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As good as it gets... until you open the hood. Tape is fine for testing, but I wanted a longer-lasting solution, wiithout cutting metal. Unlike Matt, I'm trying to stay as stock as possible; no screws into the plastic allowed. Removable adhesives and reversible additions are part of my assumption set. I may keep the car for decades, but it will always be within reach of stock. That's one reason I'm not doing the grill blocks, preferring to assume Ford's louvrers are working. I may add them later... even if I can't see a benefit when the louvres are closed You see, my objective is knowledge, more than reduced fuel consumption. I'm learning aerodynamics the hard way, by testing as well as researching the work of others. Hucho's 4th ed. is on my Christmas list. While there's value in repeating the results of others, I've been looking for things no one's trying. Thus I'm testing AirTabs because I saw no value to another GasPod test thread, and sealing the upper hood area because two of you were sealing the lower two grills. Not being contrary or critical, rather trying to fill empty niches, in a manner that would be appealing to someone who's concerned with resale value. Eventually, we should all end up agreeing on a suite of beneficial mods, albeit with many different implementations! HAve fun, Frnak

I've got one better... a friend of ours ran herself over - she got out while backing up, the door knocked her over, and naturally her leg landed in the path of the front wheels. No lasting injury or we wouldn't laugh about it. Have fun, Frank

What Matt said, just without the plasma cutter... many small improvements needed to make a measureable difference, and best to keep expectations modest. According to the EPA, 13-16% of fuel consumption is dissipated by aerodynmaic drag in higway driving. Make that 15-20% in a hybrid, perhaps. Assuming you're making 50MPG today (2 gal/100 mi), cut drag losses in half, and you cut consumption to 1.8 gal/100 mi, or 55.6 MPG. Clearly, small imoprovements are not going to be verifiable in any but the strongest tests. Thus, modest expectations and many little improvements should be our mantra. Have fun, Frank

Indeed! I wonder if they use other sizes in the multinational version of the car? You can get 15" wheels that fit... Thanks for responding, Frnak

Welcome to the forum. You're asking interesting questions! This one's been discussed heavily. http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/2780-550-goodwill-payment-relabeling-of-mpg-and-changes-coming-for-2014/ and a week later, it showed up on ETIS http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/2829-recall-13b10-fuel-economy-goodwill-payment/ Based on Aug 22 purchase, you may not qualify for the goodwill payment... check your Monroney sticker for the EPA rating. If your says 43, you bought the car with revised mileage estimates. If you knew it was rated 43 when you bought, you don't get the money. Most checks in the US were delivered by FedEx in late Sept./early Oct. HAve fun, Frank

This is one reason I started with weatherstripping...

I plan on taking advantage of the free trial period over Thanksgiving. We're driving through radio-baren areas so we'll see if a subscription is worth it. My issue is signal on the road. At home, I avoid commercial radio in favor of non-commercial radio - the local high school station. Lots of new music, and tremendous variety; I've grown tolerant of the occassional dog as they pride themselve on being Alternative Radio. Have fun, Frank

Where'd you see that? Got a link? My brochure and spec sheet both say 225/50... although 215/55 is an equivalent size. My snows are 215/60-16's, FWIW. HAve fun, Frank

Two things.. First, I agree that in the contiguous US, temperatures 10 feet below ground level are the same just about everywhere, all the time. Pumps are tested for accuracy... I'll take that data over what the car thinks any day. Second, is there a consistent difference in fueling procedures that could explain the discrepency? Do results change if you top-off compared with less-than-maximum fill levels? I see a consistent discrepancy in my fueling data, but I'm a topper... Have fun, Frank

+1 to no issues blocking upper grill. Lots of room under the hood latch for the intake to breath in my book too. This is a very attractive, coherent approach to a clean front end; nicely done! HAve fun, Frank

Have you registered with Ford yet? https://support.ford.com/tools/account/register?step=find This tells Ford who's calling when you send a VHR, and since I can't receive these on my phone, this is where I view a VHR. I have the capless fueling port, and it sometimes fails to seal correctly, resulting in the malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) for "regulatory" issues (engine outline). VHR says I need to see the dealer. The owners' manual says to re-seat the fueling port flaps with the fueling funnel. The MIL goes out when I do, so I suggest you take the VHR with a grain of salt; it's part of the overall customer support system And regardless what you find/do on this site, GO TO ETIS. Great source for what Ford thinks your car has (options) and needs (recalls, service bulletins, etc.) Have fun, Frank

Excel does curve fits through the trendline option on scatterplot charts. I include the equation and R^2 when I post data from my car. Just keep in mind that a low R^2 means one of two things: - the data's noisy - the pattern is flat Most folks understand noisy data, but the second is as common. If the car's mileage doesn't vary with temperature, R^2 will be zero, regardless how tightly grouped the data. HAve fun, Frank

I truly hope you all can recognize an opinion piece when you see it... high on imflamatory language, devoid of actual data. Huffington does a lot of this because it sells. It's why colleges teach courses on critical thinking... HAve fun, Frank

All my tanks are 500 miles unless they're all highway driving (trips)... average is 513 @ 12.5 gal/fill-up. If I ever make 600, you'll see a pic! HAve fun, Frank

