Quote:
Originally Posted by davelobi
Hi all, brand new here. Been reading for the last couple of days. What an overload of usefull information. I drive very conservative in all my vehicles including my gas hungry Suburban. I don't currently own a gas mizer but expect to again soon. I was able to break 50 mpg in a 2000 Saturn SL 5 speed with high pressure in tires and lots of coasting (forgot what you called the speed up/coast method). I drove my passengers nuts and it was fun.
I, in my limited knowledge and light amount of reading here so far, believe that the biggest (changeable) factors in increasing economy would be weight, frontal area, drag, and rolling resistance (both mechanical and tires).
I'm not quite willing (ha ha, yet) to add a boat tail or pointed front end on my car and (at this point) do not want to add an entire underbody with plasticor. I am considering wheel skirts for the rear wheels as they can remain flush with the body.
My initial question then is two-fold..
1) Is an airdam on the front worth the additional frontal area if it moves air around the car vs going under it in the "dirty" high drag underbody?
2) Is there enough value to do sections of the underbody with plasticor if I don't do the entire area under the car? I mean are there areas that could be done a little easier, especially certain areas that are higher in drag ("dirty") than others?
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speed up coast down method has 2 familiar names Pulse and Glide and Burn and Coast.
If your in the suburban and air dam would help, but in the Saturn it probably wont do much. The biggest thing is to look level with the lowest part of the bumper and see if there is alot of parts in the way or not.
If you have a fwd car a belly pan would help the most if extended just pass the tranny without an airdam. As wear with a rwd the axle and driveshaft cause more drag than the rear setup of a fwd were a belly pan would benefit more