Aero suggestions for my car
 

I think I have pretty much maximized FE in my car with driving style changes. I am on to aerodynamic modifications now.

This is a picture of a car that looks exactly like mine. Paint and spoiler are even the same!

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/...8021990105.jpg

Another car that looks similar to mine

http://www.auto.vl.ru/catalog_photos...alant_1959.jpg

Front end view (best i could find)

http://images.cars.com/main/DMI/176855/1300.jpg

I was surprised to read that this car has a .29 cd stock. So far I have blocked the two eyelet pieces of the grill using cardboard and some zipties. I plan to block off the bottom also.

Other mods:

Wheel skirts

Mirror delete - I am not sure how I will solve wiring for the mirrors. I only want them off temporarily... will there be cords blowing in the wind?

Perhaps wheel covers? These are alloy wheels, will it be possible to cover them??

Mods I am not handy enough to even attempt:

Boattail
Belly pan

Thanks in advance guys. If you could help point out some of the sources of drag on this car I might be able to work from there.

edit: The hood on my car has a factory designed hump in it on the drivers side. It was exclusive to the DOHC cars. Unfortunately I can't fix that. It does add a little bit of uniqueness to the car though.

Mud flaps
 

It looks like your mud flaps are smaller than mine were. Mine were like little parachutes.
I took the front flaps off, but the rear flaps left a big hole, so I cut them down.
Here's a URL.

HondaSUV Forums - Discussion forum and bulletin board for Honda CR-V, CRV, Element, Pilot, HR-V owners - View Single Post - Got a new SGII (ScanGauge-II w/ X-Gauge)

I also blocked out about 70% of my grill air intakes.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-crv-2563.html
So far this summer, the water temp is staying in the normal range.

Say goodbye to Mr. Spoiler.

How do you feel about lowering the car with a spring kit?

Hello,

Does your car have foflights, or not? Either way, flush covers for them would help.

An upper grill block\wedge would also help.

Maybe metal foil tape on the wheels?

Add a deflector for the wiper trough?

Does your car have a power antenna?

A rather large source of drag ( yes, drag) in any rolling body is the rolling resistance of the tires. This "backward push" is another force to be lowered or eliminated in the quest for higher efficiency. Tires have a resistance to rolling which can be greatly lowered. This might take a bit of self-discipiline to swallow...have you noticed (on the tire sidewall) the warning : "Max Press..."? Why is it always 36 psi? All cars, all corners, all sizes? This is not logical...thus, I started to think this matter thru. What I finally came up with is quite simple...the tire cos. want you to keep your fear of high pressure
( left over from bias-ply tires...which wore the center of the tread if much over 32 psi was put in) intact so ... the tires will wear out sooner. After all, the replacement tire market thrives on wear. Doesn't it?
Back to tread wear...with the intro of the radial tire, everything changed. The radial belt in the tread area acted like a tank tread. Tread bowing / deflection? Not likely. When steel tire cord was introduced, it became a moot point. But the sidewall warning was still there. Now it was / is 36 psi for cars.
Without going into all the details, I'll just say what I do ( and have done for many years ) ...I set the cold pressure... at all 4 corners, on both my cars, to 44 psi. Check 'em with a broom handle thump once in a while ( looking for that nail leak) and reset the pressure every week or so. My tire tread lasts longer than the sidewalls (ozone checking) and , after 7 years, the tires need replacing anyhow. The ride? Not bad. The grip? Great! The rolling resistance is notably less...the car creeps easier than ever. The harshness? I can live with a slight increase in "road feel". Wet traction? Great! Heat build-up? Less! Which means longer tread life. Fear of blowouts? LOL! NTSA specs say "No" to failures at these low pressures.
My conclusions? I buy tires less often than I ever have. And I relax at high speed knowing my tire "footprints" are flat and true.
Try it...you'll like it. -whitevette
P.S. The rear spoiler? You don't want to get caught at the speed which begins to show any effect ; ie, it's drag.

My car does have fog lights like the 3rd picture car. They are recessed about half an inch.

My car originally came with a power antenna however it broke off and is now replaced with a regular antenna. I cannot remove it because the radio is the only music I get for my 300 mile trips (my cd player is broken).

Metal foil sounds like a possibility. How much is it, and will it strip the paint from the wheels if removed?

I will get to work on a wiper cover and finishing the grille block. I have yet to find any coroplast, so it is taking me longer than I would like. I'm also considering an airdam since I'm not able to make a belly pan.

I posted a question regarding the spoiler on another FE website, and several people said the spoiler might actually be helping my FE?

Whitevette,

The tires are in my list of things to do. My the rear end of my car was out of alignment and was wearing thru tires rather quickly, so I have different tires on front and back. My front tires have a sidewall rating of 36 psi. One of the back tires has a rating of 44 psi, and another 55 psi. I have the front tires at 36 and the rear tires at 44, though I would like to buy a set of tires which I can fill up to 60 psi (i only get used tires though)

The 55 psi is a uniroyal. I have heard they are the best brand for longevity. Can anyone back this up? What is the best brand of tires to get for FE?

