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Old 04-15-2012, 12:56 PM   #134 (permalink)
California98Civic
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Coastal Southern California
Posts: 6,299

Black and Green - '98 Honda Civic DX Coupe
Team Honda
90 day: 66.42 mpg (US)

Black and Red - '00 Nashbar Custom built eBike
90 day: 3671.43 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steffen707 View Post
Has anybody tried making their mirrors more aerodynamic by molding more of a teardrop shape in front of the mirror, and then kinda leaving the actual mirror part as the truncated kamaback?

This probably would add more frontal area to the car.
Aerohead once observed that his 1980s Civic saw no change of top speed with or without the mirrors... and he was at a track with top grade sensitive equipment for measurements of speed... Nonetheless. Mine is not a 1980s Civic, so I went ahead and deleted the passenger mirror on the hunch.

For your idea I don't think you'd have to increase frontal area to create more of the "tear drop" "template" shape. But I do wonder if it will work well. My understanding is that the air around the mirrors is quite turbulent already, due to interaction with the "A" pillars. I would wonder then how much benefit you'd really see from improving the design of the mirrors in this way. It might look cool and be a conversation piece about aero mods on your car, but so would removing a mirror, which is simpler. Still... you have to love what you drive and the projects you attempt are part of that... I don't mean to discourage.

You would need something clear enough to allow light and sight, yes? What?
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See my car's mod & maintenance thread and my electric bicycle's thread for ongoing projects. I will rebuild Black and Green over decades as parts die, until it becomes a different car of roughly the same shape and color. My minimum fuel economy goal is 55 mpg while averaging posted speed limits. I generally top 60 mpg. See also my Honda manual transmission specs thread.



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