10 mpg. Unacceptable

[ChopStix]

Originally Posted by JRMichler

Those square sharp corners are killing your gas mileage. Get at least a four inch radius on the side and top leading edges. This would be relatively easy to do by adding a bubble to the front. Ideally, all edges would be rounded, but the front edges are most important.

If the sharp edges are bad. Then after a front bubble, could you simply take pvc pipe and slit down the length and glue that over the long side sharp edges to round them?

I realize that this might look funky. But a rounded edge made of pvc pipe glued over the sharp edge has to be better than the sharp edge alone. Am I right?

[Isoldmysaturn:(]

it doesn't matter if the power is coming from a 4 cylinder or v12. power is power. that's such an overstated myth it's ridiculous. I used to pull 3500LBS with my 2.2L 4 cylinder in my Saturn sedan just fine, and could even manage to stay in 5th (top) gear most of the time on the highway. even got 28MPG doing it. but, I also only went 55 while doing it.

The traverse, the 3.6, and the 6 speed transmission can all tow just fine, up to 5000LBS. There is more than enough power for that trailer.

the problems I see: that's not much of a V on the front of that trailer (not much you can probably do about this); the bottoms of trailers are usually really bad and create a lot of turbulence and drag, so smooth the underside; that isn't a proper use of the rear end treatment, semis usually use this technique on the back of trailers, but they need to be at the outer edge to be most effective; decrease your speed, you are going way faster than he aerodynamics of that trailer can support; and flat wheel covers.

[Stubby79]

Originally Posted by Isoldmysaturn:(

it doesn't matter if the power is coming from a 4 cylinder or v12. power is power. that's such an overstated myth it's ridiculous.

So we no longer care about where we operate on our BSFC maps? Operating at 320 g/kwh is going to be just as efficient as operating at 250g/kwh?

[sendler]

As long as his truck isn't shifting into lower gears to maintain speed, a smaller engine operating at higher load will more often be in it's efficient range. The best BSFC for any engine is always at a very high load. That is why we have to PnG to use it. Unless we are pulling a heavy trailer.

[ksa8907]

Does your traverse have the roof mounting for luggage? I wonder if you could come up with a deflector to keep air from slamming the front/top of the trailer?

I would look at closing in the wheels, skirts on the trailer, and smooth bottom on the trailer.

The traverse is fairly aero and that trailer is not. The front of the trailer is significantly larger than the rear of the traverse.

Can you snap a few pics of it hitched?

[Stink]

You know, I do have a roof rack, and an air deflector could be a good idea. I'm going to wait and see what difference the tail makes before I do anything else. The research I have done has shown me the tail should be 2' long, 10 degrees of deflection, and within 6" of the outside edge. Which is where I am at.

[freebeard]

If the sharp edges are bad. Then after a front bubble, could you simply take pvc pipe and slit down the length and glue that over the long side sharp edges to round them?

A single slit would produce a raising, 3/4-round edge. Two slits and butting the halves would produce a half-round. Then it's down to the 4%-of-gross-width rule, generally ~4".

ksa8907 — Closing the gap is non-trivial.

[Isoldmysaturn:(]

So, after towing with my acadia, I would say work on the aero of the car, too. the underside of the earlier lambda cars was less smooth, so an underbody panel would help.