anyone put an air deflector on oem rack??

[cls1000]

i have a 98 wagon w/ factory rack and just picked up a yakima 32" air deflector for it...i have a pretty good idea (i think anyway) on how i'm going to mount it, just curious if anyone else has done the same??

[mrCharlie]

Not that it answers your question, but I lost about 8-10mpg on the highway when I put a deflector on my Thule rack. It did cut the noise down and looked great, but that's just too big of a penalty for me. You mileage may vary...(sorry)

[cls1000]

Not that it answers your question, but I lost about 8-10mpg on the highway when I put a deflector on my Thule rack. It did cut the noise down and looked great, but that's just too big of a penalty for me. You mileage may vary...(sorry)

ok well thanks for the response, but i had that very hard to believe....this air deflector is like maybe 3" high...i don't think it's going to reduce my 28 mpg. to 20....

[mrCharlie]

I found it suprizing, and I realize that milage is a really variable thing... but it was an immediate and drastic drop, and taking it off lead to my mileage going back up immediately where it should be. My car is a sedan and not a wagon, which could have made a difference. My friend had the same experience with the deflector on his BMW sedan, but it wasn't as drastic of a drop for him. The deflector came from my friend with the BMW, so there could be something about the particular one. Hopefully it was an anomaly, I might try again in the future.