ABA test, Tuft test.
 

I'm new here and have read the forum for a good 10 hours. I've read people doing the ABA test 20 times, but still haven't found the definition of it? Same with the tuft test, but the videos I watched sort of explained this test.

ABA...

A Test without mod.

B Test with mod.

A Test without mod again.

This is to make sure that any gain in economy with the mod isn't due to differences in run conditions (temperature, traffic, wind, etcetera).

Of course, it's not perfect. Some people do ABAB, AABBAA, or even ABABAB.

It's all down to how much time/money/patience you have.

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Tuft test is attaching little dangly things ("tufts") that move in the wind (string, paper streamers, whatever), and photographing/videoing them as you drive the car along. (Errh... best if you have someone follow and photograph/video you.) This lets you see how the air moves along the body of the car... and identify areas that might be improved with mods.

There is a thread on it here :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ery-11445.html

the idea is to test 1 modification and see if it really works.
By taking the mod off and running the test the same way, you can then see if the mod actually had an effect.

After/Before/After

actually, test A is the baseline
test B is the mod
Test A is back to baseline

Thanks, fellas. I was assuming this was an acronym.

The way I do it sometimes, it really is After-Before-After... :D

Tuft testing:

http://us1.webpublications.com.au/st.../1055_13lo.jpg

The tuft that's sticking upright means there is flow separation (bad!)