Air dam on 2007 Prius
 

O.K. I just finished my project on my 2007 Prius. I have been getting around 60.0 mpg. So I thought I would try to lower the front air dam to see if I could keep some of the air from under the car. I also kicked the ends out alittle to see if I could get more air off the tires. I will post what effects if any this does to my gas milage.

fuel economy forum
vegan recipes
green home improvement
honda gas mileage

Nice pic.
Boy, that one's low to the ground.
Chipmunks better be careful!

If this helps I plan on making a nice one that can be painted. It's 3" off the ground. I am afraid to go any lower. I do not want to lower my mpg's. Keep your fingers crossed. I would like to pick up 2 or 3 more mpg's. Belly pan is next.

I would rather go for belly pan instead of air dam. Low air dam increases car frontal area, thus decreases aerodynamics.

i would think belly pan > air dam > nothing

Was looking at your gaslog and i saw that one that your wife drove! She killed your mileage! That my parents never understand why i dont let them drive becuase thats what will happen when you give somone a good tank and they dont hypermile it. Btw nice on the 70 + tanks tho.

Congrats on 70+ Billy. Funny log with the wife driving :) I still dont believe that you actually went to the gas station after EIGHT miles and put in .2 gals of gas into the tank!! I'll not soon forget that one !!!
I think that you'll have better readings though if you stick closer to 400+ miles fillups. You wont get the instant feedback, but you'll have a better indication on how well you are doing FE-wise. For all you know wife could have done even less than 40mpg (or maybe MORe). Its hard to be accurate with .2 gallon fillup as there is too much variance in a 10+ gal tank.
.2 gal, MAN that FUNNY. I wouldnt have the nerve. hehe

Update on air dam

Just so everyone knows I don't go to the gas station and fill up after 8 miles. I enter my information in to greenhybrid.com first and get the amount of gas that was used from them. Then I enter it into this web site. Sometimes its a little off but not much. Anyway, today was the first day I drove with the air dam on the car. On the way to work I drove my normal route (27miles) and got 76.5mpg on the readout of the car. On the way home I took the interstate (14miles) and got 61.5mpg. I don't like taking the Interstate because of the traffic but, I thought that I would try it anyway. I don't know if something else affected the milage but, it looks like the air dam did make a difference for the better. I will continue to update and see where it ends up.

Ya don't bother with those short fills, they're pointless. Besides all the inaccuracy, think of all the wasted time, extra miles accrued, and spillage/evaporative losses caused by all these gas tank games.