Hi,
I do not have direct evidence of higher rolling or aerodynamic drag with my wife's ZVW30. I'm just sharing the following:
- punctured tire - had Firestone patch and bought lifetime alignment. The toe required adjustment. I have yet to correct the passenger side camber, not as vertical as I want, and rear wheel toe and camber. These are on my list of future improvements.
- changed transaxle oil at 5k miles - the subsequent oil analysis did show evidence of sealant and manufacturing tooling material. The straight-line viscosity slope suggests 15k is the initial transaxle oil service life so I'm waiting for 15k miles (another 5k miles to go) before the second change and oil analysis.
- full block - using cardboard and duct tape, there is evidence that full blocking has a small but measurable effect. My plan is an articulating air inlet panel and side, edges to prevent air spillage out of the corners.
One unplanned change were the tires.
I picked up a second nail that hit the patch of the first tire repair. So I bought on sale, four Sumitomo T4s, the recommended, in stock, tires from the Toyota service center and run them at 50 psi (except for the recent cold front.) I'll top them off later today.
Right now, I'm conducting hill climb, maximum speed, gasoline studies with the ZVW30:
- 87 octane, E10, Shell - data collected, crest speed ~91 mph.
- 93 octane, straight gas, Pure - data collected, crest speed ~89 mph.
- 87 octane, straight gas, Pure gas - waiting on fuel exhaustion
- 89 octane, E10, Shell - waiting on fuel exhaustion
Bob Wilson