Tuft test on Civic Wagon front wheel well

[Gasoline Fumes]

MetroMPG's testing on both the Insight and Firefly got me curious about my car.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...eel-23529.html

So I got some string and tape and went for a drive. Sorry about the quality of the pics, I was holding the camera out the window while driving.



Looks pretty good to me! I was going to add more tufts, but got impatient and went for a drive. When I stuck my head out the window, I saw that the tufts were fluttering a little, but hugging the body. I was going probably 35-40 MPH. I see that the air is still getting under the car even with the side skirts.

I later added a tuft in the center of the wheel cover and it acted the same as the ones behind the wheel.

[aerohead]

It does look good! No recirculation at all.

[Weather Spotter]

it looks like the tips were fluttering up and down a bit. if so the are might be detaching.

[MetroMPG]

Looks good - better than the stock Metro/Firefly!

[Otto]

Excellent work!

Favor to ask: Could you do this again, but add tufts to both the wheel/tire, and to the fender in front of the wheel?

That way, we get the whole picture of airflow past the wheel, arch, and fender/body.

I'm especially curious about what the flow does at the 11 o'clock position of the wheel arch in your first picture. This is about where the new BMW air curtain exits, so the entire forward section of the wheel well arch is of interest.

[Gasoline Fumes]

I plan on doing more testing, maybe the whole car. I'll tuft the area you mentioned. I need to make a camera boom or involve a second car. But with Hurricane Sandy on the way, it might be a few days before I can do it.

What is the BMW air curtain?

Anybody know how to see tufts on the front end of the car without the camera car affecting airflow? Is a one lane offset enough?

[Otto]

Originally Posted by Gasoline Fumes

I plan on doing more testing, maybe the whole car. I'll tuft the area you mentioned. I need to make a camera boom or involve a second car. But with Hurricane Sandy on the way, it might be a few days before I can do it.

What is the BMW air curtain?

Anybody know how to see tufts on the front end of the car without the camera car affecting airflow? Is a one lane offset enough?

Do a search on this website for BMW air curtain--I posted a linky several days ago. Basically uses ram air from the nose, routed via duct to leading edge of front wheel arch and vented via slot--makes a jet of air which counters and screens the turbulence thrown off by the front tire. Next time you're driving on the freeway in the rain, look at other vehicles for the mist cloud in that area, where the tire throws off air which smacks into the air whipping around the side of the car, big draggy. Air curtain counters/isolates this, less draggy.

If you have a laptop computer, could use a lipstick camera out on a broomstick for videos, secured by duct tape, to film the tuft tests at speed. Otherwise, maybe rig up some sorta mount using suction cups from Harbor Freight @ ~$3, applied to sheet metal on hood or doors.