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Full Detail for better MPGS????; Wash and Wax your way to better MPGS.
Topic Started: Aug 18 2009, 04:56 PM (2,136 Views)
Potter
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Col. Potter

I have a theory... not shure how im going to aproch it.... Anyway today i was workin the wash bay @ the body shop and a Prius came in FILTHY DIRTY!!!! and all the mud, dirt on the intirior, engine bay, outside, EVERYWHERE. i figure it had to have at least 5 lbs of dirt in it. and it HAD to be efecting his MPGS. so if you vacume, de gunk your engine, clean your engine bay, under body wash clean all the intirior, door jambs ect. could you pick up an extra MPG? possibly????

Also from what i learned in tech school paint has BILLIONS of little pores in it and the purpose of wax is to fill these holes, and make it smooth.... wondering if Waxing your vehicle regularly will reduce drag. i know it reduces watter drag because if you rise a waxed vehicle it looks like the Mississippi river flowin off the car. also if youve felt an unwaxed car VS a waxed car its an awful loot smoother....

Has any one heard of this before??? or am i letting my imagination run a bit too far???

Either way im halting my routeen of cleaning Sophia for a month, get a total MPG for the month then do another month of Washing and Waxing and Cleaning once a week, get the total MPG outcome and post it.

ill also try to see how much Dirt grime ECT i pick up in a month and weigh it. (5 gal of watter VS the 5 gall of dirty watter)
Everything will be controlled. no cheating no B.S. just Daily Driveing. over a months time.

Anyone else wanna join me in this experiment???? that way it dosent seem like im just :stoner
Edited by Potter, Aug 18 2009, 05:01 PM.
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Fireball 89
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2.4 Cylinders of Determination

Potter
Aug 18 2009, 04:56 PM

...or am i letting my imagination run a bit too far???...
Hi Potter-

Imagination is a very important part of advancement in this world. Many of the details in science fiction decades ago are now part of our everyday lives. We need more people to use their imagination to address this world's (our) present day problems...

If you are building a vehicle, how much it weighs is always important. That five pounds of soil is five pounds that must be suspended (on suspension, on bearings, on tires), must be accelerated, and must be decelerated. Each incident where energy is used to move this mass around, in itself, is not very much. However, over the course of the life of the vehicle in distance or time of operation, the cumulative incidents of energy will be significant. We see this demonstrated in the design of "economy cars". At the expense of comfort, speed, and size the economy car is designed to provide "transportation utility" with "good fuel economy". Definitions provided by the vehicle manufactures and/or the buying public.

The five pounds of soil will impact your miles per gallon.

How a vehicle presents its shape to the atmosphere will impact the energy needed to move that shape through the atmosphere. The surface of the vehicle as seen by the fluid atmosphere is important. Generally, make the vehicle falling-water-drop shape and your on the "right" path (one of many) toward minimizing the amount of energy needed to move that shape through the atmosphere. That path is on the large picture side, on the small picture side, in particular the surface of the vehicle, there are many approaches to "surface treatments" for minimizing the amount of energy needed to move that shape's surface through the atmosphere. Surface treatments generally address the area of the contact of the atmosphere and of the skin of the vehicle and how those two surfaces interact. Surface treatments can take on many textures such as smooth (waxed and rubbed paint), dimpled (golf ball), grainy (sand paper), geometric (sharkskin/fish scale), dynamic (moving surface/overpressure atmosphere exiting surface ports), etc.

The smooth waxed surface of your vehicle will impact your miles per gallon.

Realize the loss of weight and an optimized surface will contribute toward minimizing the amount of energy needed to operate your vehicle on a very small scale and can probably measured in a laboratory as well as calculated on engineering paper. The folks at Ecomoder visit on these details in depth and have a regime for improving your miles per gallon.

Ecomodder
http://ecomodder.com/forum/

Keep the imagination going. Keep thinking and keep sharing.

Edward
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Bad Bent
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Facetious Educated Donkey

Potter, nobody thinks you're a :stoner , that you know.

Philthy Prius. The aerodynamics are air travels faster over a smooth flat surface than a rough one, eh. That is unless you're a golf ball. :) The engine will run cooler if kept clean. Which is why I wrapped my SuzukiRD headers when I installed them; to keep heat in.

I don't know how measurable the mpg will be unless over a long period of time but go for it! I do know I got 1 mpg with the Moon Disks. I'd like to get a belly pan.

The real question: :hmm Can we control our obsessive compulsive behavior of cleaning our beloved :wub: machines for a month and not go into therapy? :x

Oh wait, that's right, this is group therapy.
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jeff


Hi Potter...if I thought you were a *hit I would have told you at Geopalooza. Anywho Potter, as I child I recall hearing motorheads say how cars @ bONNEVILLE salt flats were waxed . imo, speed & mpg many times go together. Keep using your noodle.
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Johnny Mullet
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Fear the Mullet

All that waxing he did at Geopalooza should have gained him some MPG's on the trip home :)
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Cobb
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I think for weight its like 100lbs is 1 second from a 8th mile. Now surface does play a role in aero. One reason the delivery companies keep their vehicles clean as well as the air lines.

