Quote:
Originally Posted by palmer_md
For this drafting test, do you mean finding a friend with a car and following very closely, or just following somewhat close to any vehicle, or are you talking about following trucks?
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Its a simple and quick test to do if you have an instantaneous mpg gauge on board. Find a flat stretch of road on a windless day, pull up behind a truck and draft him long enough (30 sec to a minute) to get a good idea of your mpg in that mode and speed, then slow down and back well out of his turbulence zone, then speed up to the same speed you were drafting at and note what your mpg is. It only takes a couple of miles of highway and a few minutes of your time. How close you get, consistent with safety, on the drafting portion of the test is up to you, obviously closer is better as far as showing you the ultimate low aeromodded mpg you could get. But you don't need to get all that close, as this test is just for giving you a ballpark figure of the mpg improvement you could expect to get via aeromods and to see if aeromodding is worth doing on your vehicle. When drafting, engine rpm, drivetrain losses, and rolling resistance are unchanged. The only thing that has changed is a reduction of the wind load on the car, which is exactly what you are doing when you lower your Cd via aeromods.