Couldnt take the wheel cover anymore. Black matte wrap. Bam!

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ClariPete

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Its not perfect but it’s good enough.
 
JulianClarity said:
It causes .000001 mpg loss due to the excessive weight of the films.
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I should have cleaned my glasses....i saw the pic and didn't notice the film. I had a similar idea before when others voiced concern. But the wheel covers don't bother me. Great idea though.
 
neal adkins said:
I should have cleaned my glasses....i saw the pic and didn't notice the film. I had a similar idea before when others voiced concern. But the wheel covers don't bother me. Great idea though.
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Lol, I don't know why you guys care about it so much, it is just a little bit unusual looking, it does not bother me a bit at all. I don't mind complaining about it if I could get $100 off for this 'Heart breakingly ugly' design though, :D
 
I truly hate the wheel cover. I cringe a little inside every time that I look at it;)

I bought mine in black as it hides this far better than the other colors. Unfortunately, the black is absolutely impossible to keep clean.

It gets dirty almost immediately after a wash in sharp contrast to my grey Accord which looks far cleaner even though I wash it far less:)

I'm just learning to deal with the wheel cover. The car would really look incredible without it, and yes I realize that it helps a lot with aerodynamics.
 
Love my new clarity but yes, that wheel cover is probably my least favorite thing in the car. Thankfully I got the dark gray/gunmetal color so it's not as obvious but your fix for the white model is great!
It's a shame that a lot of people are not even interested in the Clarity just because of the wheel cover/wheel skirt; Honda should have made the cover as a removable piece.
 
Yes, I have a friend who would buy one tomorrow save the wheel skirt. I'm surprised that it gets through automaker test groups.

There is definitely a deep seated human revulsion to this in many, of course not all, people. Some don't care at all, but an equal or greater number don't like the look in a strong way.

Of course in a Clarity forum, many don't care and a few may even like it. But most people will not like the look- in my experience.
 
Ill make one more opinion:) If Tesla had these skirts on every car, it is a far, far less successful company. It would lose its entire cool factor- without a doubt in my mind.
 
Aesthetics aside, I'm willing to "guess" that not having the skirt would make no measurable difference in aerodynamics and therefore in range/mpg (and for sure not in city driving). I understand the car has a suite of aerodynamic features that collectively make a measurable difference in highway range/mpg, but something like the small skirt taken individually seems very unlikely to make a noticeable difference. I think it's primarily a design feature. If it was super important to aerodynamics we would see it on many models and manufacturers, and in fact, Honda would likely have put it on the new Insight. If someone gets brave enough someday to have a body shop remove it, I bet that car won't lose measurable range/mpg.
 
Good grief, I did not even know what these things were and that my Clarity had them until I read about them on this forum. Then i had to google it to find out what every one was fulminating about. As my mother used to say "Pretty is as pretty does." I think the Clarity does quite well.
 
That little piece of sheet metal may not seem like a big deal, but I've done a lot of wind tunnel testing in my earlier engineering days. You'd be surprised what a difference just a little change here and a little change there actually makes. I'd bet you that removing the wheel wells would take 3-5 miles off of a full charge in ev miles.

Yes, 3-5 miles. I'd bet big money it does over 2 miles on a full charge. That's 5%, which is enormous for a designer. And yes, others get away without it, like the Volt.

But it is a completely different size and shape. Trust me, it matters:)
Sandroad said:
Aesthetics aside, I'm willing to "guess" that not having the skirt would make no measurable difference in aerodynamics and therefore in range/mpg (and for sure not in city driving). I understand the car has a suite of aerodynamic features that collectively make a measurable difference in highway range/mpg, but something like the small skirt taken individually seems very unlikely to make a noticeable difference. I think it's primarily a design feature. If it was super important to aerodynamics we would see it on many models and manufacturers, and in fact, Honda would likely have put it on the new Insight. If someone gets brave enough someday to have a body shop remove it, I bet that car won't lose measurable range/mpg.
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Looks pretty decent. You could take a look around and see if an auto paint shop will just paint them black for you. Might look a little cleaner.
 
Geor99 said:
I truly hate the wheel cover. I cringe a little inside every time that I look at it;)

I bought mine in black as it hides this far better than the other colors. Unfortunately, the black is absolutely impossible to keep clean.

It gets dirty almost immediately after a wash in sharp contrast to my grey Accord which looks far cleaner even though I wash it far less:)

I'm just learning to deal with the wheel cover. The car would really look incredible without it, and yes I realize that it helps a lot with aerodynamics.
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The rear wheel covers are starting to become one of my favorite features as long as they irritate a few folks.....probably all tesla owers that went for fried ice cream. Hahaha
 
Geor99 said:
That little piece of sheet metal may not seem like a big deal, but I've done a lot of wind tunnel testing in my earlier engineering days. You'd be surprised what a difference just a little change here and a little change there actually makes. I'd bet you that removing the wheel wells would take 3-5 miles off of a full charge in ev miles.

Yes, 3-5 miles. I'd bet big money it does over 2 miles on a full charge. That's 5%, which is enormous for a designer. And yes, others get away without it, like the Volt.

But it is a completely different size and shape. Trust me, it matters:)
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That's amazing! I had no idea. If that's the case, we'll see these catching on for sure. Any manufacturer would be ecstatic about something that effectively increased mpg by 5% on the highway. Why don't we see these on most cars? Is there something unique about the Clarity aerodynamics that requires it?

I still contend that "little piece of sheet metal" is irrelevant for my local dog-walking trips.
 
Imagine the anguish at the Clarity engineers' meeting when the aerodynamics contingent reported, "We've done almost everything we could to match the EV range of the smaller, lighter Chevy Volt, but we're still 6 miles short." The fuel system engineers stomped out when the aero guys suggested a smaller gas tank would improve EV range by making room for a larger battery. Then one of the old engineers asked, "Did you try covering the entire rear wheels with spats like the gen-1 Insight? That worked for us back in '98." The aero guys replied, "We're not sure Geor99 will buy this thing with these small covers that got us so close to the Volt--he'd never go for the full spats. So we say screw it, that Volt isn't selling and GM will probably dump it soon. We'll skip the spats to keep Geor99 in the fold." See, it could have been worse.

[Note: The wheel cover graced the Clarity Fuel Cell car long before Honda was worrying about competing with the EV range of the Chevy Volt.]
 
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