Does waxing help mpg?
My wife laughs when I suggest that keeping my HCH II shiny clean and waxed might actually help MPG. I figure in the city it probably makes 0 difference, but on highway trips, I expect it would help. Has anyone done experiments to see if this is true and to what extent?
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Re: Does waxing help mpg?
I cant remember the exact percentage, but I was told by an engineer in the automotive industry that the coefficient of drag increases when the car is dirty. If i remember correctly it was over 10 percent increase (for some reason i am thinking 20 percent) in the coefficient of drag.
I don't know what this translates to in real fuel economy discrepancies, but I suspect its pretty low, but probably significant enough to measure. |
Re: Does waxing help mpg?
So in the grand scheme of things, I wonder if this offsets the total energy cost of actually washing the car.
Maybe I need to figure out how to add a sail to my roof :) |
Re: Does waxing help mpg?
You're not the only one with this experience! People have mocked me when I claim to see a connection between mpg & clean/dirty state of car exterior... but I know it's happening...:confused:
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Re: Does waxing help mpg?
Good to know! What I'm more interested now in is how you're getting 52.4 on average :) My best tank so far (with waxing before each direction) was a 600 mile round trip at 54mpg.
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Re: Does waxing help mpg?
Keeping a good coat of wax on the car probably helps a little bit, though twuelfing's 10% seems a bit extreme to me. Besides, there are better reasons to keep the car clean and waxed. Looks good, and protects the paint and metal.
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Re: Does waxing help mpg?
i am not claiming a 10 percent increase in fuel economy. I am saying a 10 percent decrease in the coefficient of drag vs a dirty car.
the coefficient of drag is a small part of the entire equation that results in gas mileage. Sorry if i was unclear. also i am probably wrong, but i was told there is defiantly an effect. |
Re: Does waxing help mpg?
Clean has better coefficient of drag than dirty, and clean-n-waxed is even better.
That 10% reduction in drag sounds reasonable to me. It probably translates to less than 1 MPG. But hey, it IS a plus :) If you wanna skimp on the effort, keep just the front end (& mirrors) waxed. Those areas would do the most good :P |
Re: Does waxing help mpg?
twuelfing, that makes a bit more sense :)
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Re: Does waxing help mpg?
Originally Posted by twuelfing
(Post 102544)
i am not claiming a 10 percent increase in fuel economy. I am saying a 10 percent decrease in the coefficient of drag vs a dirty car.
the coefficient of drag is a small part of the entire equation that results in gas mileage. Sorry if i was unclear. also i am probably wrong, but i was told there is defiantly an effect. There will definitely be some difference, but I expect it to be very low. |
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