Beating High Gas Prices Using Simple Aerodynamics (Home Improvement Store Edition)
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
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Pushing the efficiency a little further with Mk2 , home improvement edition
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the mercedes was an eqs
nobody cares about advertises. you can see the most replayed part was where the advertise ends.
Need more miles on a tank to average out the change in mpg. Even multiple fill ups with adding miles then divide. I see people who top off a tank at a station after a 30 mile drive and extrapolate that mpg to the moon. Use multiple tanks or you’ll get inaccurate results.
very nice advancement:) i suggest you look up the audi A2 concept diesel : That car had rediculous mileage using more / other methods you could apply too.
ua-cam.com/video/BTPnQneEtVs/v-deo.html&ab_channel=JayEmmonCars
By sealing the underfloor, you reduced drag from turbulence but also created downforce (as you said it felt more planted) and thus more rolling resistance.
So a flat Bottom would be more beneficial.
But. Is that bad in california? It's mostly mountain driveing...??????
Not to mention when it rains it pours.. Idk
More rolling resistance, more power demands from the motor to overcome the resistance, more fuel
There will not be enough downforce to significantly change the rolling resistance. Also, RR is a very small portion of overall drag, so it's not relevant anyways. @@dinanbimmertv1864
12:20 Funny you mention the aerodynamics of that Mercedes, it's the EQS which is their first all-electric model. To help maximize the range they designed it to have the best coefficient of drag of any production car on the market at 0.20, so your callout was spot on
Well yeah for a full electric vehicle that is already twice as heavy compared to a ice version the aerodynamic is important to maximize the range of the city vehicles otherwise it will end up like a brick but then comes the BEV pick-ups like : Rivian R1T, GMC Hummer EV that somehow do not care too much about efficiency more oriented for the utility & practicality on road and off the road + other adventure capabilities aspects..
@@poplaurentiu4148
Twice as heavy, twice as cheap to drive.
@@SMGJohn EQS is not cheap at all.. inside is quite luxurious and the price starts above 95k-100k.. the driving for what purpose is intended (definitely is not a track car) mostly designed to drive smooth and quiet from busy airports to cities hotels and it does feels good for that so yeah.. not sure what you were pointing ..
@@poplaurentiu4148
Wow, you drive for free? Interesting.
@@SMGJohn I'm not really sure i fully understand what you try to say regarding to EQS..
by increasing the length of the tail you increased surface area which means the air is attached to the body for a longer period of time. You would need to probably find a balance between the first tail and the second one to find your optimal length to curve ratio; i.e. find how much you can curve the tail before the air separates and that is a good as you can make it
Agreed. Look at nascar. Very important to minimize front drag from vents etc.
Maybe vortex generators could work?
Was just going to say that. More surface area = more viscous friction.
If I remember my aero class correctly 11 percent is the sharpest curve before detachment of flow
@@TheObserver567 racecars of any kind, even nascar are not good examples of aerodynamics. they want downforce for handling. pretty much the opposite.
You should try using a OBD monitor to measure real-time fuel consumption. In order to maintain a consistent weight you would still have to fill up before each test, but it would eliminate any noise in the data caused an inconstant fuel station pump.
You can still make the underside more aerodynamic just a matter of what you’re comfortable with. Some Miata race cars use ABS plastic sheets underneath to really smooth things out underneath. Off road race truck teams with bigger budgets take that into consideration and throw a giant metal skid underneath the cab. Also 15 degree departure angle for the bottom if I remember correctly with diffusers
I always read on the area of 12 degrees...
It was just where and how to attach things that would have been a PITA. Plus a flat sheet wouldn't have done it, it would have needed to be 3 dimensional. Subaru didn't make it easy....
@@thinkflight
Maybe build a box frame along both sides of the underside of the car so you can mount a flat sheet lower than the vehicle components.
@@thinkflight Considering you're using such tall skirts, you could probably utilize these to your benefit of making a flat bottom out of sheet material. Just connect the front effect, skirts, and tail, with a cutout for the wheels, should be far simpler than attaching to the frame itself. The most you might have to do is find central anchor points, but considering how far offset from the body you'll be, just layer up some duct tape and make a support with some dowels epoxy, entirely removable solution since the base of it is taped down, and you can screw the sheet into the support.
I'd like to see this done on something super inefficient like a lifted silverado 😂
I would advise you too look at the viewing angles for the lamps to ensure the vehicle is still compliant. I dough it is!
Further to this I know the rear overhang would be illegal in Australia as it can only be 60% of wheel base.
