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Old 06-18-2011, 07:00 PM   #16 (permalink)
InsightfulRay
EcoModding Lurker
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Posts: 33

Dr. Jekyl - '09 Mini John Cooper Works
90 day: 47.07 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChazInMT View Post
OK, Sorry to kill the party here, but there is a huge leap from a very highly designed spoiler for one particular vehicle, to Vortex Generators and Tabulators....

They aren't really on the same planet. So don't go making a case for those VG gimmicks to work based on this paper, it isn't even in the same realm. It isn't even a hatchback. VGs have been shown to have a very small benefit in some very specific cases, anywhere on the back part of a minivan style vehicle is not one of them.

Vortex Generators, still officially useless 99.5% of the time.
I agree with your point about comparing a specific spoiler to vortex generators. Not the same beast. I have a set of Airtabs on my Mini Cooper and have gone through 3 fill-ups since the mod. One thing they absolutely do well is keep my rear hatchback window MUCH cleaner. Before the mod, I was going through quite a bit of rear washer fluid even in the Spring and Summer to keep good visibility through the rear window. My fuel log says they're worth 2-3% improvement in mpg. I tend to keep my speed down on the interstate so another driver might see more of an improvement at 60-70 mph speeds. I'm way over in the far right lane doing 55 mph most days.
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