Bed cover research: drag / aerodynamics

[zingaro]

I cant find the origional article but this is a pic ( mabye third copy) of aerodynamic efficiencies of certain bed covers. If i can find the origional post ( its from a different forum) ill paste it here. kinda makes me want to do the rear third. Again somewhere in that origional post if you got with the rear third you have to cover the front part ie make a box of it.

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[Michael42]

My soft bed cover from Ford made my MPG go up by 1.5

 

[zingaro]

My soft bed cover from Ford made my MPG go up by 1.5

thanks for the info. im still in the research phase (thats short for im broke and dont have any $ to purchase anything as i dont have a credit score and had to pay cash for the mav)

 

[Jah.]

No change in my mpg from before to after tonneau cover . less drag resistance was probably equalled out with extra weight of my undercover armor tonneau imo .

 

[commadorebob]

I see improved MPG when I have the tonneau rolled down. I might look into the wing; just to keep the noise down. No matter how tight I get the cover, it still flaps in the wind. Basically turning my bed into an oversized drum...

 

[Probity]

If you're a maven at CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulations and have unlimited access to a wind tunnel, maybe you could make an educated purchase that might improve your mpg's. Conventional wisdom is that bed covers in general can/might reduce drag but that doesn't always translate into any mpg improvement.

If the primary goal you have for a bed cover is something other than mpg improvement then get what meets that need and your budget. If you're mainly wanting mpg improvement then it's a crapshoot.

The AeroX fastback cap on an F150 Lightening is 'interesting' How Aerodynamic Is Our Ford F-150 Lightning XLT's Fastback Roof? (motortrend.com) but can't directly compare with a stubby-bed Maverick. And that fastback cap is the opposite of 'functional' and cost effective to me wrt real world stuff you'd want to put in your bed.

 

[HeyBales]

Good points.

I thought the benefits depended on the speed too.

Fast enough you create a pressure bed with no cover so airstream kinda flows over the top.
Slow enough you just create a swirling mess.
Thought it depended on length of bed too with those differences in speed.

So can be specific to your normal usage and our shorter beds.

 

[zingaro]

I see improved MPG when I have the tonneau rolled down. I might look into the wing; just to keep the noise down. No matter how tight I get the cover, it still flaps in the wind. Basically turning my bed into an oversized drum...

kinda new here and to the mav. i saw something somewhere about a wing on the tailgate. Is this what your refering to? got a link? got a pic?
Im still in the research phase of a cover. I remember years and i mean years ago i had a small dodge pu and made a cover out of a sheet of aluminum with angle iron stiffiners
(use to bang rivits for Eastern Airlines) you could carry stuff on top also. I kinda guessed you would get some flutter. im kinda heading in a different direction as im wanting to remove the rear seats and make it what i call a "mav station wagon" with some kinda sleeping arrangement.
Its all new (just broke 300 miles yesterday) and just lookin what everyone else is doin.
thx for the input....z

 

[commadorebob]

kinda new here and to the mav. i saw something somewhere about a wing on the tailgate. Is this what your refering to? got a link? got a pic?
Im still in the research phase of a cover. I remember years and i mean years ago i had a small dodge pu and made a cover out of a sheet of aluminum with angle iron stiffiners
(use to bang rivits for Eastern Airlines) you could carry stuff on top also. I kinda guessed you would get some flutter. im kinda heading in a different direction as im wanting to remove the rear seats and make it what i call a "mav station wagon" with some kinda sleeping arrangement.
Its all new (just broke 300 miles yesterday) and just lookin what everyone else is doin.
thx for the input....z

I was talking about a wing at the back of the cab. I'm very much in the "occasionally consider it" stage at this point and haven't done a lot of research into it.

 

[Tom 71 Maverick 24]

I'd really like to see some hard research showing how, for example, a wing/spoiler on the back of the cab roof would help or not help. Same with the tailgate. It stands to reason that there is some value to it, especially the tailgate wing, since we see most trucks have some modest "built in" spoiler shape on the tailgate, and most SUVs have some sort of wing-like surface on the back of the roofline.

I'd also be interested in seeing if something like that can help when towing a travel trailer - improving aerodynamics would be a big help in mileage and maybe handling.

 

[ejouie]

We don't have a good wing for the cab. The aero design one slopes upward and increases the frontal area which increases overall drag. The simple wing, as in the article, is a flat extension of the cab roof over the third brake light area. A few of the new trucks have this design. Silverado is the easiest to spot.

I got a Truxedo Truxport for $280 after rebates and forum discount from @Realtruck. My MPG went from 31 to 32.5. I drive 2 lane highway at 55 mph so kind of the ideal scenario for an improvement. If gas stays around $3.20 or higher, the cover will pay for itself just before its 5-year warranty runs out.

 

[Bilbo_B]

 

[zingaro]

We don't have a good wing for the cab. The aero design one slopes upward and increases the frontal area which increases overall drag. The simple wing, as in the article, is a flat extension of the cab roof over the third brake light area. A few of the new trucks have this design. Silverado is the easiest to spot.

I got a Truxedo Truxport for $280 after rebates and forum discount from @Realtruck. My MPG went from 31 to 32.5. I drive 2 lane highway at 55 mph so kind of the ideal scenario for an improvement. If gas stays around $3.20 or higher, the cover will pay for itself just before its 5-year warranty runs out.

Id sure like to see a pic of your setup. in looking at that aero chart i first posted middle of the road is the roof wing and the half rear cap. i saw another post that a guy used 2x4`s to make a divider for the rear part of the bed. That grove in the bed seems to be about the right distance to box in a rear box cover. ive got a table saw and already had some 2x3/4 in strips that i could fab a divider all the way to the top.
thx for the comment: Newnan ga apartment hopped around CP, Riverdale, ellenwood peckin tin for EAL. left in 95 probably wouldnt recognize anything........z

 

[zingaro]

I was talking about a wing at the back of the cab. I'm very much in the "occasionally consider it" stage at this point and haven't done a lot of research into it.

yea that looks like the ticket: wing on the cab n small boxed off area on the tailgate. based on the pic i posted its middle of the road and seems more duable than an aerocap.
another design is the boattail and saw someone that had one of those cargo carrier behind the truck loaded with gear and may have contributed to that boattail effect.
thx for the comment.....z

 

[ejouie]

Id sure like to see a pic of your setup.

This was after driving through some rain. The main areas water got in are the bed rail gaps on the left and right sides. If you look at your truck and follow the plastic on the sides of the bed you will see what I am talking about. This bed cover has a foam strip that sits on top of the rail/side/plastic and compresses downward to seal. Works great for typical truck bed design. I still need to fill that gap with some black silicone on my truck.

Here is the vendor page for the product.

Truxedo TruXport Soft Roll Up Tonneau Cover 294701 | RealTruck

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