Mileage/air dam question

This

 

that

 

Would you look at that, just look at it

 

This or that?

 

Air dam came off around March 14 fill-up. MPG difference is negligible at best. If anything it would be less then 0.5mpg. Here's my data...

 

Ummm....the difference between the averages of your mpg before and after 14 Mar is 0.8 MPG (21.5 vs 22.3 MPG)....smack dab in the middle of fuellys 0.6 to 1.0 MPG difference....

I wouldn't call that negligible. It's isn't "huge", but if you commute a lot, that could be $50-$60 in gas a year.

 

Ok aerodynamics.... stick your hand out the window with your palm facing forward with the truck going 40mph..... ok feel the force of the wind hitting your hand?

No stick your hand out the window with the fingers together finger TIPS facing forward palm facing the ground.

Which one gave you the most resistance?

The air dam is at least as wide as my hand w/palm facing forward but a lot more surface area. Its not there for aerodynamics its there for ascetics OR Toyota would have them on ALL trucks and they do not.

I doubt anything on this truck is designed specifically for aerodynamics... I mean take a look at the grill. Wait the windshield is raked back a bit for aero.... the sports come with a bed cover...that's about it! Just sayin.

 

Wow. Amazing hand science you have. Toyota should immediately hire you. First thing you should do is have them remove all their aero tweaks, like the fins on the tail lights and the air dam. Yes this is sarcasm because you are being blatantly ignorant.

You're wrong about how this works. In the case of an air dam on the lower portion of a vehicle, all that resistance you feel on your hand is working to the vehicle's advantage. All that force is the air being moved to more advantageous areas, as in, anywhere away from the underside of the vehicle. Air under a vehicle creates drag, which reduces efficiency.

 

I don't get why this is such a hard concept for people to get lol.

 

Because they can't see it and it's not intuitive. But it is frustrating.

Here's my angle for unbelievers:

We can prove Toyota cares about cost: They didn't put the hand sensor for the auto-unlock on the passenger side and many other things because they are trying to cut costs.

We can prove they put a lot of effort into aero: They have vortex generators on the taillights and mirrors, they put a gap-seal between the bed and the cab, the tailgate has a spoiler, etc.

We know they care about mileage because it's an important marketing angle and they swapped out a mature 4.0 for a new, more complex 3.5 engine and more.

We can assume they care about off-road capability because that's their only really advantage against the competitors other than QDR.


The air dam costs money. It reduces off-road ability. Why would they install one? Because it improve aero and improves mileage.

Why doesn't the OR have one? Because they needed to have a better approach angle to wag in front of competitors and because a big-ol' road squeegee is not practical off-road. The degraded aero causes lower mileage.

I don't know why the OR gets lumped with the other trucks and doesn't get its own mpg rating. I suspect there's some loophole about option packages or "close enough" that makes it work for Toyota.

Look at the road squeegees on other brands: They are huge and look like crap.

Nobody's going to listen anyway. End rant.

 

I listened!

 

[QUOTE="HalfWayThere, post: 12313499, member: 161963"
I don't know why the OR gets lumped with the other trucks and doesn't get its own mpg rating. I suspect there's some loophole about option packages or "close enough" that makes it work for Toyota.
.[/QUOTE]

I am very curious about this as well. Good post.