Wheel Skirts...
 

This was my first mod...fender skirts. The sheet metal came from the top of a S10 pick up cab I had sitting in my back yard. I pounded them out with a rubber mallet on a bag of sand. They are attached with two 1/4" rods top and bottom and are held on with one screw and two pins the top rear rod slides into a bracket. They come of relatively easy but take about 15 min to put back on each side. The boosted my mileage 2 mpg. Now to figure out how to do the front wheel wells.

I too have my doubts that they really increased mileage by 2mpg, but they're certainly worthwhile -- and they look great! I wish I could make something look so nice.

I think I'm going to try some wheel skirts for the Beast - I'll fabricate something simple out of corrugated plastic. If it works I'll work on making nice ones.

-Jay

If you don't know don't say anythng..
 

I realized this gain after computing mpg for many trips to work without them and then with them installed. This is how I know they work. If I didn't see any gains I would say so. They aren't totally finished yet because I didn't know if they would work or not.

They may not work on every car because of the aerodynamic differences. They may even work better. Who knows for sure until you try.

Do I think he got 2MPG _overall_ improvement from wheel skirts? No. Do I think it is feasible that he gained 2MPG @ 65-70MPH? Yes. Each and every car has different aerodynamics, and each implementation is different.

Do you think Basjoos and MetroMPG don't know anything about testing?

https://www.gassavers.org/showthread....Wheel%20Skirts

I don't believe he got 2mpg out of it either, but he sure did a nice job of it. Perhaps the 2mpg came from errors that he did not account for.

justpassntime, when did you do the mod, and when were your readings taken? Could warmer weather, for example, account for it? Longer days resulting in less headlight usage? Different routes? Did you do your headlight mod at the same time?

The cars it doesn't seem to have worked on seemed to have had wheelarches that are very close to the back corners of the cars, there's less than 6 inches of bumper behind them. It was theorised that air was actually coming out from under the car through the back of the back wheelarches.

The only scientific statement that anyone can make about things not working, is that it didn't make a difference on X make, Y model and trim, Z year of vehicle. Or "In our sample of 50 different vehicles, no results were more than two sigma from the standard deviation."

Unless of course, they've been making cookie cutter cars since 1950 odd and have been brainwashing us at birth to make us see different ones.

What is to say his MPG improvement wasn't 2MPG overall if 90% of his driving is on the highway? Obviously this is of no use in city driving but if this guy does most of his driving on the highway, I don't see how it isn't plausibe for it to increase by 2MPG.

A new guy comes in and shows off a new mod on his ca that he is proud of and I Personally don't care where the increase came from as long as it's there and he's happy with it. As for the OP they look very professional I wish i could make a set for the wagon that look as good. Your milage gain is impressive for such a small mod but I see the wheels you have on the car. I think that the gain from the skirts is plausible. 5 star wheels are not that great for aero, they tend to cause a ton of turbulence, so enclosing them will reduce the rough air they pump out.

I think it's dang cool to be recycling sheet metal. And banging out skirts on
a bag of sand with a rubber mallet is cooler yet.. :cool:

Have you considered installing some kind of Moon Disc wheel cover(hub cap)
on those rear wheels?

Well, dang, I'm impressed. If my head gasket is good, I am going to start thinking about some aero mods. First thing first is to get the fender ding fixed.

I believe it, it is hard to know for sure if the improvement was 2mpg because there are so many variables, but it seems it has consistently netted a gain in FE. VW uses wheel skirts on their 1 liter concept so they must be worth something...

I enjoy seeing your aero mods and look forward to what you have planned. It is great that you put some old metal to good use. You will definitely reach your goal of 50 mpg.

Results will vary....
 

I am confused. I am not saying they work on every car, mine showed a mileage improvement. I do not have a scan gauge on my car or I would put that info here also. My car doesn't have the OBD terminal needed to hook up to that gauge. Over at ecommoder.com they are working on a gauge that will hook up to cars that do not have the OBD. When they get it all figured out I will have a mpg computer on my car.

I drove this car everyday to work for three months before any mods were done. I was checking mpg every fill up. The mpg was 27-29. Since the fender skirt mod the mpg increased to 30-33. Route, traffic and weather conditions, and time of day were all the same. No changes were made to the mechanical conditions, no tune ups etc. No headlights were used it was all daytime driving. Headlight mod was done a month and a half afterward.

