Make sure that you have a large beverage, along with your dessert.
Those deserts are very dry.
In theory, maybe. The problem is that there are so many variables and the difference so slight I don’t think any one the planet can measure that difference.
Mythbusters makes a few laps on a track and calls that good?
Much like Mythbusters and the Dominator tornado proof car which they said would stand up to a major tornado because it was nosed into the jet blast from a 747 with the car several hundred feet away.
It’s not going to happen. Turn it sideways and see what happens.
And I say this as someone who actually got caught in a milder tornado and went a bit airborne in a 1/2 ton Ford pickup…
Exactly!
Yes, a good wax job will make a difference… at least in theory.
Is it enough of a difference to be measurable?
Probably not…
On the other hand, driver behavior will definitely have a measurable impact on gas mileage, and even things like the state of a vehicle’s maintenance and the rolling resistance of its tires will likely have a greater impact on MPGs than a “wax job” will.
That’s video from inside a tornado shot by the Tornado Intercept Vehicle version 2:
Now, I agree that Reed Timmer’s little Line-X SUV thing would be destroyed (that dumb episode was a cross-promotion because Timmer’s tornado show was on the same network), but it is possible to get a vehicle into one and have it survive.
On the wax, the question was whether you’d get better mileage. The answer is yes, even if we can’t measure it. It won’t be enough of a difference to consider wax jobs as green energy initiatives, and you won’t ever notice any savings at the pump even when measured over your entire lifetime, but it will give you an infinitesimally small mileage increase.
And since the question addressed any mileage increase at all, the answer’s yes and our new friend gets free Denny’s.
1 Like
I know that a wash and wax makes a measurable difference on a Beachcraft Bonanza. I would have to see the data and methodology before I would believe it would make a measurable difference on a passenger car.
Dimples, that’s the ticket!
3 Likes
It gets great mileage, but has a wicked slice out of the garage!
2 Likes
I had one like that. Kept ending up in the pool…
1 Like
I know about the British waxing their Spitfires to gain a little top speed.
1 Like
Since we are talking cars, you must mean the Triumph, and not the Supermarine Spitfire. 
Dimples work on golf balls because the turbulent airflow they create sticks to ball’s surface and follows the curve a little farther back than laminar flow does. This means the hole the ball punched in the air closes again and the ball recovers some of the energy needed to open the hole.
If you are dealing with a well streamlined shape, laminar flow will stay attached and so making the flow turbulent with dimples will only increase skin friction and drag. Dimpling a car or an airplane is likely to be counter productive.
From what I have read, the drag reduction of a dimpled golf ball only happens between about 55 mph and 300 mph. Below 55 the airflow is laminar around a dimpled as well as a smooth ball. Above 300 and the airflow around the smooth ball is turbulent also.
Can a scuff make a difference? Well, umpires don’t retire scuffed baseballs for nothing.
The pitcher can use that scuff mark to get a better grip and impart more spin…
I don’t think it helps mpg any but its a well known fact that it makes the car run better.
3 Likes
One more thought. In the morning often have dew on my car. Even at 75 MPH the water globules just sit there on the hood.
Fish have scales, birds have feathers, If a perfectly smooth surface is ideal evolution failed. or in scientific terms,
Abstract
To reduce friction drag with bionic method in a more feasible way, the surface microstructure of fish scales was analyzed attempting to reveal the biologic features responding to skin friction drag reduction. Then comparable bionic surface mimicking fish scales was fabricated through coating technology for drag reduction. The paint mixture was coated on a substrate through a self-developed spray-painting apparatus. The bionic surface with micron-scale caves formed spontaneously due to the interfacial convection and deformation driven by interfacial tension gradient in the presence of solvent evaporation. Comparative experiments between bionic surface and smooth surface were performed in a water tunnel to evaluate the effect of bionic surface on drag reduction, and visible drag reduction efficiency was obtained. Numerical simulation results show that gas phase develops in solid-liquid interface of bionic surface with the effect of surface topography and partially replaces the solid-liquid shear force with gas-liquid shear force, hence reducing the skin friction drag effectively. Therefore, with remarkable drag reduction performance and simple fabrication technology, the proposed drag reduction technique shows the promise for practical applications.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16923-fake-feathers-could-take-the-drag-out-of-flights/
Do waxed drivers get better mileage?
Dimples - that’s funny.
But the car needs to be White.
Back in the early '60s, there was a sign posted at a car wash in my town, reading…
“A clean car rides better”
Perhaps if you’re external to the cabin and exposed to the breeze.