Spoilers like this are designed to create downforce, which creates drag. Given the speeds most cars operate at they are decorative doodads. The key to sedans like yours is letting the airflow from the roof flow down to the decklid and smoothly slide off the back. Spoilers create turbulance. That's why they are called spoilers.

tire pressure
 

At 25 % overinflation,your tires would only net you a 1% improvement in mpg,something difficult to even measure at the pump.Your ride would be all shot to hell,and road shocks normally absorbed with the sidewall,would be transmitted into the cabin,making for noise and harshness.
I'd recommend you cold inflate your tires to whatever Mitsubishi specifies for the Galant.If you're going to run at continuous high speed (75-mph or over ),I believe your owner's manual will suggest an additional 3-psi can be added.Tire manufacturers recommend that you do not exceed the maximum pressure embossed on the sidewall.Your recommended pressures are set for braking-bias,and it is a safety,control, and stablity issue for the vehicle.When you shop for the new tires,you may be able to obtain rolling-force -coefficients to help you shop for the lowest LLR tires.Some LLR tires have half the tread- life of conventional steel all-season radials.You may want to do a life-cycle cost analysis before you buy.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. All totally wrong. Such is the nature of the anecdodal response. I'm speaking from 13+ years of corporate R&D tire cord work. :thumbup:

aerohead,

Thank you for the caveats involved in over inflating the tires. I have no plan put an extreme amount of air in the tires I currently have. However, the next set of tires I buy will be purchased with FE in mind. I am not concerned with ride quality or jarring from the road. My 320 mile trip is traveled alone so I do not have to worry about keeping passengers happy. Even though I am driving on the Interstate, I drive 55 tops unless I am coasting off of a hill.

Bad news on the mirror deletes. I had hoped to take them on and off between trips. Unfortunately I have to remove the entire door panel to get to them.

Yeah, my mirrors are similarly set up. Fortunately it's not something I haven't done before while changing speakers. Check on your mirror setup for wiring: mine has an in-door wiring connection presumably to make swapping mirrors easier.

+1 to doing something with those mud flaps. Boat-tail them maybe?

Upper grill block should be pretty easy with such a small area to cover.

wrong wrong wrong
 

Sorry ol' chap,you'll have to take that one up with the Society of Automotive Engineers.I'm just the messenger.

Hi All,

This tire pressure thing has been an ongoing debate between the AAA and Cleanmpg. Wayne Gerdes pointed out that Police driving instructors recommend setting the pressure at cold max sidewall pressure, as whitevette recommends. He references a police driving training website, Police & Law Enforcement - Officer.com Police News, Forums, Links and More for Police Officers, Law Enforcement, Corrections, Sheriffs and More.

Michelin has an article which has been on some tire store websites, that demonstrates that higher tire pressures are superior for aqua-planing resistance.

And of course the more the side-wall flex, the more its going to heat up and the more its gong disipate rolling resistance. Just take a piece of stiff rubber tubing and flex it 45 degrees 20 times, feel the temp at the flex point, then do it again at 90 degrees, warmer. And one of the conclusions of the Explorer tire blow-out roll overs was that the placard pressure - 28 PSI (Yikes!) was too low for safe operation of the tires.

Most of the hypermilers in Prius' are running 42/40 at least, and some are up around 50 psi. I run 44/42 right now, and am closing in on a 68 mpg tank (at 68.6 right now, 550 miles into the tank). 44 PSI is the sidewall rating of the Michelin Hydroedge tires on my car.

Hi All,

That said, pickup trucks are probably different. Pickup truck tires have load ratings for the hauling weight of the vehicle, and that hauling weight is allot more than the unloaded weight. In a car the loaded weight is much less in comparison to the unloaded wieght.

44 PSI in pickup truck tires may crown the patch. Not in a most cars however. Especially a Prius, which has low load rating, in comparison to the cars weight. My 300 pound lighter Saturn SL2 used the same tire load rating.

my moms 03 seirra es cab 4x4 , recommends 50 psi front and rear, per the door sticker.

I removed my radio antenna, and realized zero additional MPG.

^probably too small to see with instrumentation. An antenna isn't a lot of "stuff" to cut through the air usually unless you've got a Jack head sitting on top. I still removed my antenna to remove that small sliver of drag and because I don't really listen to the radio (and when I do, I can still receive the stations normally)

just 4 things to remember about FE (that I've come to learn):
> driving style
> aerodynamics
> tires
> weight

address something from every area and you might do better FE in the long run. But as with all things, test and experiment first before you go all-in. If its a small impact you might not even notice without a tankful or two. Keep records of what you're doing and how you're doing them both with and without the modifications.

(basic control-vs-variable testing with repetition and minimized external influences)