Compagnie Generale Des Etablissements Michelin

Michelin Recherche Et Technique S.a.

Charles Andrew McPillan

Kai Chun Yang

Calvin Rhett Bradley

Corey Sullivan

Justin Kane Morgan

Chinglin Pan

Virgile Ayglon

Parker Baxter

M'Hamed Louzri

Anang Somanchi

Stefan Voss

Cesar Enrique Zarak

Lee A Montgomery

Paul Andrew Mayni

Fang Zhu

David Lee Pressley

Clarence Vernon Hair, Jr

Brian P Gannon

John R Davidson, Jr

James F Garrett

Lisa Bachtel

Terence Wallace

Paul Crehan

Embodiments include a mud flap having a barrier section configured to intercept and deflect matter discharged from the tire when rotating during vehicle operation. The barrier section including a plurality of horizontal louvers, each horizontal louver forming an elongate member having a length extending primarily in a direction of the mud flap width, where the plurality of horizontal louvers are spaced apart in the direction of the mud flap height in the form of an array, where the plurality of horizontal louvers are configured to intercept and deflect matter of a minimum size traveling along any linear trajectory path from the outer circumference of the tire/wheel assembly towards the front side of the mud flap while substantially maximizing the spacing between adjacent louvers to minimize aerodynamic drag. Other embodiments provide a method of using the mud flap.

Aerodynamic mud flap

Tire tread

Tire

Growing community of inventors

Simpsonville, SC, United States of America

Charles Andrew McPillan