I finished mounting the side skirts
ABA Testing
2 mile stretch of freeway
got up to speed at 60mph...set cruise control...reset the trip meters on my torque app at pre determined start and end points
68*F outside temp
1:00am at night (so the freeway is clear of traffic)
SKIRT ON - total average: 26.65mpg
Direction 1:
27.6
28.8
28.3
Direction 2:
24.9
25.3
25.1
SKIRT OFF - total average 26.79 mpg
Direction 1:
28.6
29.4
29.1
Direction 2 :
24.2
24.7
24.6
24.7
Skirt ON - Total average 26.5 mpg
Direction 1:
29.7
28.2
28.7
Direction 2:
24.1
24.1
24.8
Skirt ON: 26.575 mpg
Skirt OFF: 26.79 mpg
That's only a 0.215 mpg difference between skirt off vs skirt on. So it appears inconclusive as to the effectivness of the side skirts.
Some observations:
as the night wore on, i noticed at the air was getting more foggy...thus increased moisture in the air causing more air drag at the end of the testing vs at the beginning of testing.
My first "skirt on" run..i didnt use my torque app's gps to record the speed when setting the cruise control...i just "eyeballed" the analog speedometer when setting the cruise control. Therefore, the cruise control might have been fluctuating between 59mph to 61 mph...thus scewing the results.
Final Thoughts:
1) the skirts by themselves may not help improve mpg, rather, i would need to add a front, middle, and rear underbelly tray to really take advantage of the side skirts
2) even if i do experience a 0.2mpg hit...i'll keep them on because they look really cool!
