Tonneau/MPGs

[RockHoundTX]

Sometimes I think that YouTube is watching me when I am on this forum. Had a recommended video pop up that answers a lot of the questions and comments discussed here (even the Mythbuster golfball episode which it indicated was somewhat flawed). Enjoy:

The Aerodynamics of Speed - YouTube

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[Montana]

Sometimes I think that YouTube is watching me when I am on this forum.

They are. lol.

 

[jewc75]

They are. lol.

His truck is listening to him lol.

 

[Limeymav]

I went with the TipTop soft tri-fold. From what I can tell, there are about a dozen companies importing the exact same Maverick bed covers from the same factory in China (Tyger, TipTop, etc.). Only reason to pick one over another is customer service and/or warranty. Only issue I have is that they all seem to be about 1/2" too short (this applies to the factory Ford soft tri-fold as well). The general consensus on here is to stay away from the Chinese roll-up covers (latches break).

As for do they increase MPG, in the stock form it will be very minimal. A parasitic drag is still being created just behind the back window even with the cover. From what I remember from all my aerospace engineering classes (fluid dynamics, aero dynamics, etc.), to increase gas mileage the front of the bed cover would need to be about 1/2 to 2/3 the way up the window (would need to do fluid-flow analysis to know exactly where). You would not want it all the way up the window since the short bed would cause the angle to be too steep and you would have air separation creating even more drag.

Getting the correct angle/design is hard and safety/looks/marketability come before fuel economy. Just because something "looks" aerodynamic does not mean it is. Several of the "aerodynamic" trailer companies have the least aerodynamic trailers (one was measured to have a higher drag than if it had been a square box ;-)

If someone really wanted to go down the rabbit hole, you could probably get a small bump in efficiency with vortex generators on the back edge of the cab as well as the back edge of the bed cover. This causes the airstream to twist instead of roll downwards creating a low pressure area behind the back window and tailgate. If you wanted to tweak even further, you could add a tapered, hitch mounted cargo box (the front edge of the box should be as close to the tailgate as possible and the back extend the full 4 feet allowed by law). I did this on a Ford Focus (made of light-weight aluminum) and got an additional 2-3 MPG even with an extra 60 pounds in the box.

Yeah i used to work on the NASA runway here in FL, and Mercedes used to bring semi"s to test various Aero styles for coast down

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