Quote:
Originally Posted by Phase
Every modern car company is using flat covers or even CONCAVE covers. NO ONE is using the moon cap style
VW XL 1 cover is flat. Hyundai Ioniq hybrids and even their EV successors are flat with a few ventilation holes
Mercedes EQS is flat but slightly CONCAVE inwards.
The Mercedes EQXX- aka the best aero beast on the planet right now- flat covers with a very small concave shape in the middle going inwards
Light year one/zero solar car with .18 CD uses COMPLETELY FLAT fully closed wheel covers.
Literally not one car on the market that’s cd .21 or below and in the last half decade uses those moon cap shapes. The trend tends to be flat. I’ll trust the top aero engineers for low drag cars in the 21st century and all the good CFD software versus old wisdom.
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When Volkswagen, Hyundai, Ford, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, etc., took their 'halo' cars to the Bonneville Salt Flats for land speed record attempts, they ALL selected MOON wheel covers for these record book events.
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Walter Korff, chief aerodynamicist for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation reported in 1963 that the slightly-convex, full-coverage ( MOON ) wheel cover was superior, aerodynamically.
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Anyone who has access to Sighard Hoerner's, 'AERODYNAMIC DRAG', 1951, page-128, Figure 8.14, will see that this is true, and has been known to be true since the 1930s.
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An argument germane to this topic, and of more value to ecomodders would be, the difference between wheels exposed within the wheel arches, and the same, but fully-skirted, which according to Ford Motor Company, quite recently, is what we ought to be interested in if we're really intersted in low drag, and not whether wheel covers are flat, or convex.
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A 'commercial' argument against MOON-esque wheel covers might be found with those who currently manufacture, earn their livelihoods from, or own stock in:
ASA
Advanti DST
ALPHAequipt
ALUTEC
ANZIO
AVARUS
AXIS
BEYERN
Black Rhino
BORBET
Bremmer Kraft
DRAG
Enkei Performance
FLOW ONE
FLOW RACE SPEC
FORGED ONE
FOOSE
GRANITE Alloy
GRID
HELO
KMC
K'O'NIG
Liquidmetal
MAMBA
MB
METHOD RACE WHEELS
MHT
MIRO
moda
MONTE TITANO
MOTE G1
Mottino
MSW
O-Z
PLATINUM
RACELINE
SAVINI
Sparco
SPORT TUNING
SSR
TSW
ULTRA MOTORSPORTS
VERDE
VISION
V'O'XX
Walker Evans Racing
WORX
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' If all cars were designed 100% aerodynamic, would they not all look alike, and the designer have nothing to do?'
H. Schmude, General Motors Corporation, 1963, SAE Congress.
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' Follow the money.' ( 'Deep Throat', 1972 )