Ordered Airtabs today!

[ZugyNA]

Originally Posted by jeffreymccoy

on the way up my IAT was reading at 100 - 110. today it was 80 - 85. it rained the whole trip.

3. lower iat means more dense oxygen input. requiring proportionatly more fuel to maintian programmed air/fuel ratio

Maybe set up a warm air intake for winter? ...of course in winter you almost have to max out any heat you can find to see much gain.

[ZugyNA]

How to apply airtabs to a hood and why:

http://www.airtab.com/bugs.htm

[73challenger]

Do these work on normal cars or only on semis and trucks?

[JanGeo]

Get a single AirTab and fill it with Bondo and add the Bondo molded AirTab to the body - repeat - prime - paint!

[ZugyNA]

You could make a mold and make them yourself....IF you could find a material to cast with that didn't cost so much...have you priced Bondo lately?

Maybe adobe mud might be cost effective?

I've made and applied some alum vgs (airtab distant cousins) and will post pics and the patterns when I'm done.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by 73challenger

Do these work on normal cars or only on semis and trucks?

You'll be hard pressed to find empirical evidence showing fuel saving capabilities on passenger vehicles.

You will find lots of anectodal claims based on non-scientific observations made by people who have already paid money for them.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by trebuchet03

Now, speaking from something I saw at the San Francisco Maker Faire....

Look at the tail end dimples

Agreed - looks neat.

But look at the aft side of the front wheel arch. They've got dimples there too, where they would be utterly useless.

So they're either (a) blindly throwing aerodynamic darts, hoping some of them work; or, (b) doing it for the "neat-o" factor.

[trebuchet03]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

So they're either (a) blindly throwing aerodynamic darts, hoping some of them work; or, (b) doing it for the "neat-o" factor.

I'm betting on the "neat-o" factor...

You'll be hard pressed to find empirical evidence showing fuel saving capabilities on passenger vehicles.

I tend to agree.... But I stand by my previous comments - that the concept is sound. The implementation, of course, is where things become questionable - so far, we can be certain nature is the closest to a good implementation I will hopefully have some CFD in the next few weeks to bring some non real world data to the table

[MetroMPG]

I'm of the same opinion.

I've said before: I've got a box of Airtabs myself. I CAN say conclusively they do NOT save any fuel sitting in the basement

I decided they were worth investigating more last year, and had intended to to test them to the best of my abilities in the real world this summer ... but got pre-occupied by the ForkenSwift.

So they're still on the list.

[charlesB]

Originally Posted by trebuchet03

But, tennis ball fuzz has a very similar purpose to golf ball dimples... While not as effective, there was a clear benefit over a "fuzzless" ball

Anyone up for covering their car in some low pile carpet?

^^Maybe they weren't so dumb afterall?