglass work.

Thanks Flex, but this airfoil will only bring air flow upward from the wheelbase. I am looking for something that blows downward to clear the vacuum along the rear window.

 

[NevadaGeo]

I found this on eBay for a 2002-2004 Navigator, but have no idea how it would be configured. Most of these are marketed to look cool and enhance certain areas of lacking manhood. If it actually blew roof air downward, I would consider it, but no info on the eBay site.