Fuel consumption test are difficult to quantify unless you can weigh the fuel tank before and after test and ensure the comparison tests are done under the exact same conditions.
I think one of the reasons why the tail *seems* less efficient (but might not be) is the combined effect of the underbody bypass and the tail. The previous tail might have reacted better to the previous body kit, but this one might benefit more from the smoother airflow coming from the new system
Keeping your RPMs below 1800 will help a bunch. My 2022 has manual shift mode. When I get above 50 mph, I shift to manual and put it in 7th gear. BAM!!! 42+MPG with a bone stock Impreza wagon. Even @ 70 mph
A automatic will often run at higher RPM and lower load at lower efficiency than needed if you let it for air pollution reasons, especially on diesels.
that, or it just gets stuck in higher gears too long
Another tip is to tape over all the panel lines and shut lines on the front of the car. People do this on racetracks to reduce drag a bit
I do the same thing with my bikes. Round tubes are terrible in the wind. Adding some foam and tape to the trailing edges reduces drag by 10x.
The commentary toward is probably more spot-on that you would expect. I'm the guy that typically doesn't refuel until the reserve light comes on, and I get to know my cars fairly well as I drive them and pay attention to things like fuel dispensed. There are some gas stations I simply avoid because they'll consistently dispense almost 10% more fuel than others in the area. In cars where I know when I'm almost completely empty, just how much should be filled, going over a certain amount is pretty obvious. I had one car with a 12 gallon tank that would typically take 12-12.5 when the computers range was in the single-digit miles remaining. On gas station would routinely dispense 13.5. Another gas station never dispensed more than 12.5. Unless you have some calibratable way to measure the fuel, I would recommend either only using one pump at one station, or doing multiple runs using different stations and averaging all the results together in hopes of reducing the significance of that particular mode of variance.
Maybe add clear plastic tapered teardrop shaped covers on the mirrors aswell? See if that really gives you 5%
**Looking at a car with a 6 foot aluminized foam tail** - "Car looks incredibly plain now..."
I think some of the efficiency losses may be because of side winds. Perhaps a shorter tail section would reduce drag in a cross wind. Also, may as well leave the back portion of the tail section off so that there's a clear view of the existing license plate holder. I think such a design is called a "partial cam back." (Not my words) it may be the side wind and driveability solution as it would be shorter and (perhaps) still have most of the efficiency gains.
Very interested in this as a series. Kinda hoping for a more final version, perhaps made from fibre glass laid over an existing test piece.
Also, may as well test the pointy front. I hear it's kinda bad, but have no numbers to tell exactly how bad.
have you standardized vehicle weight, and tire pressure? Tire pressure can have a massive effect on efficiency. also added weight from more material at the back axle could be to blame. I would suggest adding lightness and trying to see how far you can slope the read down before you hit turbulence, as a shorter tail would also reduce weight, and improve axle balance.
The weight of the tailnisnt enough to effect axel balance
@@MaYbYl8eR foam board is extremely lightweight.
Great simple experiments, well summarized.
To monitor realtime data, and collect data on vehicle performance; you could invest in an On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) dongle. This would allow realtime monitoring and collection of data on a mobile device (via wifi, or bluetooth). Data parameters available varies a bit by make, model and year, but often can view realtime fuel consumption, or estimate quantity remaining, as well as odometer readings. Logging would allow export to a spreadsheet for some fun maths.
BTW: did you do a calibration check on tire pressure? This an often overlooked item and can make ~5% efficiency difference. Varies with temperature and seasons, so is worth checking once a month, or prior to efficiency runs.
Agreed - snoop the ecu with and obd scanner!
Torque Light is free! :)
Aerocivic (ex)owner here, as well as owner of one of the highest fuel economy Insights on the road (100mpg+). Happy to see you continuing to experiment.
Legend....
Just wanted to share my mileage tests by saying when filling up the gas tank the only way I could think of to keep consistent was filling up neck so I could not put another drop in. So that worked for me, but some cars might have problems with smog systems. I was not testing pollution effects so my mileage worked just fine. I was able to get 27.6 mpg in my F150 but if doing a full tank to empty don't drink to much, it's a long drive.
What year is your F150? Dad made me drive his 2006 for a while and at 55 MPH I maintained 19 MPG.
Nobody tailgated, though! :D
I could imagine that the new tail causes more drag, because the back area, where the numberplate sits is substantialy bigger. Without directly changing its size again, you could try to angle the surface at maybe 45 degree, effectively creating more of a tip, instead of a big rear stub. Do you have something like discord for better exchange of ideas?
