Quote:
Originally Posted by Xist
Garrett Graf commented "How much fuel you would save driving on 4 small spare tires?"
Does anyone know who tried that?
People keep mentioning tailgate up, tailgate down, and mesh instead of a tailgate. I found the clip, which will undoubtedly die eventually, but they said the mesh was 5% more efficient than tailgate up or a tonneau cover: Jamie said that instead of e-mailing them with any further fuel efficiency questions, "Just drive the way you want." |
In the 1990s, SPORT TRUCK Magazine did an extended pickup truck aerodynamics article which included comments by aerodynamicists of many of the truckmakers.
It all came down to case-specific analysis.
GM's Cd 0.14 Aero 2002 of 1983 had 145mm tires, similar to space-saver spares.
Many researches have all indicated for lower drag when discussing tire width. Today's M-B EQXX was kept small and 'light' in order to run 185mm section tires, avoiding wider tires required in more 'massive' vehicles.
Tailgate issues are not universal. What helped an F-150 would hurt a RAM.
I have no reporting which provided evidence of cargo nets reducing drag, only the opposite.
RIVIAN has an OEM tonneau cover, and CYBERTRUCKS drag coefficient.
Had a cargo net been more efficacious, we'd have probably seen a RIVIAN OEM net.