Quote:
Originally Posted by serialk11r
So moon disks and pizza pans are great and all but some people do care about brake cooling, and many people (not here) think covered wheels look weird. So I was thinking, there are aero spoke bicycle wheels, why not cars? Would the improvements be too small?
Some cars already come with "aero spokes", in that the spokes get a lot wider as they hit the edge of the wheel where the air would be moving the fastest.
Painted black, spoke fairings could look pretty good IMO. Kind of like if you took these concept wheels and made the black bits bigger:
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A typical stamped steel wheel has a windage drag which adds 0.005 to a car.
With spokes,there'd be increased windage since it's a primitive 'fan.'
At zero crosswind,the entire wheel is for the most part shielded,shredding the air next to it,air blowing through it,and by it.
In a crosswind,the windward and leeward sides of the car will see different effects.
A void cannot support airflow.Without a full wheel cover there must be turbulence there.
If your not going to skirt the openings you're never gonna get low drag anyway,so maybe it's unimportant whether or not the spokes are 'optimized.'
Ford's concept truck wheels have active shutters which close during highway operation.They evoke the testosteronephilia at rest,then go full-girl when underway.