This is a really cool series! Maybe one day if this makes enough you could try to find a cheap and already teardrop-ish car and try to make it insanely light and efficient. Also the Mercedes was an EQS, the new electric one that I remember seeing in videos s year or two ago, but it seems they haven't gotten very popular, so that's a cool car spot!
Filling in the rear of the tail surely hurt you a bit. The plate cover is a large surface for the low pressure wake to act upon. Remember that it's pressure region's acting on a moving body itself that contribute to drag! Having the tail hollow the first time around meant that realistically only the edges of the foam were subject to wake forces, with the gradient increasing to probably around atmospheric when you reach the body. With such a better optimized curve on the tail, you had way higher velocities at the bluff cutoff, so every square cm had an even more severe pressure drop to contend with vs the former. If you cant get a point (which you probably can't achieve efficiently anyways) find a way to leave her hollow!
Well, the old design created a large cavity, and there is no way to tell what the internal cavity pressure was without some further analysis. Sometimes it can result in higher pressure when you create desirable recirculation inside the cavity, but in this case I suspect recirculation was minimal. So it was probably transmitting the wake recovery pressure, or a lower pressure, up against the hatchback and bumper inside the cavity. Which means not much of a reduction in base drag. The new closed boattail shape is probably better.
I know I am late to the party, but - do you know with certainty that when the pump at the gas station cuts off, it is always accurate ie. what about foaming, or more precisely, the splashing that trips the trigger? It only needs a single splash to cover the 'trip hole' in the mechanism, and you could be quite a way out... Just a thought. (I used to work on such mechanisms, and they are far from precision mechanisms. I reckon you would have to do, maybe, three runs and average them out (-:)~
Removing the skirting introduced more drag, than the ever-so-slight increase in efficiency of the new tail could hope to compensate for. The ground effect between the chassis of the car and the road, is ~30% of the total drag of a modern car! You were definitely on the right track, when you tried to address turbulence underneath the car. Another thing to address, (I'm sure you thought of this) is tire rolling resistance. Tire pressures make a big difference. When a car becomes this efficient, tire inflation pressure becomes a greater percentage of overall drag, in that it greatly influences rolling resistance. Ambient temperature also makes a difference. A cold tire on a cold road on a cold day has much more resistance, than the same tire at the same inflation pressure, on a hot summer day.
my idea for the gas pump issue is the different grades of fuel, ie the ethanol content during the climate shifts throughout the year.
“I’ll take zero ethanol, please.”
@@JoeOvercoat
My car is older so I only use ethanol-free, and while it does cost more, I get about 2-3 mpg using it. For consistency, he should definitely use it when testing at different times of the year.
Love these videos, it’d be great if you keep producing more. But don’t feel pressured to produce videos quickly and rapidly, take your time
I think it's very likely you fill up to a different point every time. You'd probably need a more accurate sensor in your fuel tank, or a transparent hose that makes the fill status very clear. I've found for my 50l fuel tank, that filling from empty till the click, then letting it really settle and filling again till the click gives me am extra 3l of fuel.
I've been tracking my fuel consumption for aound 50000km, 2500l of Diesel, and sometimes for no reason my sonsuption goes up by like 5%, even though I commute the same long route every day.
*Cybaru
There's a video of a german guy who made his car more aero. It's called "massive drag reduction for family car" and he went up to 55mpg in the end on a way sleeker design.
But he also started with an efficient car to begin with.
When I am passed by a semi on the freeway in my RV I feel pressure first against it pushing me away and then towards it sucking me in behind. Those admirers of the car that stay next to it will have an affect on air pressure in front.
you can check mileage with the onboard computer. drive say 80mph on a level road in a high gear. Use the same gear to compare. do several runs and note the windspeed and air temperature each time for every setup. If you get better mileage in worse or equal conditions then the better efficiency is confirmed. Onboard fuel metering has about 0.5% accuracy and can be offset if the tire size is not nominal but the tire size doesn’t affect the test obviously if all tests are done on the same tires and pressure (check pressure each time). The fuel metering can be adjusted through obd if offset but you don’t need that either since all tests are using the same calibration
Note the computer mpg average over say 0.5miles. Each run on the same road preferably
Rear defuser the turbulence created by the ground effect adds drag so you need to channel and speed up the air going out of the back
it was a Mercedes EQS - we have them in UK a lot - soap bar shape is one of the most efficient drag ratio vehicles
While you eliminate one variable by using the same gas pump you still have the issue of the automatic shutoff. It will never be consistent. You have a couple of options. 1. Drain the tank completely. Not sure if there is a drain plug on the tank or not. Once it is drained put a measured amount of gas in the tank. Then run the car until the fuel is exhausted. Then put gas in the tank, start the car so until the fuel lines are primed then drain the tank again and refill with the same measured amount of gas. Repeat drive with the aerodynamic changes. Another option is to put a small tank and pump in the trunk and move the fuel lines. Either way you need to know precisely how much fuel you put in and then run until empty.
