Kia Optima front bumper cover
 

My car is a 2004 Kia Optima with the 2.7l V6. When I first got the car I was getting an average of 22.5 mpg after some modifications I have gotten it up to 27.3 mpg. This is my first attempt at an areodynamic mod. I basically made a NASCAR style front bumper for my car. Aluminum flashing and duct tape...I just wanted to see how well it would work before I invested alot into it. This mod got my mpg up to 30.2.

I will try to attach pictures later.... it was not working out tonight.

Well I dont have enough posts under my belt to put up my pictures.

So, you basically smoothed over the existing cover, or made an airdam extension?

Yes...I used to two screws holding the license plate on to hold the center and went down to the ground. Not a strong enough design to be permanet, I just wanted to test it to see if the mpg gained would be worth putting my time into a permanent/better looking solution.

Its no longer on my car. My wife said that it was Laughibly ugly.

These photos are after 150 miles and some "on the fly" side of the road adjustments.

http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/...50/nascar2.jpg

This is my first areo mod, I normally experiment with things that involve engine efficiency. My VOLO chip has been my best purchase so far.

If it works, who cares how it looks?:) I've been thinking of doing something similar, but I'm not sure if it would be better to go with an airdam like that (which wouldn't increase frontal area too much, as the car is already lowered 2"), or smooth the underside.

Perhaps you could find a happy medium....put paint matching chloroplast to cover all the top grill openings in between the chrome slats, maybe even cover up the fog light vent openings and some of the lower grill openings too (Scangauge II temperature monitoring permitting of course) ... then it wouldn't look so much..."testing" mode.

You could try some " stealth" mods like a full bellypan and a grille block to the back of the grille.
Paint it flat black and only you will know its there.

( Many cars come factory fitted with flat black closed off grilles that are " fake" , the Ford Focus for example has a large part blocked off. No one except we ecomodders even notice ! )
http://media.caranddriver.com/images...s-original.jpg

And air dams can be moved under the bumper so they don't show much, if at all, from the front.

A silly looking cover if Ive seen one :)

Yes this is my next plan...to make it look better. Now that I know how well it works I dont mind investing some more money and time. As far as monitoring the temperature and other sensors on the car I have an OBDII to Bluetooth adapter that communicates with an app on my phone which allows me to watch everything. Very cool app called Torque.