After performing
tuft testing on my Vibe, I realized that I needed to perform some ABA tests to verify any actual benefit. Test done as follows:
Three mile runs on a flat, straight road, each at 55 mph. Started testing at 10:45 AM and finished at 12:30 PM.
First set of runs performed with covers installed;
A1: 48.1 mpg
A2: 56.1
A3: 48.7
A4: 56.6
A5: 48.0
A6: 56.4
Runs A1, A3, and A5 were south bound.
Runs A2, A4, and A6 were north bound.
Next set of runs performed with front wheel covers removed;
B1: 46.3 mpg
B2: 54.6
B3: 47.7
B4: 53.0
Runs B1 and B3 were south bound, B2 and B4 northbound.
I reinstalled the front wheel covers and did five more runs;
A7: 49.0 mpg
A8: 56.1
A9: 48.6
A10: 57.6
A11: 48.0
By the time I got this far, the temperature had climbed two degrees and the wind had picked up to the point that I could see the leaves on trees wobbling. It was out of the south, so I think that may be why my north bound runs were higher. It's the flattest stretch of road I can find, but there may be a slight elevation change over the three miles, I don't really know.
I averaged the north bound "A" runs, and got 56.56 mpg.
I averaged the south bound "A" runs, and got 48.4 mpg.
The north bound "B" runs averaged 53.8 mpg.
The south bound "B" runs averaged 47.0 mpg.
That's a 1.4 mpg difference between the south bound "A" and "B" runs, and a
2.76 mpg difference between the north bound "A" and "B" runs!
Conclusions;
-ABA testing takes a lot of freaking time.
-I need to clean the brake dust out of my covers more often.
-Doing the ABA testing at night (like suggested on this site...) would provide a longer 'window' of calm winds and stable temps.
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The pizza pans WORK!