Sunday I decided to test the Rocket Tabs, which I had been sitting in my passenger seat for I don't know how many weeks now. I started driving to the flattest place I know in the state, a man-made land bridge between Milton and Grand Isle (which isn't really even all that flat), but encountered a problem on my way - about 20 minutes from home, my 12v battery died on the highway, first noted when my turn signals caused rear view camera screens to turn on and off. Turned out one of the wires carrying ~200+ volts from my rectifier had come loose, and my battery wasn't charging. By the time I noticed my battery was already below 10v and would not turn the starter. I repaired this and made a phone call to AAA. Estimated wait was 3 hours for a jump start, so I canceled, got out of the car, got a running start pushing it, jumped in the driver seat and dropped the clutch. Onward!
Sunday was beautiful - around 50F, clear skies, only the faintest breath of wind. To do my test I decided to drive back and forth across the land bridge with cruise control set at 50mph. Windows would be cracked, radio off. I'd get up to speed, reset the FCD, cruise for around 2.5 miles, and record my fuel economy. Pre-tabs I recorded the following:
A-B 93.7mpg
B-A 88.1mpg
A-B 91.6mpg
B-A 88.3mpg
Average: 90.4mpg (2.60L/100km), with variation of 2.1mpg (~2%) on the A-B trips, and 0.2mpg (~0%) on the B-A trips.
Here was my route:
I pulled over to apply the tabs, only to discover that the tabs do not come with any adhesive. I probably noted this some weeks back and forgot. And, unfortunately, the only thing I had in my car was a roll of duct tape, which would completely envelop the tabs and ruin any potential effectiveness. So, I was unable to complete my test. If the weather is good next weekend I'll try again, this time more prepared.
Some numbers to consider though:
OP claims an improvement of up to 20%, and that his wife's Rogue improved from 22mpg (10.7L/100km) to 27-28mpg (8.6L/100km) with the tabs, or around 25%. If my Insight were to improve 20%, I could expect to see an improvement from 90.4mpg to 108.5mpg.
For comparison, MetroMPG built a full boat tail on his Insight and saw an improvement of 9.7% at 50mph, and probably far less in mixed driving.
The other potential is to see a fixed amount of fuel savings from this mod (one that doesn't scale with vehicle size). OP's wife experienced a reduction of 2.1L/100km with the tabs (from 10.7 to 8.6). If I were to see the same 2.1L/100km improvement in my Insight, I could expect 470mpg at 50mph.
~
Anyhow, I figure I can review the presentation and packaging of the tabs, at least.
The tabs shipped (for free! thanks!) in a standard US mail envelope. They came in an appropriately sized plastic bag with a nice looking business card with contact information. I measured them to be 23mm on the long side and a thickness of approximately 1.5mm, with the shape of a right triangle. They're all very regular in size and resemble the sort of rubber-foam I've seen backing a couple of mouse pads over the years. I expect they'd hold up in fair weather but would also expect to lose them if used over winter. The package included 32 tabs - enough to put 8 on the outside of each tire.
Some pictures:
Again, hoping for some beautiful weather again next weekend to do some driving.
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