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Old 06-22-2008, 12:30 AM   #1 (permalink)
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Thumbs up cheap areo fix! (wash & wax your car)

one way to increase mpg is to wash your car and wax it. this will reduce air resistance thus increase mpgs!!!

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Old 06-22-2008, 12:35 AM   #2 (permalink)
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Got any data to back that up?
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Old 06-22-2008, 12:45 AM   #3 (permalink)
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Actually, I have read that several times before too.

BUT ...this comes from sources that apparently do not research the concept.

Sorry to tell you ... but it's myth.

I haven't seen you post before. Welcome to the forums !
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Old 06-22-2008, 12:30 PM   #4 (permalink)
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HotRod magazine did a thing on aerodynamics at a windtunnel location, & the 'expert' that runs the windtunnel says a dirty car has the same drag as a clean car, it makes no difference

it doesn't say it here, this is the article, but the online articles tend to leave out stuff thats in the magazine

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/b...ips/index.html
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Old 06-22-2008, 01:00 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Quote:
one way to increase mpg is to wash your car and wax it. this will reduce air resistance thus increase mpgs!!!
It is true for a lear jet. A car does not go fast enough to make a difference.
The boundary layer on a car is thicker than the roughness of the dirt film.
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Old 06-22-2008, 01:09 PM   #6 (permalink)
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alcivic -

I have head that this is true for airlines because they are able to save fuel doing this. I don't think it translates to cars because they don't travel fast enough. Didn't UPS have an ad where they were washing their big brown jets a long time ago?

Here is the only tangential example I could find :

Clean Drives Airline Fuel Efficiency - June 10, 2008
http://greentechnolog.com/2008/06/cl...fficiency.html
Quote:
... "American and Southwest are washing a handful of jet engines each night, a process that used to happen only during thorough maintenance overhauls. Southwest figures it has already saved $1.6 million in fuel costs since April by reducing the drag caused by dirt and debris. " ...
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Old 06-22-2008, 01:33 PM   #7 (permalink)
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I always believed the opposite.
A dirty car,(not filthy and covered in droppings) would get slightly better CdA.
Similar to the way dimples on a golf ball work.
Now somebody (not me, too lazy) is gonna hafta research.
Schultz.
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Old 06-22-2008, 01:53 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by metroschultz View Post
I always believed the opposite.
A dirty car,(not filthy and covered in droppings) would get slightly better CdA.
Similar to the way dimples on a golf ball work.
Now somebody (not me, too lazy) is gonna hafta research.
Schultz.
Well I think Im just going just to leave well enough alone with my hood thats been rough and sun faded since I bought the car 5 years ago.
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Old 06-22-2008, 02:27 PM   #9 (permalink)
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Speed of a golf ball:
Quote:
Before I began the optimization process, I hit more than 100 balls on the range to get loose. At the launch monitor I started with my 7-degree Ping driver. The computer showed my ball speed was 150 miles per hour, my launch angle 14 degrees and my spin rate 4,400 revolutions per minute.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...4/ai_101967391
Faster than my driving. Tiger Woods gets up to 180 - 200.
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Old 06-22-2008, 08:54 PM   #10 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by malibuguy View Post
HotRod magazine did a thing on aerodynamics at a windtunnel location, & the 'expert' that runs the windtunnel says a dirty car has the same drag as a clean car, it makes no difference

it doesn't say it here, this is the article, but the online articles tend to leave out stuff thats in the magazine

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/b...ips/index.html
That's the source that I was going to use.

Also, windshield angle steeper than 45 degrees is just for 'looks' It does nothing to improve the cars drag - ( that one really took me by surprise! )

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