"There is no evidence in favor of the effectiveness of these devices. A 2006 review by Jon Wieringa and Iwan Holleman in the journal Meteorologische Zeitschrift summarized a variety of negative and inconclusive scientific measurements, concluding "the use of cannons or explosive rockets is a waste of money and effort"."
Or they needed it for insurance. The finished cars will likely be insured and maybe the insurer forced them to show reasonable effort to reduce damage.
Or, even cheaper, you just dismantle the "hail cannons", since there is no scientific evidence of their effectiveness or even a hypothesis on why their working principle would have anything to do with hail. So since they do nothing, have never done anything, you clearly didn't need them in the first place.
How about they built the fscking cars so they would survive being outdoors? I certainly don't have anti-hail navy-grade cannons at home.
I never really understood why cars have the outer finish of an indoor piece of art. My car have scratches from my fingernails near the door handles. What's up with that? Should I wear white gloves when I approach the car?
All modern cars have paint which is then covered in clear coat (which is then covered in wax). The wax layer can easily be scratched but it also easily buffs out. The clear coat layer is VERY strong and will put up with quite a bit of abuse; you can make that coat even thicker if you so wish, with aftermarket products.
Hail doesn't directly damage the clear coat or the paint, it dents the actual metal itself. To make a car that resists those heavy hail storms would require quite a bit of extra weight, and overall this problem is cheaper to solve via insurance than by building a bullet-proof carapace that will add weight and rarely ever get used.
It would only be a lot of weight if you use steel. Remember the 90s saturns with plastic doors that would just pop back after being dented? The problem is that deformation properties in steel are used to absorb impact as a safety device during collision.
I agree. I'd like a nice form, but I don't really care too much about having something flashy. I want an exterior that can withstand the elements and last the lifetime of the vehicle.
> I never really understood why cars have the outer finish of an indoor piece of art. My car have scratches from my fingernails near the door handles. What's up with that? Should I wear white gloves when I approach the car?
I don't understand why people even care. My bicycle has scratches all over the frame, and other users seem to don't care either and park their bicycle against mine without worrying about scratches.
Also, I don't understand car bumpers. They look sturdy, but one small parking error and they're basically destroyed beyond repair.
My main message to designers: don't make products that look sturdy but are in fact fragile!
Cars are designed to buckle around the occupants in order to absorb as much of the crash energy as possible resulting in more saved lives. Older cars, the ones people remember being built like tanks, were designed[0] to save the car, not the occupant.
My understanding is that a 5mph collision should not even harm the bumper. As in, that's how they are designed. Maybe some paint will trade, but nothing that requires a repair
That was over thirty years ago. In 1983, standards were changed to cut the collision speed in half, resulting in the delicate little things we call "bumpers" today.
(Don't know that it worthy of a downvotes just because you haven't kept up with U. S. automotive safety standards, though.)
Rubber bumpers would just hit people with a lot of elastic potential energy. Like being hit with a police baton but from a car in movement. Your shinbones would explode practically
I'm curious why you are so worried about those scratches (which probably will easily buff out). If you don't think cars should have such a finish, why are you so worried about maintaining it as such?
While I share your sentiment to some extent, it's somewhat unrealistic to expect automobiles to be impervious to any size of hailstorm to the extent that they may be sold as-new on the showroom floor afterwards.
The main issue I believe is the use of relatively thin aluminum body panels to save weight. They could be made from composites like carbon fiber and wouldn't be as vulnerable to hail damage, but that's still a relatively exotic high-cost material.
The environment is full of extremely abrasive particles. It probably isn't your fingernail itself that is scratching the paint, but the microscopic grit between your nail and the paint which acts like sandpaper. You drag those particles across the paint and they dig in like tiny cutting tools.
This is the same reason that keeping eyeglasses and other optics scratch-free takes careful cleaning technique. One careless wipe when there is the wrong kind of dust on the lens or on the cloth, and you gouge the surface.
To the HN meteorologist/physicists: Do hail cannons even work ? It really seems strange that producing shockwaves prevent hail from falling. I have experienced hailstorms with lots of thunder and lightning.
> My car have scratches from my fingernails near the door handles
Professional car painting is expensive for avoiding things like that. There are a lot of super-cheap brands also of course, but in the end, you have what you pay for.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 101 ms ] thread"There is no evidence in favor of the effectiveness of these devices. A 2006 review by Jon Wieringa and Iwan Holleman in the journal Meteorologische Zeitschrift summarized a variety of negative and inconclusive scientific measurements, concluding "the use of cannons or explosive rockets is a waste of money and effort"."
http://uk.businessinsider.com/volkswagen-hail-cannons-mexico...
https://www.facebook.com/flx/warn/?u=https%3A%2F%2Famp.ft.co...
It seems a comparatively much more reasonable and non-invasive low-tech solution...
I don't even...
I never really understood why cars have the outer finish of an indoor piece of art. My car have scratches from my fingernails near the door handles. What's up with that? Should I wear white gloves when I approach the car?
All modern cars have paint which is then covered in clear coat (which is then covered in wax). The wax layer can easily be scratched but it also easily buffs out. The clear coat layer is VERY strong and will put up with quite a bit of abuse; you can make that coat even thicker if you so wish, with aftermarket products.
Hail doesn't directly damage the clear coat or the paint, it dents the actual metal itself. To make a car that resists those heavy hail storms would require quite a bit of extra weight, and overall this problem is cheaper to solve via insurance than by building a bullet-proof carapace that will add weight and rarely ever get used.
I see what you did there.
I also understand that it's better for the manufacturer that I pay through my insurance or otherwise, but that is not my point.
I don't understand why people even care. My bicycle has scratches all over the frame, and other users seem to don't care either and park their bicycle against mine without worrying about scratches.
Also, I don't understand car bumpers. They look sturdy, but one small parking error and they're basically destroyed beyond repair.
My main message to designers: don't make products that look sturdy but are in fact fragile!
[0] If not intentional, it's the way it ended up.
Or save car if speed <5mph and save occupant if speed >=5mph?
(Don't know that it worthy of a downvotes just because you haven't kept up with U. S. automotive safety standards, though.)
Are you sure it's from fingernails and not keys?
The main issue I believe is the use of relatively thin aluminum body panels to save weight. They could be made from composites like carbon fiber and wouldn't be as vulnerable to hail damage, but that's still a relatively exotic high-cost material.
This is the same reason that keeping eyeglasses and other optics scratch-free takes careful cleaning technique. One careless wipe when there is the wrong kind of dust on the lens or on the cloth, and you gouge the surface.
Professional car painting is expensive for avoiding things like that. There are a lot of super-cheap brands also of course, but in the end, you have what you pay for.