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Old 07-21-2008, 09:51 AM   #14 (permalink)
twentysixtwo
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Join Date: Feb 2008
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There was a SAE paper from some years ago which very clearly said that for larger trucks, gate up was better than gate down, though tonneau cover was better than either.

For smaller trucks (ranger sized) Gate up and gate down were fairly close though gate up still slightly better, I thing the length of the bed had some interaction. Tonneau cover still best.

I'd really shy away from the nets. I don't have any hard data, but 2 semesters of fluid mechanics and a year working in automotive aerodynamics give me the gut feeling that it's going to be much worse than gate up or gate down. Louvers are likely to have a similar effect to a net, though with perhaps less turbulance (and therefore better FE tan a netting gate)


I'd love for someone to post some coastdown numbers.

p.s. Mythbusters is total crap in their methodology.
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