Metro aerodynamics

[omgwtfbyobbq]

That sounds about right! Of course, you can't just sum up FE increases, they are cumulative. If that calculator is right, I should see +15mpg@50mph average from LRR tires/proper pressure (of course that's my dumbass fautl for not mindin' my units), and +24mpg@50mph if I can magically cut my CdA in half. I like that calculator.

[MetroMPG]

+15 mpg? Do you mean +1.5?

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Nope, +15 if I can drop on overinflated LRR tires with a 0,0,0 alignment because I'm hoping it cuts my Crr in half. At least by my reasoning, because on the beater I currently have, all the tires are mismatched and from the junkyard, I never checked pressure because I severely underestimated the impact of rolling friction, and the alignment is so bad I've had two blow out because of wear/nasty camber (wore to the metal on one side, tons of tread on the other), so god knows what toe and caster is. In any event, given my current ~55-50mpg@45-50mph average, new LRR tires, overinflation, and proper alignment should make a world of difference.

edit- by never I mean I've inflated to the sidewall pressure on each tire three or four times over the 8 months I consistently drove it. Each time, especially the last long trip. I noticed a significant increase via my butt dyno in how I was able to accelerate, especially at lower speeds uphill, so I'm guessing I've been really negligent and can hopefully see a big improvement.

[MetroMPG]

You should fill out your garage/car info. Sometimes hard to recall exactly what everybody's driving if it only gets covered in their original intro thread.

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Wow, I never even bothered with an intrductory post! In any event, now that I've been pretty much stationary I haven't driven it for the last month or so. My pickup gets half the mileage, but at less than 200 miles per month, I'm paying an extra $12 so I don't go deaf due to my ghettotastic glasspack exhaust. Of course that's what I get for a few hundred dollar car, but I'll hopefully swap out the engine, put it into my $75 clean version, get nice LRR tires, and start driving it again.

[MetroMPG]

I realized today that if I put front wheel skirts on the car it'll look like a shoe.

[MetroMPG]

That's probably what made me think of it. But more of a sneaker look, not a high-top.

[MetroMPG]

I had the car rust-treated today, so I removed the rear wheel skirts.

[JanGeo]

Hey I just read a post in ScionLife that the drag coefficient of my xB is 0.35

[Peakster]

It's been really gross and mucky outside, so washing my Metro would be dumb since it would just get dirty 10 minutes later. Now that my Metro is caked with road grime this is what she looks like:

Attachment 82

I would think that the clean parts of the car are where the air is going smoothly over the vehicle, but look at all that turbulent air coming from the front wheel arch! Also note how much dirt accumulation occurs on the rear of the car:

Attachment 83

Winter should be a perfect time to test out some Aero mods!