Inside wheel covers ?

[MadisonMPG]

Originally Posted by Dave's Civic Duty

So the consensus is this is one to maybe overlook?

yes

[orange4boy]

From:aero mods-data-% change or Cd change ( installment # 7-Wheels/Tires/Wheelcovers/etc.

1963, Walter Korff ( Lockheed Aircraft ) claims "A smooth,slightly crowned disc out to the sidewall ( MOON EQUIPMENT CO. ),on each side of the wheel, provides a big improvement. Covering the wheels and suspension with an envelope type body is better; smoothly streamlining the envelope is best by far."

It's a good one for sure as wheels make a big dent in aero. From a purely practical viewpoint, just start with the easy ones.

I would never discourage you from trying this though. If you did I'd be watching with interest. It's on my list of to do's.

[darcane]

I think this would depend a lot on what type of car you are talking about.

A lot of Land Speed racing cars use inside wheel covers... but only the Lakesters (cars that have exposed wheels outside of the body). With a typical passenger car, only a small percentage of the wheel is below the level of the air dam (if any at all) so I would guess the gains to be so little as to be unmeasurable. For a truck that sits up a little higher and the wheels are a little more exposed, maybe. But then, the first thing you should do for mileage is lower it and put on an air dam...

My vote is: don't bother.

[RobertSmalls]

I think this might work well with my rear drums. I could screw coroplast to the drum to fill the large gap between drum and wheel. That would be easier than trying to attach a fairing to the rear suspension. The wheels would still be easy to remove and install, and the cooling requirements of rear brakes, especially on a hybrid, are very modest.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by tollo

Has anyone done wheelcovers "inside" the wheel ? Covers could rotate with the wheel, like with normal covers or the covers could be mounted with brake saddle. In some cases a big brake disk is some kind of "inside wheelcover". Any ideas ? It is quite obvious that inside covers would effect less than outside ones but how much less? Is there some disadvantage ? Control arms need some space so you can't never do full cover or can it be done at all ?

While these are used on land speed record cars, my opinion would be that the turbulence created by the proximity of suspension,steering links,and brake components would conspire together to defeat the effectiveness of the inner cover even if installed.
Even tire 'flop' requirements usually require belly pan clearance around a lower control arm which pretty much guarantees turbulence in this region.
And as others have already mentioned,brake cooling can be a serious matter,especially the replacement cost of warped rotors.