aftermarket mirror ?= frontal area reduction

[thisisntjared]

wondering how you guys feel about this, or if anyone has taken any measurements or anything. im thinking about picking up the el-cheapo spoon knockoff mirrors to reduce the frontal area and possibly weight. my civic's mirrors are manual so there really wont be that much of a weight savings and the real benifit would be in the loss of frontal area.

if nobody really knows anything solid, then i guess i will have to find out and post my findings over the next few months

[Matt Timion]

We've discussed actually removing the side mirrors in previous posts. The guys at www.insightcentral.com do it every so often. The truth of it is, however, that little benefit (if any) is really noticed.

The insight drivers will replace their mirrors with small cameras in the rear which they can view on a small LCD screen in the cabin. As you can imagine the cost of this setup is expensive, and a return on investment will never be noticed.

I believe that any aerodynamic benefit from changing or removing mirrors will be so minimal it won't even be measurable. I'll never do it because of safety reasons, and i really don't mind my mirrors.

It would be interesting to see however if you do notice a difference, which will probably only be noticable at very high speeds where aerodynamic drag is a huge factor.

[thisisntjared]

that is a good point and i admit, i will never buy cameras and lcd screens for my civic. but do most of the insight drivers drive at speeds over 75mph?

about 2/3 of my driving is done between 75 and 80mph. while, i may not notice a difference strictly from the mirrors, a difference may be recognized with mirrors in conjunction with an under body tray or other minor aerodynamic modifications.

the problem with the modifications with little impact is that you may mistake them for error at the pump, so it is hard to keep track of them.

if it should be better in theory, then it must do something, right? the real concern for me is how much better 'should' they be. if each mirror only saves a square inch, then its definitely not worth it, unless they weighed 4#s less each.

[Matt Timion]

There is the issue. I doubt it will save even 1 inch per mirror, and the weight savings will be minimal as well.

The best tank I've ever received was a trip with two adults, two children, and a trunk full of luggage.

Unless you can shave hundreds of pounds most weight reductions will be pointless.

FYI, if you slowed down a bit and went 65mph instead of 75-80 I'm willing to bet that you'll notice a MPG increase of 3-4mpg. When you go visit your fiance use cruise control and set it at 65mph.

[thisisntjared]

your point about weight is understood however i dont want to shave weight to get better fuel economy. my car is dual purpose. :insert winking smiley here: more than 4lbs on the out most sides of the car are a much better weight reduction than the same weight removed from the center.

i am aware of the increases of driving the speed limit. however, when you are traveling between 320 and 340 miles(depending on route), 10 more mph makes a world of a difference on my back. this is especially hard when i am just keeping up with traffic and unfortunately, the cx doesnt have cruise control

i have a feeling i will be an oddball on this site, since i am looking for efficiency with necessary compromises. (shorter gears, sticky tires)

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by thisisntjared

i have a feeling i will be an oddball on this site, since i am looking for efficiency with necessary compromises. (shorter gears, sticky tires)

I don't think you're an oddball here... there is at least one other person I can think of that wants MPG and speed.

BTW, an aftermarket cruise control MIGHT be a good investment.

[kickflipjr]

I was wanting to get cabrbon fiber mirrors for my car for a while but the weight/ aero benifits are tiny (very tiny). But if you want to do it for looks go ahead.

I took off my passanger side mirror. It might of had a microscopic benifit in mpg.

[Sludgy]

The mirrors on my F350 are as big as Dumbo's ears. I'd love to find smaller mirrors, but I haven't found anyone that sells 'em.

[basjoos]

According the the following article, the rear view mirrors contribute 3% to 6% of the total vehicle drag.

http://www.tfd.chalmers.se/~lelo/rvad/reports/rva2002_gr11_contribution-to-drag.pdf

The following article also has a lot of basic information about drag reduction in cars.

http://www.tfd.chalmers.se/~lelo/rvad/reports/rva2002_gr10_drag-reducing.pdf

[MetroMPG]

those look like quality links. thanks basjoos.