They work on my car. If they didn't they wouldn't be on there, they would just be added weight. Actually I didn't think I would see any noticeable improvement either. Basically this was a weekend mod to see if it would work. Another added bonus is that the road noise got quieter. Less turbulence in the wheel well, less noise.

The 87 Accord has its aerodynamic problem areas, the rear wheel well being one of them. The front of the rear tire sticks out from the front of the wheel well. It is not inside the wheel well. Most newer cars may not have the same results, the tires fit entirely inside the wheel well and fair with the sides of the car.

Results will vary with any mod on any given vehicle. What works on yours may not work on mine. Some of these mods will sometimes even make things worse.

I have many mods planned for my car. I will post the ones that show no improvement along with the ones that do. But I am not going to holler "BS!" when something posted on this site or any other doesn't work for me. If it works for you great, if it doesn't, sorry you wasted your time.

I lost an appreciable amount of mpgs on my CRX with fender skirts. This was determined after several a-b-a tests. But, there are always those who won't believe anything short of a full NASA test schedule.

If several a-b-a tests were listed it would go a long way towards making it a better thread.

You quoted my message in your post, which makes me think you've been offended by my disbelief. If so, I apologize; I try to keep my own posts welcoming and constructive.

I didn't get to a point where I would [constructively] criticize, because I was still asking for information. Again, I hope I did not come across as unduly critical.

This IS a place to look for ideas, receive and offer advice; at least, it has mostly seemed that way for the time I've been here. Most people have been very nice and helpful, occasionally someone gets rubbed the wrong way, and occasionally someone is just a jerk -- that's the nature of online forums.

It's hard to argue the data you've presented, now that you've described it better. I still find it hard to believe that Honda designed the car so badly that wheel skirts could add 2mpg, even back in 1987, but I suppose it's possible.

again I will point to the wheels as the reason the skirts gained so much I think you will see another increase if you went with a wheel that more resembles a flat disk than a propeller. the work you have done to this car is nothing short of impressive and I look forward to seeing what else you have in store for it.

Okay enough...lets get to the reason we are here...
 

We are here to share whatever knowledge, mods or ideas we have. Thanks for all the input both positive or negative.

Anyway philip1 you are probably right about the wheels, they were on the car when it was given to me. I will probably do something in this area as well. I do plan on front skirts or gap filler of some sort.

Sorry to say I don't have time for a b a testing. I do plan on getting some type of mpg computer. Then maybe the data will be better.

Time to do more mods my favorite lowest price gas station (where I buy all my gas) went to $4.09 today.

for what it's worth, I like the wheel skirts and think they would be affective in gaining FE. There may be small improvements in overall mileage but a little here and a little more there adds up.

I think I would gain more by making fairings in front of the rear fender skirts to help smooth the airflow around them.

Also I am looking at Camaro or Firebird outside mirrors because they are smaller than most other mirrors. I do like to use my outside mirrors and would also like to retain the electric adjustment option.

Like what you have done to your car. The front air dam is certainly bold. Bet you get some crazy comments on that one.

I get people asking me "how are you going to change a tire?" I leave them scratching their heads with "I have airless tires!"

Well, that's entertaining to read. I personally believe the 2MPGs, just because aero stuff is weirding me, too many parameters. So what's the driving habbits? Mostly highway, right?

I'm actually interrested as HW is where I want to do aero mods. Maybe I should investigate some moon hubcap hack over my nice alloy wheels. Dunno if I want rear covers nor how to do these.

Moderation
 

It's great to see someone happy with a particular mod. Wheel skirts, after extensive A-B-A testing, have been shown to work with some models of vehicle, not with others, as have some other modifications.

We are not here to tear down others' work, although it is just fine to be skeptical and ask for more detailed information. The original poster has thoughtfully provided more info, which is always a good thing.

Positive and negative inputs are just fine, but the way in which we go about it needs to be tempered. Constructive criticism can be harsh, but does not need to be mean or needlessly sarcastic.

We're not trying to discourage free thinking, or questioning effectiveness of modifications, but cruelty and meanness will not be tolerated. Just because there is free speech in the US doesn't mean there aren't consequences. Also, this board has rules, and courtesy is certainly one of them. Violations of these rules will be and are enforced.

With regard to notion that cars with shorter rear bumper extensions benefit less, I've always had it in my head that rear skirts could still be a benefit if they are open to the rear similar to what you might see on a touring car instead of closed off. I.e., give trapped air somewhere to go.