I was at the zoo friday and noticed what looked like a gold pontiac, but it had the caracteristic "use whatever you have lying around" grill block job on it It had a little Bondo to close the hood gap and some black stuff on the lower grill. It weren't pretty unless you knew what it was about. I found it quite encouraging myself The stealth grill blocks are nice, but the obvious ones sure are a lot easier to spot.
I've seen something here in the parking lot at work...late 90s/early 00's Sebring coupe with what looks like an aftermarket bumper cover that has rippled plastic in place of the standard open grille. Not a "grille block" per se but not-so-cleanly blocks the grille none the less. Since it's neither aero-clean due to the horizontal ridges approximating the original grille shape nor a DIY job I don't think the original intent was improved mileage.
I read that grille blocks are ineffective. EPA blocked an 18 wheeler's grille oppening and there wasn't any effect in wind resistance. I have the PDF file somewhere hope I find it.
I read that grille blocks are ineffective. EPA blocked an 18 wheeler's grille oppening and there wasn't any effect in wind resistance. I have the PDF file somewhere hope I find it.
I hate to feed the trolls, but you are aware that the aerodynamic differences between an 18 wheeler and a passenger car is ENORMOUS right?
I wouldn't put a lot of weight into EPA tests, considering the thorough "testing" they do for mileage ratings.... assuming they actually do any testing and don't just take someone else's data and stick it into the computer and hope whatever value they do get is close to where it should be (plus those numbers they use are guesstimates to simulated aerodynamic effects).
...or the unrealistic conditions done for those tests re-established in the 80s, only updated after 2007? Wow, slow and sloppy. It's not surprising so many people here are able to overshoot the EPA expected values or worse by many others who don't know better, to undershoot it by a large margin.
Grille blocking can't hurt but it alone won't net you a lot of mpgs. It's all about the cumulative gain. 0.2 here, 0.4 there, 0.1 somewhere else... aeromods can add up.
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My 5 pillars of fuel efficiency:
driving style
aerodynamics
tires
weight reduction
engine maintenance
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It had a little Bondo to close the hood gap and some black stuff on the lower grill. It weren't pretty unless you knew what it was about. I found it quite encouraging myself 
The stealth grill blocks are nice, but the obvious ones sure are a lot easier to spot.
