MYTH: IS A DIRTY CAR MORE FUEL EFFICIENT THAN A CLEAN CAR?
Finding: BUSTED Explanation: In 2002, an engineer named Tom Wagner Jr., in an article on money-saving tips, reported improved fuel efficiency after giving his car a scrub down. And ever since, auto experts have debated whether the opposite might be true. But the MythBusters scored a point for the enterprising engineer by proving that only money you'll save motoring around a dirty car is quarters at the car wash.
People driving the dirty car myth argue that the grimy coating improves aerodynamics, much like the effect of dimples on golf balls. Those tiny divots disrupt air particles as they flow across a golf ball, reducing wind resistance — also known as drag — and sending it sailing 37 percent farther than a smooth ball would travel.
But randomly distributed dirt particles do just the opposite on cars, creating more drag as air particles cling onto the grime. According to MythBuster calculations, that filth effect cuts fuel economy by around 10 percent.
If only that dirt could magically form a golf ball-like dimpled shell on a car's exterior, this myth would be a hole-in-one.
Last edited by J_T; 06.10.2011 at 20:53.
This user would like to thank J_T for this useful post:
MYTH: IS A DIRTY CAR MORE FUEL EFFICIENT THAN A CLEAN CAR?
Finding: BUSTED Explanation: In 2002, an engineer named Tom Wagner Jr., in an article on money-saving tips, reported improved fuel efficiency after giving his car a scrub down. And ever since, auto experts have debated whether the opposite might be true. But the MythBusters scored a point for the enterprising engineer by proving that only money you'll save motoring around a dirty car is quarters at the car wash.
People driving the dirty car myth argue that the grimy coating improves aerodynamics, much like the effect of dimples on golf balls. Those tiny divots disrupt air particles as they flow across a golf ball, reducing wind resistance — also known as drag — and sending it sailing 37 percent farther than a smooth ball would travel.
But randomly distributed dirt particles do just the opposite on cars, creating more drag as air particles cling onto the grime. According to MythBuster calculations, that filth effect cuts fuel economy by around 10 percent.
If only that dirt could magically form a golf ball-like dimpled shell on a car's exterior, this myth would be a hole-in-one.
Is your dirt truly random 'tho? And is the hail damage random or part of a larger pre ordained structure and system? lol
LOL and ironicly enough hail damage could actually INCREASE aerodynamics a dimpled surface on a car could be one of the most sought after finishes if it didn't look so bad! The way air is channeled and flows around dimples reduces drag... VW Golfball anyone?
Great vid! If they had applied more science to the dimple pattern, depth and size and got them closer together who knows, it may even have taken off!!
Dimples on a golf ball reduce drag, a smooth ball just dives back to the ground again.
...think hail is preordained by God, actually, though it may fall randomly.
Under my insurance it's covered as an act of God, but I think the trouble is that he throws it at random. The rain (hail) falls on the good and the bad, you see.
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