Love The Drive Wind Reflector Review

[Lorne34]

Finally a review of the "Love the Drive" Wind Deflector. The packaging was impressive as the unit come stowed in a handy carrying bag. A note is included with some business cards to put in the glove box in case anyone asks about the product. I thought that was unique and a smart business move on their part. The unit comes with 4 straps which attach to the child seat posts at the rear of each seat in the back and then front straps attach to the plastic molding just under the seat edges. The "hooks" as I call them are positioned downward into the wind deflector screen, You have to rotate them out and use the provided raised thumb screws to attach them to the frame of the restrictor unit. The hooks slide into the gap by the front seat belts and the rear brackets fall into the space next to the tonneau covers. The covers can be installed with the wind restrictor in place. Once everything is clipped into place you flip up the screen and you are ready to go. Lots of room for storage underneath in the back seats. If someone was taking a longer trip it would definitely be handy to stow things away in the back seat without worry of losing anything. Putting the top up with this in place was a non issue; simply flip the unit down when not in use.
Impressions of performance- I was immediately impressed with the amount of wind buffeting that was reduced with the windows down. There was also significant reduction in wind coming through the center console. Put the windows up and it was simply amazing the difference. No issues with highway driving and cooler weather is very manageable.
Visibility through the net is excellent and does not obstruct your view in any way including blind spots. It's light weight and stores easily in the trunk or in the garage on a shelf or hooks. I placed some G hooks on my garage wall to mount it when not in use. Total install time once you understand the process is literally less than a minute......
The only downside is not having room for passengers in the back seat when in use, but it's so easy to remove when needed.
Looks like this is a winner.

View attachment 303688

Sponsored

 

[cbrookre]

Excellent review Lorne, and the pictures help see how it all falls into place. How wide is it in the trunk? I usually carry my golf clubs around with me, does the trunk need to be nearly empty to fit it in or would it sit on top of other things easily? Often times I stop and pick my kids up from school on my way home, so the flexibility would be good.

 

[Lorne34]

Excellent review Lorne, and the pictures help see how it all falls into place. How wide is it in the trunk? I usually carry my golf clubs around with me, does the trunk need to be nearly empty to fit it in or would it sit on top of other things easily? Often times I stop and pick my kids up from school on my way home, so the flexibility would be good.

You have to remove the thumb screws (4 total) from the curved brackets... once they are removed you can rotate the brackets 90 degrees so they are flush with the body of the unit. The thumb screws then get put back in the holes or you can simply put them in a pouch or some separate carrier if you do not want to hassle with screwing them back in. Once the hooks are flush the unit will fit into the trunk within the front/wide area of the trunk... if that makes sense. It will not fit in vertically from front to back... it has to sit side to side and at the widest part of the trunk. I have the subwoofer and it still fits fine... I would recommend placing it on top of your golf clubs (or sliding your clubs back further in the trunk) vs risking the netting being damaged by something heavy or sharp.
The carry bag is very light nylon material and kind of awkward to fit the unit in. I would not recommend storing it in the bag for day to day use. It would be ideal storage for when the convertible is stored for a season (not sure if you store yours for the winter). You could probably purchase a heavier duty bag that would be easier to slide the thing in and out, but honestly as long as it's on top of the stuff in the trunk you would be totally fine.... the metal bars support/protect the nylon mesh when sitting on top of items....
if your kids are older they can even help you put it on.. less than a minute with 2 people.. just have to tilt the front seats forward. I leave the rear straps in place (locked into the car seat hooks) as they do not intrude on someone sitting in the back. The front strap clips I do remove and place them in the little storage pouches behind each seat.. works really well. My 14 year old assists with taking the unit on and off... just be sure that you are lifting the unit up high and keeping the unit parallel to your vehicle (ie--don't have the hooks pointing at the body of the car) as the hooks can potentially scratch your vehicle.. they are covered with a rubberized material, but I accidentally scraped one of mine on the garage floor and exposed some of the metal... no biggie just have to be careful with it... I can do it all by myself as well with no issues.. just have to waltz around the vehicle to do the other side. Either way its super easy...
Hope that helps.. I can send pictures of it stored in the trunk if that helps...
Lorne

 

[cbrookre]

Thanks again my friend! It would probably help as wife hates a) being cold and b) having her hair blowing around and into her face. I told her to stop whining and just suck it up, but luckily that was before I opened my mouth. Now I just have to decide when to spend the money. Did you put anything on the metal braces to prevent them from rubbing?

