Keep the Air Dam or pull it off?

@TacoToy75 I changed my vote. After taking a view of my Tacoma with it off, I decided to reinstall. It seems to flow and smooth things out a bit.

 

I took mine off yesterday...looks much more like a truck now!

 

Minuscule or not, you can be sure the mpg difference is enough to justify the extra cost and effect on profits to Toyota of having the extra hardware on there, because it affects something that's used to compare among vehicles and thereby affects sales and/or company perception. Having it say 15 mpg on a Tacoma window sticker vs 17 mpg on a Colorado (which comes with a lower and even weirder-looking air dam) makes a sales and perception difference. In other words, Toyota made a business decision that balanced the negative effect on sale price/profit of the cost of the dam and installation vs. the negative effect on mileage and public perception of the company not being "green" enough if it were sold without the dam. Then there's that "Cost to Own" number that gets published.

If you're one of those people who moans every time gas prices rise by $0.50 per gallon you probably want to keep it on because you can bet it makes a difference. Whether it's a meaningful difference is your decision. But Toyota wouldn't put extra stuff on without a good reason.

 

I will take mine off and replace it with a TRD Pro skid plate. Anyone know where to buy one at discount price?

 

Have had my 2017 AC SR5 for 10 months now with 20,000 miles on her. Record MPG every fill up. Five months ago took the dam off and stuck it in the attic. No MPG reduction seen, however, when I run the surfboard racks and gliders on top I go from 22 mpg down to 17.5 mpg . Those runs down to California for surf are costly.

 

I just removed mine on my TRDSport this week so I could an an OR recovery hook. to me, having a capable recovery point in the front was more important. no pics yet, as ultimately I want to paint my recovery hook, but it's too cold right now.

 

Leave the air dam or remove it?

Mine is not eating anything so I left it alone.

 

Got my truck last week and it was the first thing I did.

 

I want that to be a Sandusky joke, but I'm drawing a blank.

Class of 96, here! Well, Penn Tech Institute now.

 

About 1 minute into this video the Toyota engineer talks about the air dam and testing the Tacoma in a wind tunnel.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FutBBbglZvo

 

I was looking up some info on the air dam and found this thread. I'm definitely going to remove mine but probably after I relocate from Raleigh, NC to Phoenix, AZ. But then again, I'll be flat towing my jeep so not sure how beneficial it will really be.

To remove or not beforehand. I'll probably need all the MPG i can get though.

 

The air dam looks terrible. I took mine off and haven't seen any significant decrease in MPG.

 

Definitely looks terrible, I started a thread on this a while back and took mine off and I can tell you I lost maybe .5 mpg on highway trips and that was it. The improved look of the truck was more than worth it tho.

 

See I prefer it on to each their own

Edit: it doesn't look bad without, just doesn't change the look enough to make me take it off... plus fuel saving is always good, even how minuscule it may be

 

I'm going to take it off, no question there. I think I'll do it after my cross country trip (NC to AZ).

 

Looks tougher with it off. Plus it conceals the TRD skid plate.

 

I took mine off. It never ripped off but it did scuff up. This was before I knew better. Dx I didn't notice much mileage difference. Idgaf.

 

Yes of course the dam works to reduce drag. Look around, virtually all trucks newer than say 2005 (guess) have one. Cheves, Fords, Rams, you name it they all have one. Now, how much does that actually equate to MPG at the pump? I think it depends on how the truck is driven. Mine, with the dam removed has seen zero change in MPG. Mostly because 98% of my driving is around town. If I do take the truck on a back trail, I'm doing <20 mph so an air dam does diddle. On the other hand, if I had a 30 mile daily commute at highway speeds (>65mph) I've got no doubt I'd see some drop-off. Maybe 1 to 2 MPG. But meh, for me it's a non issue and I like the looks with it off. YMMV (see what I did there)

 

When I was driving 500km to work and back every 4 days, I didn’t notice any difference in MPG once I took the air dam off. And I didn’t change how I drove at all...

 

Off she goes!