The racing stripes are everything!
To get the most accurate data you should fill a Jerry can with a specific amount that way you can eliminate the pump errors. Then either run it till it quits and measure time or have a set time and check how much you have left, the first is probably more accurate than the second unless your tank is split
not completely "split", but if you look at the shot under his car (i know this from having owned a few subarus) its "partially" split to fit over the other components for the AWD system. Such as the drive shaft/prop shaft, Sometimes when you are low on gas you can take a corner fairly sharp, or a freeway onramp and end up a couple lines up on your gas gauge. The "digital lines" and readout is only as good as the older style almost "toilet tank bobber" style gas tank float system.
if you pause at 1:37 you can see the plastic "skid protector plates" on either side covering the gas tank tucked away up there.
That Mercedes you mentioned was a EQS. An sort of electric version of the S-Class. The car has a drag coefficient of 0.20.
there are fairly cheap fuel push drains that you could install in the bottom of the tank and drain the fuel, like those used on airplanes
Couple of foam panels on the roof and walls will
Help your echo problem super cheap egg crate stuff
When your improvement is going to detach suddenly at 90 mph and everybody panically braking being scared of it will bump each other in disorder, you'll discover a russian saying "Кроилово ведет к попадалову" which means "Hacking workarounds are usually the shortest ways to face a big loss". Easiest way to get even 20 per cent MPG growth is just a gentle handling with your gas. Good luck!
Great work, and brilliant imagination, to figure out such cool ways to make your car so much more aerodynamically efficent.
Dimpling flat surfaces ( like a golf ball) helps keep air from sticking to the surfaces, In not sure how practical it would be to do on the parts you added but it does make a difference to the point that some advanced race engines have this aero trick in their intake systems
Also, “Cyber Subaru”?
Cyberu?
Sealing that underfloor even partially will still help
As well a front splitter will also help over just that chin, also when building make sure it extends past the front firewall or from that front firewall to about 30mm past the front air dam
Also a much better test for aero drag would be coast downs rather than long drives due to variability
Also “vortex generators” are a fickle beast and mostly useless without complex cfd work
You’d get much better results from sealing panel gaps Ana worrying about tire pressure and equalizing them
your difference can be result of many things including fuel density, air temp, type of driving attempted ( sprint or easy acceleration ) , etc. usually 10% improvement isn't considered unless it's having a significant quantity impact. For ex 10% of 1ml vs 10% of 1000 ml.
You can probably gain 20% efficiency by doing nothing more than planning your trips more carefully, avoiding unnecessary trips, and saving a bunch of time in the process. You can probably gain 10% around town simply by modifying the way you drive: accelerating more slowly, and driving more smoothly, and with a manual, ensure the engine goes into over-run more frequently, when the ECU cuts the gas completely. Avoid using the brakes unless absolutely necessary.
The skirts make a huge difference, and so does smoothing the underbody: the two nicest things which also improve handling substantially, but more to the point, they don't look stupid. :)
Basically the EQS is your roll model of aerodinamics, it was just passing by to salute your efforts.
replace the mirrors with cameras, get slightly skinner and lighter wheels, remove roof racks (wouldn't have to weld shut you can just use a plastic filler cap), tape off the rear door handles, tape off portions of the front grill if you can without overheating.
that's all the recommendations I have to improve mpg.
still a 17.9% isn't bad at all.
the Crosstrek has a 15.9gal tank and 34mpg highway. With these modifications and an increase of 17.9% will yield a 51.9mpg Highway coupled with a 15.9 tank means this car could theoretically travel 825mi on a single tank
Now all you need is a Vtech sticker to increase the HP.
12:25 That is a Mercedes EQS Electric car. One of the most sleek sedans on the planet. I wonder what they were thinking when they past an impreza with some extra bits on the back
He says, adding a rear wheel skirt would require modifying the car so he doesn’t do it. Then he proceeds to make all kinds of modifications to the body of the car. LOL
I saw your first video and I had to search for this before I said the obvious. Thank you! You reminded me of when cars were being modified during the early years of experimental aerodynamics with cars as related to aviation. Like Jet plane engineers building cars. Just sayin.
