Just finished tuft testing, first time doing this and it was a blast! My daughter filmed this with my iphone 4 and I think she did a great job. My wife was driving the chase vehicle her ,2009 Dodge Charger, and we were on the phone so she knew what I was doing and when to pass me etc.
I didn't read in time to put tufts on the very back of the car I put them all over the side and part of the rear window, wiper blade, and fin.
Hopefully you guys can analyze these and give me some input...
I took the front air damn off after driving to Cincinnati and back and not seeing much of an improvement followed by a coast down test on a local hill I went from 40-56 on Friday without the damn, skirt or wheel covers! but today I went 40-53 with the dam/skirt/wheel covers and 40-52 without the dam but with the skirt/wheel covers. I was getting pretty annoyed after not going faster but maybe today I had a head wind and Friday I had a tail wind? I had driven the car for 20 minutes to make sure everything was warmed up...
OK some Numbers from the last couple days off the SG II
-home-school 55mph cruise control 12.1 miles car started trip fully warmed up 68.5 mpg
-school-coffee-home 55 cruise, 9.7 miles 53mpg - stop/coffee - 4.3 miles 72.5mpg - home...I need to figure out how to average this trip as SG split it into 2 trips with an average for each so average for the 13 miles is ??
-trip to flea market 55 and 65 mph cruise control 34.8miles 61.5mpg
-trip back from flea market-stop/subway-home 55 and 65mph cruise control 35miles 56.9mpg...note subway is the same place as getting coffee only subway home there was traffic and I could not use the electric much at all which cost me about 16mpg average for that last 4.3 miles!
I can get some insane mpg if I can get some rolling hills and stay under 40mph...this is why I'm REALLY looking forward to trying out a stick shift Metro sometime as I won't be limited to 40mph with EOC, and the prius engine randomly stays running sometimes even when your coasting under 40mph.
Tuft testing links...
While the front air dam was still on...
A clear shot of the rear skirt...there is very little clearance between the 1/2"x1/8" aluminum bar I used at the bottom of the skirt to keep the coroplast from rubbing on the tire, maybe 1/2" clearance from the tire.
I ended up using 3/4" #4 stainless steel screws from Lowes to mount the aluminum pizza trays on the trim ring...5 screws leaving one out where the fill stem thing is so when I pry the cover off hopefully that will be OK. So far maybe 200 miles on them and nothing is coming loose. NOTE look at where your trim ring is mounted to make sure the screws will not hit the rim when you try to put the trim ring back on. I also cleaned and put that marine grease where the trim rims snaps on so hopefully they will come off a little smoother next week when I check my tire pressure.
Front Air dam...I think I might need to put more effort into making it perfect instead of just getting it on there like making the shape like the front of a NASCAR and filling in the bottom of it instead of leaving it open. Integrating or adding wheel splitters in front of the front tires like on Basjoos car as well.
I think this is going to be a pretty good tank of gas as I was at 250 miles as it clicked to 1/2 tank left...I need to re-calibrate my SG II s well since it seems a little optimistic now compared to how it turns out after I fill up...I'll be filling up in the next couple days so we will see.