Drive naked for better gas mileage
Ahhh .... you thought that I was talking about the driver or passengers being naked, but that's illegal in most states (if not all). The idea is to make your car naked, not you.
We put all kinds of things on the outside of our cars to personalize them, celebrate something or other, advertise, or voice or opinions. These items include a variety of items to attach to your car antenna. You would think that innocent antenna balls, dolls, flags, animals, cartoons, etc. give your car personality or help you find your own car, but they really have a small negative impact on your car's gas mileage.
It is all about the drag coefficient. Wind tunnel research on all car models gives us the car's coefficient of drag. This value relates to the amount of force that is absorbed by the shape of the car as it travels through air. As the shape approaches a tear-drop, the coefficient approaches 0. Roughly shaped objects have a higher coefficient of drag. A car with a lot of objects attached to it has a higher coefficient of drag, so it makes sense to drive the car in it's natural state; in other words, drive naked.
Ski racks, luggage racks, and bike racks are mostly seasonal. Some of these items are built into the car and cannot be removed. Allow me to stereotype... if you have that nice big SUV with a bike rack on the back, and you only bike 3 or 4 months of the year, the bike rack should be removed for the months that it isn't needed.
Flags that are attached to the outside of your car are an obvious wind drag. The only exception that I'd like to make is the "Just Married" flag. Even though there is quite a lot of waste around the time of a wedding, be comforted that this is only (supposed) to happen ONCE in a lifetime.
There are many other objects that add drag to a car such as ladders, buckets, barrels, tool boxes, shovels, rakes. Granted these items may be needed for utility vehicles more as a part of the work that somebody such as a landscaper needs at their disposal, but there may be extra items that are never used. If possible, these extra items should be removed.
Sporty cars often have a tail canard or other type of tail fin. Sometimes these items help the car's handling, but these items have mostly a negative impact on the drag coefficient. When considering additions to your car, think about the aerodynamic change that it will have -- some items really IMPROVE the car's aerodynamics while most items are purely aesthetic.
- brian.gillingham's blog
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