2:48
Low poly car looking good.
There are all types of pumps at all types of stations, a lot of people giving complicated methods of how to get an accurate fuel reading, but my suggestion would be to go to a gas station that has pumps you can throttle the gas at. Some stations the pumps can be squeezed slowly, if you do that the gas will trickle into the tank vs a strong station that can pump a quart a second or more. I think a longer fill time especially in the last gallon of filling would allow the shutoff to trip more reliably at a much closer to "full" level.
I think, if you put a Belly Pan, that covers the whole underside of the car. Cover all the gaps on the body with tape and block off some of the front grill, that should give you much better results. Also, ad much more air to the tires.
12:25 that is a Mercedes EQS. It is the car with the lowest drag coefficient, on par with the Lucid Air
I'm willing to bet that the first tail smoothed out more air from underneath the car. Like a defuser. It let the air from the bottom merge more smoothly with the air from the top.
for I while I was into the idea of making a velocycle ( think that's the correct name. An enclosed recumbant bike at any point ) and everything suggested a roughly 45 degree angle on the rear piece starting at the bottom and going back at the top. It was said that the air effect caused behind that would push the vehicle along. I wonder if the same works on much heavier automobiles.
You mean a velomobile. And yes, velomobile riders around the world (like myself 😉) know that efficiency is all about aerodynamics (and good tires, too). A closed and "clean" underside plays a very important role in that, too. On her world record (1129,88 km in 24 hrs) Nici Walde was doing 50 kph at less than 100 Watt.
you could make an inflatable fairing like in a paragliding harness. Maybe use some string mechanism that retracts it inside when not in use
In Arizona anything that extends beyond 3 ft past the bumper has to have a red flag on it. That’s usually a red grease rag or bandana tied to a load of lumber from Home Depot.
Clear plastic for the rear window would be nice for visibility
that truck is a new gen freightliner cascadia, which also has wheel covers for aerodynamics
You should model your tail after a boat-tail bullet. Check your state's law on how far you can hang/ extend your vehicle from the bumper. Most state's have like a 2-3 foot limit. You don't need a full chin spoiler. just an aero fairing in front of the wheel and behind the wheels. Think fixed gear aircraft fairing.
1:02 Imagine believing what musk, says at face value... that's the same guy who since 2014 has said "next year full self driving will be available" and said that every single year.
Great video. Let me help you with gas pump accuracy. If you fill to the point when the pump clicks off you are relying on how accurate the back pressures are in the tank. A lot of things can change the amount of back pressure in the tank. If you want to be accurate you must take the time to fill the tank clear up to the tube opening. This way your fill ups will be identical. Its definitely more time consuming however for your tests y o u need an accurate measure. All the best.
I randomly came across this video and found your experiment fascinating. I don't have any background knowledge in aerodynamics.
I'd be curious to see how much turbulent air is created at the end of the tail. It looks much larger and drastic than v1.
That is an EQS - the new electric S-class. .22 Aerodynaic Cd and some of the longest range on the market right now
Having your own fuel tank would help to keep an exact and more measureable amount of fuel, but if you don't want to do that, you could do tests where you coast from a higher speed to a standstill and mark where you slow down. Taking an average of five times would help to account for uncontrollable inconsistencies such as wind
The Merchedes is probably EQE or EQS. They are everywhere here in Norway
as a worker on A gas station, i can confirm that pumps are not reliable at the point they stop. you can always keep putting more and more gas on your car, till it really reaches the top. That is due to the gasoline foaming when exiting the hose. (it does not affect at the final ammount of gas, only when it thinks you've reached the max)
Honestly thinking about it you should grab a Honda Insight generation one I bet you would love hypermilling
Tatra applied this theory to its passenger cars a long time ago (like 1930). It worked great
Air temperature, humidity, induced vortices, the list can go on and on
Very interesting experiment! I'm looking forward to further episodes!
There are some virtual sci-fi cars in the game Cyberpunk 2077 that have an elongated rear like this. It's funny, I Always assumed it was a weird aesthetic choice.
11:34 I think it is because this new tail leaves a bigger cut at the end while the other almost ended on an edge.
i admire the effort and persistence you have on this project. i would try to do something with the side mirrors as well. i feel they might add more drag than one might think.
you can also try thinner rims and wheels, maybe more air pressure in the tires.
AFAIK, skirts are used to improve the vertical force to increase grip creating some depression.
