Mythbusters Golf Ball Car

[GasSavers_sMILEy]

There must be a textured vinyl material out there like wall paper or something. Check out this lexus:
I wonder where they got that stuff?
http://green.autoblog.com/2009/02/16...nt-than-paint/
http://www.fastskinz.com/

[GasSavers_Scott]

I look into the future, an industry making fibergalss or vinyl dimple panels to retrofit cars. The Pontiac Fiero with its plastic body panels could do a dimple car. The electric Sparrow had dimples behind the fenders to have air release from the fenders and thus getting rid of the stickieness of drag. Like the Holy Cow said about his Golf having dimple panels underneath, breaking up drag.

Update that to the future and we could have manufacturers making purpose built dimple cars, headlights and turn signals inside the dimples, can't dimple the glass though. lol

I guess how the mathematics of it works is by causing a ruffled air area above the surface and the air lubricates itself, making the air slipprier. Hard edges that create drag are now rounded by the layer of disturbed air around it. Somebody check my math.

Like the Mythbusters golf ball car, it is a thing of beauty, kind of like some retro 60's or 70's art, if IKEA were to design a car, it would probably look like the golf ball car. Now sell it to the American people, the dimple Hummer, dimple Escalade, dimple Jeep, or a dimple 18 wheeler with a 53 foot box trailer covered in dimples. Better yet, dimple the Prius, I am going to have to stop now, I'm going to dimple everything.

[GasSavers_sMILEy]

Runners will be wishing for cellulite and acne pocks...

But seriously, I wonder if a thermal roller set up could dimple everyone's favorite prototyping and belly skin material - coroplast? 4x8 sheets could easily be run through a roller press, and the material is thick enough to accept a dimple.

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by dkjones96

Hail damage doesn't count?

Why aren't auto manufactures looking at this?

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by Scott

Like the Mythbusters golf ball car, it is a thing of beauty, kind of like some retro 60's or 70's art, if IKEA were to design a car, it would probably look like the golf ball car. Now sell it to the American people, the dimple Hummer, dimple Escalade, dimple Jeep, or a dimple 18 wheeler with a 53 foot box trailer covered in dimples. Better yet, dimple the Prius, I am going to have to stop now, I'm going to dimple everything.

So if my G/Fs *** is dimpled, is she more aerodynamic???

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by BamZipPow

Why clay? They could've use something a little lighter. Who sez that the extra weight plus the aero effect didn't affect the results? Did they do 850lbs of clay spread over the entire car without the dimples and check that?

Yes, the dimples removed clay, so they threw it back inside the car, so weight was the same. It was smooth clay vs dimpled clay.

[Dr. Jerryrigger]

I'm always a little disappointed in the myth busters approach to science. I get exited about what they are testing (not so much the getting drunk part), but usable can think of a better way to test it. For example, cruse control??? and something better than a toggle switch on the dash. 1 mile at 65mph takes ~55.38 sec. so if you can flip the switch with an accuracy of +or- 1 s, then the total for each run would be +or- 2s which would be about 3.6% then compare to the control run with the same accuracy which puts total accuracy for the test at +or- 7.2%. Then take into account the potential for driver inconsistencies, I'd put it at +or- 2%-5%, (lets just say 2%) so to compare two runs with give +or- 4%. Add that to the switch accuracy and you get +or- 11.2% high enough to show the results are meaningless. They did average the results of multiple testes to "smooth out" any numbers that were way off. I do think they got real results, but i could have gotten more accurate ones with a smaller budget.

I had a parking lot hit and run, leaving a big dent in my door on Tue. It would be a good day to take the old ball-peen hammer out to do some dimpling.

The dimple effect makes turbulence which adds resistance across the surface, as energy is being put into air swirling motion. But now that the air is moving in this way the back of the ball/car has less turbulence.
It's a strange approach, reduce turbulent effects be causing some more. It seems more sensible for golf balls than cars, as golf balls have to be round, you can make a tear-drop shaped car. But my car isn't tear-drop shaped, and I want it to have less air drag.

The thing to think about here is what made this work.
-the car had bad aerodynamic quality in one region
-the surface texture created turbulence in the fluid before it entered this region

there are many ways to approach this. I don't see the full skin as a the best approch. It seems like it would be better to have the texture/dimples/fin things/ 50 2"X3" flags, just before the region that needs the help.

It would be really nice to have a bunch of 1:4 scale models of my car and a wind tunnel to do some testing.... I do have a big blower fan, and a smoke machine is easy enough to put together... Maybe some company made some cheap model cars like my subaru, time for some research. or sleep

[Jay2TheRescue]

Mythbusters did find a great alternative to a windtunnel when testing "Tailgate up / Tailgate down" They used a toy truck in a tank of water, and used a pump to create a current. They then dumped oatmeal in the tank, and it easily showed the flow around the vehicle.

[BamZipPow]

Originally Posted by slurp812

Yes, the dimples removed clay, so they threw it back inside the car, so weight was the same. It was smooth clay vs dimpled clay.

I just thought about another thing...ride height. I'm sure that extra 850lbs of clay did some "lowering" effects to the vehicle. I'd be curious if the dimples didn't drop the height of the car some more while driving. I'm pretty sure they didn't measure the height...

[imzjustplayin]

Originally Posted by BamZipPow

I just thought about another thing...ride height. I'm sure that extra 850lbs of clay did some "lowering" effects to the vehicle. I'd be curious if the dimples didn't drop the height of the car some more while driving. I'm pretty sure they didn't measure the height...

That's a good point! I guess what they could have done is have an air dam on the car for the control test, then do the test with the clay. The goal would be to try to have the control vehicle's front end be at the same height as when the vehicle is loaded down.