Commercially produced aerodynamic pickup bed cap

[bondo]

Originally Posted by ajohn7211

Any update Bondo?


And this is kinda in your neck of the woods

A2WT HomePage

No news as of yet. For a major corporation to pull the trigger on a new product, they have to spend some time on things such as feasibility studies and production cost analysis not to mention marketing and sales projections.

The meeting with the major manufacturer went very well. They were a sharp bunch with valid questions. I would very much like to work with this company. They have innovative manufacturing technologies and a nationwide dealer network bolstered by excellent marketing.

I am the most anxious of all to hear from them after five years of hard work and thousands of dollars in legal fees. I will definitely put up a post when I hear something but I expect it to be another two to three weeks before I hear from them.

Tested the Aerolid in the A2 windtunnel in October of 2007. They are a fine bunch of guys with a very fun job to boot!

Thanks to all for your support,

Bondo

[Superdutytd]

I applaud your efforts good sir! I am driving to Boise next weekend (1000 miles round trip) and a 20% reduction in fuel cosumption would save me ~ $50.00. I wish I could your product along with me! This mod even at a modest 15% fuel savings would save me ~750 per year. If I put one on all my work rigs and even if it saved me only 10% on average (50/50 highway city mostly) these would save me 1000's per year.

[JCH]

Will you be making these areo caps for older trucks like mine a 85 F150?

[notjoe9]

Hello all,I am new here (so please forgive me if I say really dumb stuff ;0 )and very happy to have found this site/like minded folks.I have recently become somewhat obsessed with getting max.mpg's.
I have an '03 s-10 that gets around 20mpg (I think).
I really like the areocap idea and have been thinking/planning to try something like this on my s-10,although I am thinking to have the cap meet the bed floor in the rear/eliminating the tailgate altogether , to hopefully reduce the dreaded low pressure area.I realize this is not optimum for hauling cargo,which I rarely do,and am wondering if their is some reason I may have overlooked for not doing this?
I am also planning to put an airdam (?) on the front,starting at the top of the bumper,extending forward a few inches (maybe 4-6) with at least a 45 degree angle downward and back to bottom of bumper in attempt to reduce drag on bumper and shove some air under the truck to give it a little lift (making the truck lighter? while in motion?) and smoothing the underside of truck.
Sooooo if anyone has any experience with any of this and or can see obvious flaws to my plans ,that I do not see or comprehend ,please advise.
And thanks for having such a cool site

[notjoe9]

p.s. Here are a few more ideas,questions concerns,plans. I am wondering if removing my bed all together would save me much (weight wise for in town driving) I 'think I read on here somewhere that the bed for my truck should weight between 200 and 300 lbs.
Also I would love to chop cab height down as much as possible to reduce drag on windshield .
Any thoughts,ideas,advice ?
Thank you,

Notjoe

[HAHA]

The obvious flaw if any, is that a truck is a utility vehicle by design. Deleting the utility from the truck will defeat its´purpose and you will be better served with a normal car optimized for efficiency and comfort.

Having said that, a truck is the ideal mod-platform since you can do just about anything to the body without compromising structural integrity.
One idea I'm contemplating is to take out the bed and build a new aerodynamic bed from scratch. This can be much better than the add-on caps and also retain some utility.

[xx_ED_xx]

Actually what i said earlier but the internet is so slow in afghanistan it didnt go thru..

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by notjoe9

Hello all,I am new here (so please forgive me if I say really dumb stuff ;0 )and very happy to have found this site/like minded folks.I have recently become somewhat obsessed with getting max.mpg's.
I have an '03 s-10 that gets around 20mpg (I think).
I really like the areocap idea and have been thinking/planning to try something like this on my s-10,although I am thinking to have the cap meet the bed floor in the rear/eliminating the tailgate altogether , to hopefully reduce the dreaded low pressure area.I realize this is not optimum for hauling cargo,which I rarely do,and am wondering if their is some reason I may have overlooked for not doing this?
I am also planning to put an airdam (?) on the front,starting at the top of the bumper,extending forward a few inches (maybe 4-6) with at least a 45 degree angle downward and back to bottom of bumper in attempt to reduce drag on bumper and shove some air under the truck to give it a little lift (making the truck lighter? while in motion?) and smoothing the underside of truck.
Sooooo if anyone has any experience with any of this and or can see obvious flaws to my plans ,that I do not see or comprehend ,please advise.
And thanks for having such a cool site

Are you going to cut the bed rails down at an angle from the roofline such that the rear corners and tailgate are completely eliminated?
If that were the case,the contour would be too steep for the boundary layer and you'd have complete separation with no hope of re-attachment,and very high drag.
As far as the airdam goes,it's a no-no to encourage any air to go under the truck.Over and around is okay,but not under.
I removed the bed from my Dodge pickup as an experiment and was rewarded with a 2-mpg loss.So your stock bed may be adding that much to the S-10.
If I had an S-10,I'd modify it to be like the S-10 'EXTREME' produced towards the end of S-10 production then do a cover like bondo has done.His is wind tunnel proven,not to mention,a work of art.Truly aero-sculpted!

[slowmover]

The MY2000 Xtreme is essentially a rear-wheel-drive S-10 pickup that's been lowered two inches; it comes with the ZQ8 suspension and ground effects bodywork.

[phantom 309]

What an interesting read, i like the passion all here have for economy, and i,m cheering for bondo,s hard work to come to fruition,.

Bondo,. the trucking industry has added many aerodynamic add ons to trucks in the last few years, one of the add ons were small arrow shaped diffusers on the side ends of trailers, these diffusers really helped break the vacuum and turbulence at the back of the trailer, the same diffusers were added to the ends of sleeper extensions to aid in the turbulence between truck and trailer,.something about being shaped the same as parts of a whale?
Nature is the leader in any aerodynamic efficiency models,.

add another "w">>ww.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080707222315.htm

wonder how simple additions like this to your design might help?
Why make the box extension so square in shape, and not more kammback style?
I have an old idi turbo diesel 4x4 truck , it regularly gets 19mpg (us gal)

Keep up the great work, your tenacity is inspiring,.

Nick