if so better or worse than the fins?

http://www.airtab.com/

 

Can you say rice.

 

It's like a vortex generator for tractor trailers

 

ew

 

me no likey

 

think of it as an industrial size vortex generator.

did you notice the scale of airtabs in the mock-up they experimented with? to equate that experiment to a real truck and trailer the air tab would be about the size of a football.

would you be willing to put them on your trunk lid, wing. and rear roof?
I'd need bigger nads to do that, but let us know how it works, it has merit.

 

dumb

 

I would buy one .... if I drive a semi

 

?????

 

im sure this thread is just a gag

 

"Air Tabs" for "Air Guitar" ?

 

Didn't look football sized, but are not a "cosmetic" upgrade by any means.... but I agree 100% that they should work great for fuel economy in a Semi

Keith

 

seems like a fantastic way to create more drag.

 

Are you high? They reduce drag by a significant amount.... but they are large and ugly so not really suitable for a passenger car. If I had an RV I would have these installed ASAP.

Keith

 

i was addressing this from a car perspective, in which case, more surface area in the shape like that is going to create additional drag at at least some speeds. but yes, i would believe that they might work on big rigs and RVs. i wasn't sure if the original poster was asking if these had been tried on a smaller vehicle, say... like an Evo.

they claim to reduce drag on large empty spaces on/between large trucks/trailers and rv's. they in themselves do not reduce drag, they will create it. any object has some air resistance/drag, and these are no exception, unless they are somehow exempt from the laws of physics. the reason they reduce drag on applications like big trucks/trailers and rv's is they reduce what would be more drag in those otherwise turbulent pockets. the wind tunnel test showed what looked like reduced turbulence in between two objects, but furnished no proof for the rear of the vehicle.
so in reference to a car trunk lid or roof or something, i would image that they don't do much besides create drag. "large and ugly" is only a sidenote to that fact that they would offer little to no real benefit or even be a handicap on a typical passenger car.