Tint reduces of ac and ac can drop my hybrids mph at least 5 per gallon. Cant under stand why I never seen a tinted prius or honda insight locally.

Now a better arguement is rather painting a 777 vs polishing it since its all aluminum and paint is heavy.

I care for my vehicles as I like shinny new looking things. That and the fact my dad was an idiot when it came to caring for the exterior of his car. He washed with steel wool and dish washing ditergeant. Then waxed with the turtle wax paste and left it on to crust up and bust it off.

Ok, I might understand steel wool on the windshield or windows, but not the paint.
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Coche Blanco
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Quick threadjack, how dark should I go on my tint?
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Cobb
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Coche Blanco
Aug 18 2009, 10:22 PM
Quick threadjack, how dark should I go on my tint?
Dark as you legally can and get the metal tint for less heat transfer.

Both my cars have tint from walmart. I got 35% all around my insight and 20 rear 35 front for my geo.
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Potter
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Col. Potter

Coche Blanco
Aug 18 2009, 10:22 PM
Quick threadjack, how dark should I go on my tint?
Just checked your State Regulations... you can get away with 32% all arround and a 6"strip on your windsheild, NOW Ive never heard of 32% tint so id just go with 35 all arround. (except the windsheild id do at least 20%)

Now i thredjack my thread back!!! :rasp :D
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Potter
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Col. Potter

Johnny Mullet
Aug 18 2009, 07:51 PM
All that waxing he did at Geopalooza should have gained him some MPG's on the trip home :)
:wub: i know she looked really pretty... we came up and wen't back 2 diffrent ways... so i had nothing to compair it to

But i did get what was it Paul?? 49?, 50? on the way back... i know me and Paul where CLOSE... i think we where .2, .3 gallons of gass off from each other. on the trip back. :deal And thats a STOCK 94 with a 100 pound sterio in it. only thing is its Electricly advanced 8 deg.
Edited by Potter, Aug 19 2009, 05:19 PM.
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Cobb
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Yeah, just get some of that black magix 35% tint in the better or great flavor at walmart. You need 3 rolls. One for the rear glass, one for the 2 sides and 1 for the 2 fronts. Then the install kit that includes the fluid and knife. The rear is easy, just put the film on the outside of the glass and trace about 1/8 over intothe black area. I do it in full sun light so the flim melts tothe shape of the window. The front ones you do a rough hack to size, then use a credit card to crease it where you need to slice and slice it on the hatch glass area.

Sure you can buy it precut on ebay, but it feels better to of done it yourself. Just remember to use twice as much fluid and get everything wet. THe film takes a lot of work, massaging into place and removal bubbles, creases, fingers, etc. Then it takes about 10 days to dry and you may need to massage it in that peroid into shape and no opening the windows during that time. Lots of videos on u tube too.

Yup, the key to a great shine is lots and lots of elbow work. Sure you can buy machines that spin, twist, wiggle and vibrate, but doing it by hand guarantees a great finish. You need 2 days, a lot of rags and about 100 bucks in supplies to get a great finish.

My car started with a good pressure wash. Then it was washed with a scrubber sponge from the kitched with rainx car wash. I then clayed it with a turtle wax clay system. Washed it again with rainx, clayed it a second time with the turtle kit.

I polished with macquires #1, then washed again with rainx. I then waxed with rain x wax. I laid on the rain x stuff so the car was foggly looking. Not a haze, but you can clearly see someone rubbed wax all over it. I then used about 11 rags wiping it off, rerubbing it back into the paint. Yes, you should have soo much wax all over the place it takes an extra wipe down.

Lets finish it off with some plastx by macquires on the lamps at least 15 minutes rubbing into each lamp. Then back to black on the plastic pieces. Lots of fluid and lots of rubbing.

Best to use strokes lengthwise of the car vs the swirl or circle pattern otherwise thats what you end up with, swirlies.
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greggholmes


actually the smoother it is the more drag it has. thats why golf balls have all toes little dimples on them.
i have been doing research on the Tesla Turbine. it uses polished disks to create drag on a rotor. the smoother they are the more drag they have.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk-_IGd4xYE
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Bad Bent
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Facetious Educated Donkey

"Very interesting...."- Artie.

Great video, greggholmes :rocker

I'm going to relocate my Vortex Generators to see if I get less drag, same principle. I'm also working on the 'dirty is better for mpg' theory having become a lazy :shit recently. :'(

But we can all expect our mpg numbers to decrease... I just saw the first snow flakes of the season. October 3... :banghead
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Coche Blanco
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greggholmes
Oct 3 2009, 05:22 AM
actually the smoother it is the more drag it has. thats why golf balls have all toes little dimples on them.
i have been doing research on the Tesla Turbine. it uses polished disks to create drag on a rotor. the smoother they are the more drag they have.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk-_IGd4xYE
Golf balls rotate.
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Murf 59
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GH is right. They found that with the dimpels in the golf ball, it will fly farther and staighter.
On the WWll B29 bombers. They did not paint them to save fuel and bomb load. The amount of paint to cover one of those big planes weighs alot.
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