Tested: Pickup Truck Mirrors

[CoastRider]

I wonder how effective just folding the mirrors in when not towing, and using a small inside mount mirror would be?

[Christ]

Actually, I think it's in the HotRod magazine article that was referenced in the thread about extreme windshield angles that features the car from Tango & Cash. (Is it really from that movie? I don't remember it.)

I also have read an article somewhere, but it was awhile back, and I can't recall what I even thought about the article anymore, nor where I read it. It could very well have been garbage, but it's fun to poke a stick in the spokes and make people think sideways for a minute, anyway.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by CoastRider

I wonder how effective just folding the mirrors in when not towing, and using a small inside mount mirror would be?

When I folded my mirrors in on Cara, I noticed that there is enough room for a thin wide angle mirror there on the side of it... which would be plenty to check lanes for highway driving.

[Big Dave]

Yeah, yeah. I’ll edit the typo. Let me work on pics. My little Kodak takes big-file .jpg photos that this site does not easily digest.

Long-term testing vs Scanguage is mostly a matter of philosophy. Beyond the fact that Scanguage is completely befuddled if you mess with the PCM (which I do) it is really just a one-shot “snapshot” of a condition you may or may not be able to duplicate. My test is faithful to what a real-world driver could get.

I have developed my test methods over a number of years. August is the optimal time for testing as it tends to be very dry here. My travel times generally dodge traffic delays due to school busses and I don’t test if there is road work (there are only two seasons in Indiana: road repair and basketball) to foul things up. I essentially drive the posted limit plus or minus 2 MPH. My hypermiling is moderate and very consistent – mostly consisting of coasting in very specific places - and I scrupulously make sure I do that hypermiling for both cases. My margin of error is actually more like 0.25 MPG. The difference here is well outside that.

Surprisingly, the “paddle” mirrors are not much smaller than the TT mirrors – maybe 10%. They do live a lot closer to the door than the TT mirrors do.

[Christ]

Dave -

For the pictures, if you use the album feature, it will auto-resize them for you, and then you just link the pics to the thread you're using them in.

Either that, or get a photobucket account or something, and you can link them from there too. It's free, either way.

[winkosmosis]

You should test with the mirrors extended. That would make the mirrors more independent aerodynamically, instead of taking the already accelerated flow off the windshield and pushing it outward.

[my first gmc]

I have these:

They're way smaller than stock, and are made for almost any truck you can think of. Never tested for any mpg increases though.

[MadisonMPG]

Originally Posted by Christ

Don't forget the case with certain GM cars where removing the mirrors is actually worse for aero.

I can't find the article at the moment, but I believe it was newer Impala and Malibu Classic models that would suffer from mirror removal.

I want to see it.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by MadisonMPG

I want to see it.

It's in this article from HotRod.. I posted that with some sarcasm, because I can't find any evidence of it other than a reference to it in that article.

Originally Posted by HOT ROD MAGAZINE

the outside rearview mirrors: Factory mirrors hanging off the doors are almost always obstacles to airflow. The '94-up Chevy Impalas and Caprices are notable exceptions; on those cars, the Cd actually gets worse when you remove the mirrors.
Improvement: 10 to 20 counts of drag

[cfg83]

Christ and Big Dave -

Originally Posted by Christ

Dave -

For the pictures, if you use the album feature, it will auto-resize them for you, and then you just link the pics to the thread you're using them in.

Either that, or get a photobucket account or something, and you can link them from there too. It's free, either way.

The album feature is great. If you don't want to do that and you have Windows, even the primitive MSPaint has an "Image -> Stretch/Skew" option to get the job done. You just need to get the image below 127 KB.

CarloSW2