Quote:
Originally Posted by someguywithanm3
We're just going to have to find scrapped F117 stealth fighters and start putting those panels on our cars.
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Back in the late 1970s, Car and Driver magazine tested all radar detectors at the time, and they also tested various vehicles for detectability. The 911 was the best at staying stealth, so they then installed radar frequency absorbing mats on the front of it and retested. Now I think it could get to less than 1/10th of a mile from the radar gun and not be seen.
The problem isn't necessarily trying to be stealth but instead being mistaken for other traffic. This is true today like it was 40 years ago. A tractor trailer 1/4 mile behind you can throw off a larger return signal than your car, but since you're the one that is seen, you get the ticket (which in some cases may actually be a good thing, lol). C&D tested this problem also showing how cars with smaller return signatures are effectively hidden by large cars or trucks well behind them.
As a side note to that 1979 article, in the mid-70s the
Fuzzbuster II was the best detector for a couple of years in terms of detection distance. A new company was just on the scene: Cincinnati Microwave with their Escort detector. It was the first superheterodyne radar detector, and it was fantastic compared to the other now archaic competition. Well, C&D received a "new" remote mount Fuzzbuster II for their test that performed just as well as this new Escort unit. They decided to drill out the rivets and open the unit up only to find.....the entire guts of an Escort residing within.
Who says companies don't cheat magazines?