My Deflector Odyssey
I have an ATC Panther on my Tundra which has quite a bit of space between the cab and camper overhang. I experienced quite a bit of wind buffeting at highway speeds from the wind hitting the flat front wall of the camper behind the truck cab. Many bugs gave up their lives in this area as well. Why not get a wind deflector...
My online search turned up the Aeroplus Wind Deflector which was marketed by PurplelineUSA.
It's looked to be pretty heavy duty being about 1/4" thick plastic. It is large enough to cover the cab top gap and protect the front of the camper over hang.
I rounded up a Thule rack to fit the Tundra and mounted the Aeroplus to it.
Note the two indentations on the fairing. These are the super heavy duty mounting points.
First trip, we went to Moab from Denver and the wind noise was greatly improved. However, when in a cross wind or in a semi truck back wash, the ends of the deflector would flex and hit against the rack.
So, I fabricated some large bump stops on the rack (made from rubber hockey pucks) to eliminate the flex. This quieted down the noise and worked for a couple of weeks.
While heading south on I25 to Colorado Springs I experienced some huge microbursts from the side and the deflector started rattling whenever I drove over 65 mph. When I got home I found that the Aeroplus had cracked at both mounting points.
I wrote an email to the US distributor, purplelineusa, including my experience and photos but got no response...
My conclusion is that two mounting points, regardless of how strong the deflector is, is not enough.
I'm back to the old Yakima fairing modified to fit the Thule bars.
It's a little small as it was left over from a prior vehicle. But it does cut down on the wind noise although, I'm back to cleaning bugs off of the front of the overhang.
YMMV