Experiment: smooth wheel discs tested A-B-A - 4.6% mpg improvement @ 65 mph

[SVOboy]

Originally Posted by lunarhighway

not on motorcycle's but on cycles for time races and track races they're quite common. because these particular races are about pure speed the rider's position is more bended forward and the handlebar has an aditional central handle so that the riders arms are together in front of him... combined with a special drop shaped helmet this sure makes a difference in drag, however sidewinds are a problem with full wheels and in normal races where the riders are competeing side by side and are up agains the elements and the terrain i've never seen full wheels used.


here's a speed bike, most likely a carbonfiber frame with a lot of interestin aero shapes

That is a beautiful bike, !!!!

[lunarhighway]

not mine unfortunately

[brucey]

Before picture.

Also, I weighed the car on a truck scale. 4200 pounds with 1 passenger and no cargo.

[festivaWES]

I'm going to try this mod after my first tank of gas on the log. I travel 14 miles a day 60/40 highway/city split. I'm going to graph the results also. BTW 2gen as well.

[trikkonceptz]

To offer an answer on the motorcycle side of things ... you could always do a partial fender and use hubless rims. I have seen a couple custom bike run hubless rims. I am sure they would have no cross wind issues plus reduce their own drag since they have no spokes.

[festivaWES]

Just picked up my set of same brand pizza pans for 2.97 each. I was thinking of using velcro around the intire lip i think the bond between the two would suffice...if not your only out 2.97.

My mom has a bunch of velcro left overs from craft projects i could get for free.

Parents are coming over tommorrow for lunch i was gonna have my dad look into a aero-cap. Thinking of a pvc or 1x2 frame and drape a bed sheet over the skeleton and fiberglass it.

[whitewiz]

Ricer's got it easy
Typical aftermarket alloy rims have 2 sets of bolt holes, alternating at different bolt circle diameters.
thats 10 holes ppl and only 5 are in use
so it should be as simple as 5 long screws and washers+bolts to match.... except you cant get at the back of the rim while its on the hub....and you cant put the rim on the hub when its covered....can someone lend me a tap?

anyone know where i can get a 17" clear convex dish?

[Christ]

Originally Posted by whitewiz

Ricer's got it easy
Typical aftermarket alloy rims have 2 sets of bolt holes, alternating at different bolt circle diameters.
thats 10 holes ppl and only 5 are in use
so it should be as simple as 5 long screws and washers+bolts to match.... except you cant get at the back of the rim while its on the hub....and you cant put the rim on the hub when its covered....can someone lend me a tap?

anyone know where i can get a 17" clear convex dish?

A few things about this post -

1. You go around calling people with aftermarket wheels "ricers" and you're bound to make some enemies quickly.
2. You can't have washers/bolts poking out the backside of the rim, so in order to use them, you'd have to machine the wheels so the other holes are countersunk, thus making them useless for that particular bolt pattern.
3. Multi-pattern wheels for 4 lug cars only have 8 holes.
4. There are wheels that are designed to be run on 4 or 5 lug vehicles - 9 holes.
5. You won't actually need a 17" disc, it'll be slightly larger or smaller, depending on your rim.
6. Other than all that - you're going to have to get something (for your cover) that has counter sunk holes in it, so you can cover them up and make them smooth, otherwise you're introducing turbulence into the same area that you wanted to take it away from - bolt heads sticking up.
7. You could use carriage bolts to fix this - but you can't ensure they're tight by hand - drill two holes and use a spanner wrench, or a slot and screwdriver.
8. Welcome to the forum!

[basslover911]

^^ Again, how dirty do you think they will get?

And how long will they last against scratching? (NOT running into curbs of course)

[Christ]

The insides will get substantial amounts of dirtiness even if you used dustless pads/shoes, due to the swirling motion of air passing the rim depositing road dust inside it.

The outsides - If you use acrylic, or plexi-based plastic compounds, it will scratch if you look at it funny.

Best bet is formed lexan, and even that will scratch sooner or later. It's easy to polish though.