Hail Guard Design

[Robbie Cox]

I really think the "flip up" design, though very feasable, isn't going to work well, unless your vehicle is dedicated to chasing and your really planning on getting splattered by big hail. It seems that you would almost have to have a permanent mounting and delivery system

Well you shop around i'm sure you can find a hood from scrapyard and make it all the attaching points permanent on it. just a matter of unbolting a few bolts to install another hood. also some vehicles you can order lexan windshields if not call a local plastic shop, or race shop and see if they custom make it.

yes Chris it was a typo had 6 yr old playing games behind me asking 50 millions questions while i typed. thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Chris Sokol]

Something else for protection that RJ has done to his vehicle, and also Eric Nguyen to his van, is to spray the hood and roof with Line-X spray on bed liner. It can be colored (to an extent) to match your vehicle. This is an old off-road trick used on 4WD vehicles, and can also be used on other parts of the vehicle. I recently saw an add on tv about a new brand sold in stores that you can roll on yourself, just like paint.

http://www.goline-x.com/

 

[Chris Sokol]

yes Chris it was a typo had 6 yr old playing games behind me asking 50 millions questions while i typed. thanks for pointing that out.

LOL...man, I can so understand where you are coming from there...somedays E-Bay seem like a good option for my 3 1/2 year old!

 

[Dave Lewison]

Line-X is great stuff, although it can be a little heavy. Alas, they don't make a version for windshields.

I would not recommend trying to find an all-Lexan windshield. First off, they're extremely expensive. But also, Lexan, despite it high impact toughness, is a fairly soft material, and it scratches easily. Not a good choice if you'll be using wipers....guaranteed you'd end up with big permanent scratch marks across the whole thing.

This was evident in Dave's video right up until they were forced to hunker down and take the brunt by the downed power lines. The overhead type guard saved thier windshield. That much was obvious. No it wouldn't have lasted two more strikes, but it DID last long enough.

That much is definitely true. I think maybe it could've taken a few more hits, but that's about it. The mesh would probably have pulled completely out. You can see how it was starting to already:

However, the hinges also took a beating and started to pull apart as well. They were nowhere near failure, but they had pulled apart 1/16" or so. Argh, I shudder to imagine what would've happened if those hinges had failed. I'm pretty sure a 15-pound aluminum frame slamming down on the windshield would have caused some damage! For next year, I'll double-ply the mesh, and I will beef up the hinges more.

 

[Rob_Davis]

It seems that you would almost have to have a permanent mounting and delivery system. It's not that it's a bad idea, it's simply that most vehicles these days are more aerodynamically designed and actually finding sturdy attach points on curved surfaces, is going to be the issue.

Good points, John. Trust me, I am skeptical myself! :lol: But at least in my mind, I envision being able to place both anchor and piviot points for the shield in the groove between the fender and the hood. If you have ever seen those antenna mounts that go there and screw into the inside of the fender, that is the concept I am looking at. Problem is, that shield will be pretty darn heavy, so it will take more than a couple of sheet metal screws to anchor those brackets!

Robbie has another darn fine idea about getting a scrapped hood and fabricating the brackets and shield permanently in place on it, then just changing out hoods before the chase. Wouldn't be any more of a hassle than putting up a portable weather station on your roof like so many do!

 

[John Diel]

I hope I wasn't sounding skeptical... I know I've seen one or two vehicles out there (pictures at least) where the guard was a "flip up" design. If you're attaching to the hood directly, I suppose that would solve the attachment point issue However, it is placing more stress on the hood latch. I've had a hood come up on me before and it's not a pleasant experience.

I suppose you could come up with a hook type mounting system that would work out alright. Similar to the roof racks style maybe? Something that would work with a gutterless mount? Since it is right up fron, it's going to catch a lot of wind and your mileage will suffer. A very secure latch will need to be in place to keep it from flying back on yuo as well. Remember, you may be going down the road at 65 mph, but if you have 30 mph headwinds, your combined wind speed just jumped to 95 mph. Consider bow waves from semi's going down the road too.

That's probably why I like the overhead flip over design better. In stow away position, it's already out of the main slipstream having less of an effect on normal driving.

Again, just my thoughts. I'm certainly no engineer. I do have a weather station modified for mobile use on my truck as well so I have come a cropper of the various issues. Mine sits on a telescoping mast attached to the rear of the camper shell. It has 2 braces and a third base attach point. I'm no longer worried about the mast flying off. It's been in 100+ mph winds and survived rather well. I am worried about metal fatigue though as it's mounted permenantly.

 

[Dave Lewison]

This wouldn't quite be too useful to the chasers among us, but a similar idea was proposed a few posts back by Rob for the general public (he used sleeping bags to protect his car). Well, this got me curious. What a perfect idea for a product! Alas, not only is it a product, but it has already been patented (just when I think I have a great idea, I always find someone else has beaten me to it by several years)

Anyway, here are a couple links to products along that idea. I can certainly see how one might have time to run outside and put one of these on their car a few minutes before a hailstorm hits. The one with the integrated electric pump is particularly clever:
http://www.absolutelynew.com/catalog/produ...e1a4736ac2cd452
http://www.drive.com.au/editorial/article....&vf=2&bg=1&pp=2

Here's one of the pages of the US Patent, showing one concept of an inflatable guard

 

[Ben Engle]

The only thing that keeps running through my head about the above post is someone out in a huge storm holding onto a giant plastic parachute and flying away when the gust front comes through.