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Does a Tonneau really improve MPG's?

4K views 18 replies 18 participants last post by  Rammin 
#1 ·
It might be my imagination and I've only had a cover on for 2 days. But my mileage has gone up from low 16MPG to low 18MPG. Has anyone else noticed a decent mileage increase after putting on a tonneau cover?
 
#4 ·
trucks have been designed to maximize efficiency stock. Which explains the tailgate designs.

Mythbusters did a episode on this.
 
#10 ·
don't have one but don't think that will help on gas mileage but some of the hard covers looks nice. lol
 
#17 ·
I have spent some time doing scale tests in a wind tunnel to determine the effects of running with and without a tonneau cover. Using a tonneau cover did decrease the coefficient of drag on our scaled model. The decrease was by less than 5%, but that can still account to fuel savings. A decrease in 5% Cd could result in up to a 1% increase in fuel economy, which is not a lot, but over 1000 gallons of fuel consumed, you may save 10 gallons.
 
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