They "suck" more power from your engine, and this is perfectly logic in the race/sport environment.
I never heard they are going to improve your overall aerodynamics...
Underbody panels would work great with the boat tail
I think a problem with this tail is the small amounts of air getting under and around the sides of it got trapped in it like a parachute like you said, if the bottom was closed off or the tail open like the last one i think it might've done a bit better, but hey i'm not a scientist~
the outside air temp and humidity levels will play a factor on the engine as well. which is very hard to duplicate in real world settings.
i worked a functional front lip on my car,
one big one where it cover all the front and is lower than the sport one...
i noticed the car has a lot more stability driving above 60mph and im not sure if it increased the gas mileage,
the next step is workout something functional like the side skirts and a rear extractor to see if i can find more results on it.
Even though your car was aerodynamic modified you did not violate any vehicle safety or emissions rules or regulation so the police had no grounds to stop you as far as I know. Great Job on exploring the MPG improvement. Every bit helps these days.
You mentioned the tear drop or rain drop shape was the best aerodynamic shape. Have you considered trying out the old SAAB 93 as a test cars, it was shaped like a rain drop ( rounded front shape tapering down to the rear) ?
Ethanol content will vary burn rate. Not sure if CA keeps right at the 10% all year round or not. Even +-5% will change how the ECU adds or takes fuel away to reach stoich value.
have you completely smooth seal the underside of the car?
Also, the cruise RPM of the engine influence the fuel consumption a lot. Change to a taller gear and cruise at say 1500 rpm or less (if possible).
Sealing off the wheels so that there is no air hitting the tires is a great way to reduce drag.
Mythbusters found that the most consistent way to measure fuel consumption and efficiency was to weigh the fuel - fuel changes volume with tempurature so that can have an imapct on how much goes into the tank. Also, the mechanical cutout that stops the pump will not be accurate which would also significantly change youru numbers.
Covering the bottoms of car or semi-trucks gets in the way of maintenance, that's why the big trucks don't have those coverings.
It's difficult to rely exclusively on how much fuel you add to your car because a hotter tank and or if the fuel system has a return line back to the tank can cause the fuel pump to shut off at a different level in the tank. Cold tanks accept more fuel compared with hot tanks due to less vapor.. TBH the best way to figure out fuel economy is to sum the amount of fuel added and the miles driven then you'll have an average fuel economy across several tanks, compared it with the onboard computer and then make adjustments if necessary. Typically what causes the onboard fuel computer to become inaccurate is if there are fuel trims being done which typically can happen with dirty or old oxygen sensors or vacuum leaks or any number of other issues that make the car run less than optimal. You'd have to get an OBD device to check for fuel trims at various load conditions, ideally you want 0 fuel trims.
for example first plane to brake sound barrier was like shape of bullet or just make it similar to rain drop i think its most areodynamic shape
You could call it the Cybaru
I imagine there’s quite a lot of error introduced by the way the fuel flow at the pump is shut off. But that’s really hard to compensate for since there’s not another easy way to fill the tank to exactly the same level every single time… unless you filled it so much that you could see the top surface of the fuel inside the filler opening…..
How much do the wheel covers effect efficiency? I'm highly considering doing it.
I wouldn't recommend it, I was only doing highway runs with limited braking and removed them as soon as the experiment was done. Its not the safest idea.
*there are 3 things that I’ve ever seen on media to drastically improve efficiency, first was mythbusters golf-ball dimpled car, second was kipkay’s video of adding a bit of acetone to the gas tank, and third was top gear test of installing a front lip to the car like you did in this video. I think a combination of these would produce something very efficient*
suggestion change shape to a wedge now. make it wide to match the sides of the car but narrow down to a blade tip at the very end
The only accurate way to measure fuel consumption is a flow meter on the fuel feed and fuel return, subtract return from feed and you have total consumption.
Fuel feed lines can run anywhere from ~40-60psi on port injected cars so a flow meter thats capable of that would be necessary unless you fit it pre fuel pump. Returns are not pressurized.
I would like to copy this in Germany. But apparently we have something called "TÜV", and we are not allowed to do such changes to the car in public traffic at all. You got my honest envy on that! Go on!
That really sucks :(
Slimmer aftermarket mirrors should help too!
you could get some wheel scales and weigh the car after a trip to infer fuel burn. but probably cheaper to add a quick drain to the fuel tank and drain it and measure the fuel use
The reduced efficiency may have been a product of the larger rear surface area, creating a larger vacuum behind the car when compared to v1