Wind deflectors

I thought I'd try and make some wind deflectors & after consulting on RHOCar for some examples and experience the advised material was PETG, easier to work than acrylic and less brittle than Perspex. I was expecting to have to practice so bought a piece 1m x 500mm  x 4mm thick from Ebay.

I had a couple of goes at templates to get the right shape and for now ended up on a simple rectangle around 500mm x 180mm with folds in appropriate places, transfered the cardboard shape to the plastic and cut out with a jigsaw; installed the hinges held temporarily by the bolts only so I could test the fit on the windscreen frame.

The PETG will bend with gentle heat from a hair dryer; so I rigged it up to bend under its own weight and a little persuasion from some scrap wood; it produced more gentle corners than I was expecting:

First couple of fits got me close:

Then for final fit I removed the covering anti-scratch film and bolted the hinges in place, for now I think I'm leaving the very basic rectangular shape:

Finally I worked the bottom edge against the scuttle shape with more heating and gentle pressure:

My daughter volunteered for a test drive & she said It makes a difference, a little less blustery than before - so next up will be making a similar one for the drivers side. It does seem quite a soft material so I'm not sure how it will stand to scratches, but nice to work into any shape.

Update - While they don't stop much wind the deflectors are invaluable in stopping the front wheels firing whatever they drive over into your face, the angle is just perfect to project any debris around the windscreen pillar at you or the passenger - be it mud, water etc the deflectors are a really useful addition to the design.

Update - These were replaced with a newer design here, and then later I reverted back to these.

Update - Replace in 2017 with acrylic versions to match the sun visors.