How did you attach your smooth hub cap cover ??

[brucey]

2 months, 7000 miles, and my tape is still holding up fine:



Plus I still have full access to my valve stem and lug nuts. Woo!

[sl2eggplant]

Alright, so I couldn't wait and picked up some coroplast from a local sign shop ($10 for 4x4 sheet). I'm too lazy to take a few pictures, transfer them, and upload them ... so I made a quick "stick" diagram. Currently, I am using the design version 1 shown in attached picture. I take off my tires quite often so I really like design version 2 plus it looks a bit "cleaner" (just thought of it while install version 1).

If things work out, I will be keeping what I have b/c it was difficult drawing and cutting perfect circles with a pair scissors.



Robertsmalls, I purchased a radiator fan controller thingy (temperature probe connected to a dial that shorts a circuit based on temperature). Ideally, I want to leave my little computer fan on only when the engine is on, but don't know what to hook up to right now. I want to use my radiator fan controller to control my radiator fan. So far, these two items are "manually" switched on and have taken a back seat to my aero mods and fine tuning my HAI.

CFG, thats a nice design, but I can't use it for coroplast or the pizza pan b/c both are too flat. I'm sure it works better with the plastic tray since that extends outward properly covering the plastic lug nut. Do you still have your plastic tray setup or did you switch to a different material / setup. Also, have you noticed any mpg improvement, I'm curious since we both have Saturns.

NeilB, thats a different approach that I have not heard of yet. Attached is a pizza pan design with a similar approach. The idea is to use a hose clamp to tighten the pizza pan onto the steel wheel.

[mcrews]

CarloSW2,

You know, they DO make finger extensions that ARE annotomicly(you know...flesh-like) correct????

Nothing personal mind you.

I'm sure the girls all love it!!!!

(Frank Lee........Help me HERE!!!!)

[mcrews]

Originally Posted by brucey

2 months, 7000 miles, and my tape is still holding up fine:



Plus I still have full access to my valve stem and lug nuts. Woo!

brucey,
That is one BADAXX lookin EcomodderMobile!!!!!!


we gotta change your screen name tooo!!! lol

[cfg83]

sl2eggplant -

Originally Posted by sl2eggplant

...

CFG, thats a nice design, but I can't use it for coroplast or the pizza pan b/c both are too flat. I'm sure it works better with the plastic tray since that extends outward properly covering the plastic lug nut. Do you still have your plastic tray setup or did you switch to a different material / setup. Also, have you noticed any mpg improvement, I'm curious since we both have Saturns.

...

When I finished this I was in the middle of a good run. Unfortunately things got really hectic at work since the start of February and I have been unable to sustain the "rut" I need to infer gains or losses. For instance, now I am commuting, which adds weight and compromises my driving style.

I would claim that a good wheel cover design can get you +.01 Cd :



PS - I like your wheel cover design and I agree that a flat wheel cover is not compatible with my design. I have been looking for *years* for a tray like the one I am using. I did a similar design to yours before my current one in this thread. While not impossible, you will find that a small hole for the valve stem will leave you vulnerable to having the cap fall *behind* the wheel cover when you take it off (@#%*^@#*%*&#). You can solve this with :

1 - A bigger hole so that you can get a better hold on the valve stem cap or ...

2 - A valve stem cap shaped like a nut. This will allow you to unscrew it with an appropriately-sized socket. The "trick" is to put a (flat coin-shaped) magnet inside the valve stem cap so that the cap stays "stuck" to the socket.

Kinda silly, I know, but it worked.

CarloSW2

[gone-ot]

...one of the "best" endorsements for "smooth" racing wheels is that fact that they're almost de'rigure on all Bonneville speed-record vehicles.

...MOON™ makes most that I've seen, but they lack access to the tire valve stem, a necessity for "street" use.

[brucey]

McCrews: Thanks for the compliments, but whats wrong with my name? lol

SL2: I don't know if that velcro will hold up for more than a few hundred miles. Why not eliminate the 2 discs altogether and just ziptie one disc directly to the wheel? The zip ties will be exposed but it won't be that big of a deal compared to the simplicity of it.

[sl2eggplant]

Brucey,
I think I am going to keep the one disc design with black duct tape over the holes. I'm trying to save my left over coroplast for something worthwhile ... rear side skirt, extra pair of hub caps, partial grill cover, or air diverter for front wheels ... I wish I had more coroplast.

CFG,
I notice that your getting about 41-42 mpg on the Saturn. What is your drive like. My goal is to break 50 mpg with all highway and 40 mpg on my daily route (one way is 24 highway, 4 highway w/construction (can't wait till its over), and 3-4 city) . I'm in the process of making a body pan while studying for an exam. I'm leaning towards wood since it should be cheaper to make, will hold up for a couple of years, and allow me to find some better materials in the meantime.

[ShadeTreeMech]

I was planning on getting some thin Plexi and using silicone sealant to hold them in place. sure, you'd have to peel them off when it's time to remove the tires, but it wouldn't be that difficult. And clear silicone is pretty cheap.

While Bonneville cars all have these wheel covers, I suspect they go a bit quicker than we do, and I think air resistance at 200 mph is 16 times the resistance at 50 mph (correct me if I'm mistaken--if it quadruples when speed is doubled, and I doubled the speed twice, 4x4=16, but I may not understand it fully)

Either way, aero drag is a HUGE factor at their speed. Not to say it wouldn't help, but I wonder if skirts wouldn't have a bigger benefit, especially at our speeds.

[cfg83]

sl2eggplant -

Originally Posted by sl2eggplant

Brucey,
I think I am going to keep the one disc design with black duct tape over the holes. I'm trying to save my left over coroplast for something worthwhile ... rear side skirt, extra pair of hub caps, partial grill cover, or air diverter for front wheels ... I wish I had more coroplast.

CFG,
I notice that your getting about 41-42 mpg on the Saturn. What is your drive like. My goal is to break 50 mpg with all highway and 40 mpg on my daily route (one way is 24 highway, 4 highway w/construction (can't wait till its over), and 3-4 city) . I'm in the process of making a body pan while studying for an exam. I'm leaning towards wood since it should be cheaper to make, will hold up for a couple of years, and allow me to find some better materials in the meantime.

I am in Los Angeles, so it's hard to get good MPG on a consistent basis, which is my goal. Here are my "all time best" MPGs on my commute :

home to work = 59.8143 mpg AVG (US)

work to home = 53.625 mpg AVG (US)

What you see here is the part of my commute that bolsters everything else. I am cherry-picking the best mileage so that I can cross-reference what is working for me on any given day. I actually drive maybe 7 miles on city-streets to get to the freeway in order to avoid downtown LA traffic. On the way home I get off the freeway and drive another 7+ miles home, but thats going *uphill*, so it's always a net loss. These also represent off-peak driving where I am able to avoid traffic jams most of the time.

My hope this summer was to crack 45 MPG over a 90 day interval. Each year I have been able to add 1 MPG, but that is all gone with commuting. In my new situation I hope to "stabilize" at 40 MPG over 90 days. But commuting is better for the environment, and a 45 MPG average with mostly 1 person in the car is a lesser thing than 40 MPG with two people in the car part of the time.

CarloSW2