Mist suppressant panels for a vehicle and a method of suppressing mist

A mist suppressant panel system in combination with a vehicle having a frame supported by front wheels and tires and rear wheels and tires and a driver's compartment attached to the frame;

• including a generally horizontal mounting bar attached to the vehicle frame at the rear of each wheel and tire;
• at least four horizontally front to rear spaced apart mist suppressant panels attached to each mounting bar and wherein each mist suppressant panel includes a molded low density thermoplastic resin portion with a foam core, a tough water impervious outer skin, an outboard edge, an inboard edge, a top edge, a bottom edge and a mist suppressant surface;
• a mounting bracket secured to each molded mist suppressant panel and fastened to the mounting bar to hold the mist suppressant surface in a position in which the outboard edge is directly behind the outboard portion of one of the tires, in a position in which the mist suppressant surface extends downwardly, and in a position in which the mist suppressant surface extends inwardly and rearwardly away from said outboard edge and away from an adjacent wheel and tire;
• a plurality of parallel vanes on the mist suppressant surface forming grooves that absorb kinetic energy from water drops and condense small water drops into larger water drops;
• and wherein the grooves that absorb kinetic energy have a first end that is adjacent to the outboard edge, a portion of the grooves have a second end that is adjacent to the inboard edge and a portion of the grooves have a second end that is adjacent to the bottom edge of a mist suppressant panel.