(Originally written August 11/06)
You often hear people talking about removing side mirrors to reduce drag. Is it effective or worthwhile? That's what this thread is about.
Still that thread seemed to run out of steam. I'd like this one to perhaps lead to more concrete numbers, maybe encourage an experiment or 2 to confirm...)- Both the Civic VX and Metro XFi eschewed outside passenger side mirrors. Cost savings could have easily been the reason on both cars (mirrors on both sides weren't as commonplace in the 80's and early 90's as they are now).
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- Phil Knox ran his aero-modded CRX at Bonneville, and says removing his side mirrors made no measurable difference in his top speed (radar-measurement)
Yahoo! Groups
Yet so many aero concept cars omit the mirrors. For example...
GM's PNGV concept car
Quote:
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Instead of outside side mirrors, the car uses tiny cameras — a set-up similar to that seen on the Cadillac Evoq concept car unveiled at the 1999 North American International Auto Show. "We knew we couldn't afford the 30 counts of drag, so we went with camera mirrors," said George Claypole, Vehicle Integration Engineer for GM's Advanced Technology Vehicles. - Automotive Engineering International Online
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So there we have mirror drag quantified: "30 counts of drag" - which if I'm not mistaken means Cd ".03". Seems overly large to me, but there it is.
Anyone have their Cd formula handy for their vehicle want to translate that to FE savings at various speeds?