Quote:
Originally Posted by twuelfing
i am not claiming a 10 percent increase in fuel economy. I am saying a 10 percent decrease in the coefficient of drag vs a dirty car.
the coefficient of drag is a small part of the entire equation that results in gas mileage. Sorry if i was unclear. also i am probably wrong, but i was told there is defiantly an effect.
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For highway driving at least, aerodynamic drag accounts for over half of the vehicles fuel consumption, so a 10% reduction in that is very huge, that's as much of a change as Honda achieved in the Civic Hybrid by sealing the bottom of the car up with plastic panels, choosing flat rims, and lowering the ride height, all of which are very significant design changes by comparsion to a carwash -- those exposed exhaust pipes, bolts, and support bars that are underneath the car for example, must certainly be more of an impedance to airflow than a small amount of dirt over paint, and covering those up with smooth panels is less than a 10% difference in drag coefficient.
There will definitely be some difference, but I expect it to be very low.