 

[Lorne34]

One other thing... I have found that I use it

Thanks again my friend! It would probably help as wife hates a) being cold and b) having her hair blowing around and into her face. I told her to stop whining and just suck it up, but luckily that was before I opened my mouth. Now I just have to decide when to spend the money. Did you put anything on the metal braces to prevent them from rubbing?

A very Wise Choice to not verbalize those words to your wife... I will be married 30 years in December and keeping her happy is a key to success. The Wind Restrictor will definitely help with both of those issues (A/B) you will have a happy wife!
As far as the metal braces go it's a non-issue as long as you are inserting them carefully into the seat belt slots... I am going to spend some time this winter figuring out a way to pad them up a bit. They could have made the end a bit less pointy or added more rubberized material for sure. The other bracket that goes towards the back is pretty well reinforced and does not scratch the plastic at all. You do have to make sure that you are not over tightening the straps.. clip them on a bit loose and then pull the straps to tighten it up a bit. It does not take a lot of force to keep this unit in place as the design/engineering is quite sound.. I've done very fast pulls on the highway and the unit is solid....
I will post more pictures on the brackets and also how it fits in the trunk....

 

[cbrookre]

One other thing... I have found that I use it

A very Wise Choice to not verbalize those words to your wife... I will be married 30 years in December and keeping her happy is a key to success. The Wind Restrictor will definitely help with both of those issues (A/B) you will have a happy wife!
As far as the metal braces go it's a non-issue as long as you are inserting them carefully into the seat belt slots... I am going to spend some time this winter figuring out a way to pad them up a bit. They could have made the end a bit less pointy or added more rubberized material for sure. The other bracket that goes towards the back is pretty well reinforced and does not scratch the plastic at all. You do have to make sure that you are not over tightening the straps.. clip them on a bit loose and then pull the straps to tighten it up a bit. It does not take a lot of force to keep this unit in place as the design/engineering is quite sound.. I've done very fast pulls on the highway and the unit is solid....
I will post more pictures on the brackets and also how it fits in the trunk....

Cool, thanks! My wife and I just passed 17 years, so have a bit of catching up to do... I was more worried about minute movements as you are driving eventually "sawing" marks where it sits over the tonneu points. Good info man, really appreciate you taking the time and PM'ing me about it! You earn $1,000,000 M6G bucks! Spend them wisely.

 

[DropTopBob]

Excellent review by the OP and great follow up comments by all!

I never use my backseat for passengers so keep mine installed. However after 18 months I removed it, took it to my shower, doused it with a spray cleaner and hosed it off with the shower spray...LOTS of grime washed off. Took that opportunity to clean and detail the rear seat area.

I lay the wind blocker down in mild or warm weather as the turbulence is not so disturbing but in chill weather it stays upright and allows me year-round top-down drives along with the heater and seat warmers.

One more feature I like is that when raised the blocker further dims headlamps behind you -top up or down.

Finally the design gives the top-down Convertible a two-seat roadster look!

 

[Lorne34]

Here are some additional pictures of how the side hooks collapse, the shape of the hooks on the end... and also how it looks in the trunk. Hope this helps!

 

[Lorne34]

Thanks again my friend! It would probably help as wife hates a) being cold and b) having her hair blowing around and into her face. I told her to stop whining and just suck it up, but luckily that was before I opened my mouth. Now I just have to decide when to spend the money. Did you put anything on the metal braces to prevent them from rubbing?

Hi Chris,
Just posted some pics of how it fits in the trunk and also how sharp the ends are. I know that some guys have added felt to the areas touching the actual vehicle and that seems to do the trick. I am still trying to figure out something better for the 2 hook brackets. But as I mentioned, if you are careful with moving it in and out it's a non-issue

 

[cbrookre]

Hi Chris,
Just posted some pics of how it fits in the trunk and also how sharp the ends are. I know that some guys have added felt to the areas touching the actual vehicle and that seems to do the trick. I am still trying to figure out something better for the 2 hook brackets. But as I mentioned, if you are careful with moving it in and out it's a non-issue

Great pics again Lorne! Thanks again my friend!

Sponsored