I don't draft either, and after 78,000 miles of hypermiling still have a nice front clip finish.

Rocks/gravel is one thing but if something like a pipe or muffler is picked up off the road can easily kill if tossed through the windscreen.
At least you'll have a chance with reasonable reaction time.

With that said I've had some benefit deflecting a headwind by following a couple hundred feet behind one of those double-trailer FedEx trucks or covered wagons before. Many trucks in a brutal head wind will be going slower but I don't do that much either.

in most cases I'd have to burn off extra fuel to catch up/match speed with a truck and seems to be counter-productive anyway.
99.9% of my truck use is when it's lumbering slowly down the road...in which case I'm blessed with an easy drive just plodding down the road at a safe distance.

What gets me is I follow at a safe distance and then someone cuts between me and the truck and pushes me back more . . . but as far as safe distance I am further back than most others on the highway.

I dont dragt semis anymore.

In the past it could be good for a 2 to 4 mpg increase when done right. You can also surf the wake infront of a semi.

I took a rock or a kitchen sink yesterday off a Blazer that passed me. It was a ratty, muddy country road rig. I heard a slight wack. And i mean slight. Sound like a rock bounced off under the car. Got to work and found a dent with scratch in it on the leading edge of my hood. :(

I think we've all drafted a semi atelast once in our life, in my car when I first got it (shot ignition wire's, original distributor and cap with +100k miles, plugged exhaust (catalytic converter blown out, but stuck in the pipes still), completely fouled spark plugs, bad TPS sensor, bad AIT sensor) It was very low on power, and i had to go to a town not too far away to get some stuff. It ended up being a VERY windy day, i realized just how windy it was when a semi passed me while i had it too the floor going up a small hill, at about 45 mph. I ended up being able to keep up with him, so i kept my bumper stuck to his the entire way there afraid i woudlnt' make it otherwise.

I've noticed the sound of the wind really goes away when your drafting too.

Actually I never really noticed what difference drafting made until about 5 years ago when I road my motorcycle from FL to TX.

I was on the last leg of the trip (Ft.Worth to Abilene) when the wind picked up A LOT. I was barely able to maintain control. I finally had a semi with a double trailer pass me so I locked in behind him - he maintained 55MPH max. The wind was incredible. He knew I I was behind him and smiled and waved when passed him and took my left exit - he really saved my butt but I am really thankful he didn't kick up a gator or something else.:o

Yeah I used to occasionally draft trucks, untill the day my mom came home with a nasty dent/scratch on her hood, from a chunk of tire coming off a semi and flying into the hood. And she was well behind it. Sometimes I just cant help it, because the douchebag semi drivers around here cut people off like its nothing; the other day somebody got killed by one who ran a red light :thumbdown: I swear even if a soccer mom was late for work/practice, they would be a better driver than the guys that are getting paid by the mile. I think they should make all semi drivers earn money by the hour; theres such a huge difference in their driving its unbelievable.

If semi drivers would get payed by the hour...they would watch their favorite movies at truck stops.

semi drivers, per mile vs per hour
 

I agree with your statement. When I see semi drivers going way too fast, I say to myself, "he is getting paid by the mile, not the hour". If they all were paid by the hour, as I am while driving, they would go a more reasonable speed IMO.

Roadrunner

Just another mpg result for this thread. The SG in my Geo was reading 37.5mpg average when drafting a truck (about 2-3 seconds behind) @ 70mph with cruise on (temperature 27*F with no wind). I changed lanes with the same speed and the average was 36.3mpg. That's 3.3% increase, but it's still nothing compared to driving @ 50mph (returned 49.8mpg).

ahh yes motorcycles, i was commuting on mine one day when i came upon a large semi, i got up behind it and was just starting to enjoy the quiet and smooth ness when he decides to tell me he doesnt like me. In to the gravel he goes i become momentarily paralyzed by the fact that my helmet was filling with dust as my body was being pelted by stones (no fairing, screen, or anything) NOT GOOD, so then i passed him only to find semi's are long, my motorcycles' not fast, and there was oncoming coming fast :-(