Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG
It's also one of the better/most comprehensive studies I'm aware of.
The author concludes that, on average, it's best to tell all pickup owners to leave the tailgate up.
If you read the report, the most accurate answer to the question is: "it depends".
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Color me "less than impressed." I wonder if they squeezed this into a free weekend (based on how much
these guys nissan{from GS} did in a day ). It would have been real interesting to see the DeltaCd of an "triangular" and "curved" tonneau cover.
Reading through it only once, I'm a bit unsure about their weighting function. The 8ft bed average (Table 2 & 3) showed decreases in drag for tailgate down in comparison to the tailgate up. Whereas the data (figure 6) shows it's less for the 0-10 deg yaw area that composes the most probable conditions (figure 5) that I (skimming) conclude they are calculating the average from (55-65mph ~ 90% of likely conditions).
Also, figure "5f" which should actually be "6f" doesn't agree with the data shown in figure 8.
Anyone got the height from the bed to the top of the cab for an '01 F150 on hand?