US Patent 8979102 Retractable wheel fairings for motor vehicles

A retractable wheel fairing device for decreasing the aerodynamic drag and/or increasing downforce of a vehicle is described. The device includes a fairing body with a suspension-mounted support system such that the fairing body, when deployed, reciprocates up and downwardly with the corresponding wheel of the vehicle. The suspension-mounted support system is adapted to functionally or physically disengage the wheel fairing device from the suspension of the vehicle upon lifting of the wheel fairing device with a separate retraction system.