Will this shark fin antenna help?
 

i have the antenna on my car unscrewed but the base is still there will this help my mpg?
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no Its a lot bigger, I doubt you could see a real world difference anyways.

+ 0.025 mpg max IMO

You can make a wing shaped sleeve for the antenna too.
Theoretically that can reduce drag by 90%, see http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...rag-25378.html.

I made a plastic wing shaped sleeve (painted it black, that's not in that link yet) and found it made no measurable effect, as expected.
I guess it helps a tiny bit.
Made of leftovers, if it saved me 0.01 liter of gas it already earned itself back several times over :)

Yes, it will help, because you will look sexier and therefore be more relaxed and drive more efficiently.

On the other hand get a good one and you get DAB ability ?

Will it help? Possibly. Yes, it will have more frontal area, but if the drag coefficient is better, total drag may be lower. (I'm reminded of an Automobile Magazine article comparing the current S-class to the Volkswagen Golf--the Mercedes has lower total drag even though it's a much larger car).

Will it help measurably? Probably not.

Aw, just get one - they look really good ;)

Arragonnis' correctnesss aside, no. The shape is wrong, it has a blunt trailing edge and would require extensive boattailing. Compare the various images at https://www.google.com/search?q=purp...+wi-fi+antenna; and consider the function, for example:

Cellular, GPS, LTE, WiFi & PCS Mobile Sharkfin Antenna

Certainly won't help radio reception unless it actually has the fractal antenna wire inside. as for mpg there are already lots of opinions

If you put a partial grille block on the car, you will see savings a hundred times greater than anything you will see by changing your antenna.

So when are the pics if your grill block going to be uploaded ?

I'm not so sure about this assertion. Look at BMW's antenna designs:

http://cdn.bmwblog.com/wp-content/up...-series-12.jpg

http://bmwcars.my3gb.com/7-series/im...s-7-models.jpg

http://indianautosblog.com/wp-conten...eries-rear.jpg

Very similar to those in the OP's link. If BMW could have made them lower drag (which was the whole point of the fin design, after all) for the same cost, I like to think they would have.

Or, consider this: The 2014 Scion FR-S had a short whip antenna.

http://media.caranddriver.com/images...s-1280x782.jpg

For 2015, Toyota switched to a shark fin design:

http://image.motortrend.com/f/wot/20...ee-quarter.jpg

And claimed in their press release:

"On the exterior, a shark-fin antenna has been adopted to improve both looks and aerodynamics" (emphasis added).

They're the ones with the million-dollar wind tunnels, and unfortunately there's a paucity of drag information on shark fin antennae out there otherwise, so for now the best we can do is infer from the OEMs' actions. At this point, I have to conclude that replacing a wire or whip antenna with a shark fin will be beneficial, even if it's not measurable by us laypersons.

Those are good counterexamples. Maybe the deal is that they work as a vortex generator.

I think the main point is that the base is close to the roof, where the air is not moving that fast (compared to the car) anyway so it does not cause a lot of drag.
The part that is further out than an inch is very narrow, and way shorter than an aerial.

Agree, reception will more than likely suffer with the shark fin antenna, especially AM.

Both our cars have them and AM is just fine including Medium Wave and Long Wave (198 Metres) - we can get BBC world service on them, which is a proof positive indication that civilisation is still functioning when all else fails.

I don't care that much about the radio because most radios here are crap. at the moment i have taken the antenna of but the base is still there it looks like http://i.imgur.com/brG0Akm.jpg

Shamoo one, or free Willie 3? Either way funny as hell!

I doubt very much removing the radio mast will make much of a difference unless lots of other changes have already been done ?