Gary, First off, welcome to the forum! Second, I suggest verifying you have a block heater. Being in VT, I expect you may have one, but the only way to be sure is to look on your Monroney sticker, or look up your car in ETIS (highly recommended regardless; enter VIN under "vehicle" tab). Click "Expand this list" at the lower right and you get the entire list of minor options. You should find "Immersion heater" with the words "less" if it's missing or "with" if it's present somewhere in that list. If present, I'd look behind the passenger side headlight, per chryssa in post 8. In ETIS, I would also look at the "outstanding field service actions" to see if your car has anything remaining. Look up any codes here to find out more. 12M02 and 13B10 are "soft" recalls that don't clear. Where in VT? My daughter's in S. Burlington... HAve fun, Frank

I'm waiting for Spring to do anything close to the ground... but that doesn't mean I haven't thought about it! From what I've read, the pressure gradients along the centerline are very telling, and Autospeed's vacuum methods will work well here, albeit not with water; you need fractions of an inch. I've got 2 Magnehelic gauges. I look forward to see what you come up with! Frank

In my mileage analysis, I've found I need to track both temperature and weather, as wet and dry roads are similar, but if it's raining, snowing or there's standing water, results shift. I see signs of two different performance populations in your data, perhaps there's something different in your morning commute some days? It could be as simple as starting SOC, especially with a downhill run. Or, you could be learning to drive more efficiently... this car's been teaching me quite a bit! And not all of it about driving.... HAve fun, Frnak

Glad to see it's just a flesh wound... hope repairs go smoothly! Frank

So this makes a matched set? Nicely done! Frank

Actually, engine vacuum is one place where the water manometer works fairly well, as engine vacuum can reach 30 in/water. Low numbers are sign of overall good flow. Conversely, are you quoting manometer measurements from your test box? in that case, the CFM of your vacuum matters. The engine's pulling about 32 cu ft per 1000 revolutions.... Have fun, Frank

Flash headlights???

I've noted before that there's a step at the hatch; the door is lower than the roofline by 1-2mm (Others have confirmed the step, so I suspect it's intentional.), just enough thickness to attach a Kamm-back to the hatch and have it flush with the roof across the top. Bring it down so the bend follows the roofline taper and it's flush at the sides, still only attached to the hatch, and you'll have something I've already seen in my mind's eye. I still can't see a nice version of the side panels. A box-like structure that's flush to the panels where it meets them? I've done something here using the AirTab vortex generators I'd tried in stock form on the rear hatch lid last weekend. As you can see from the last picture, I've taken a band saw to the standard AirTab, removing all but the "wishbone" shape. I then taped sandpaper to the body contours and sanded each piece into a custom contour that fit flush to the bodywork in that location. A little weatherproof silicone adhesive attaches them fairly well (I'm hoping), but takes 24 hours to cure. They're curing now. I'm pleased as punch we hit 60F today, and 65F tomorrow, but warm days are windy, so I didn't do any baselining testing before, and any data tomorrow is suspect. Maybe I'll get a calm 49F evening like last weekend... But I've done a week of highway driving, so we'll see what happens in next week. Hopefully temps will be comparable... but beyond that, I'm not optimistic about December; nice weather usually averages out. As to placement, I'm trying to bracket the little lip on the tail light lens (subtle but visible in pictures). One above, angled into airflow, three below, spanning the distance to the wheel well. You'll note that each side's pattern is different; there's a step at the seam from metal to plastic panel. The left side avoids the seam, while the right side avoids the gas flap - guess which one I did first? They're far enough back that none stick out past the fender profile, but not so far back that the flow has separated. That's why there's 4, not 8 per side. (I've got black for the bottom spot) If I'm right, there will be a vortex coming off the lens. The VGs should add in theirs above and below, hopefully merging with the big vortex coming off the rooflline and not interfering with the good back window performance. To the extent that the vortices form an extended "air boat-tail" and reduce pressure in the wake, I should see an improvement in fuel consumption. If not, I trust the silicone adhesive will yield to dental floss, as the stock adhesive did the first time. This time, however, Winter's on the doorstep, and we've got a lot of long trips to be taken on snow tires unless Winter's delayed. I've almost got pizza-pan wheel covers done, but I still expect the tire itself will still add turbulence, and there's no way I expect wheel covers to overcome snow tire rolling resistance. I figured I had one last chance to make an improvement (last week) and find this weekend a bonus, so things will stay for a while. I have to wait until Spring eventually! But I can tuft test the back window... the divergence in flow moving out from center is a sign of the roofline vortex, and I can see that while driving! HAve fun, Frank, who's having fun.

Funny how no one noticed jdbob's contribution amid the noise over pricing... Remember, folks in the Pinto fires left in body bags. Tesla and other EV owners are all walking away from their accidents. All of them... That's highly significant to every one of them. How much is your skin worth to you? Frank

As the autospeed article I linked to earlier showed, there can be significant gains available on the intake side. Hwever, the author found the air filter was not a source of pressure drop, and so no gains were available. I will also note that he found the Japanese hybrids to have benchmark intake restrictions, as I expect will Ford. But, it never hurts to test... As to the MB advice, it's not as crazy at it seems. Paper air filters improve their filtration with use. The 10K service removes most of the big stuff that's restricting air flow, but can't dislodge the fine particles that increase fine particle efficiency. Eventually, the paper fails, but until then, you take one step closer to a HEPA filter every time you clean it. Have fun, Frank

The dimming is linked to the headlights in auto mode. Whenever I go under a dark overpass, or in deep shade, the dash lights dim when the headlight come on. I'd like a bit of delay... I will also note that I always confirm with an OK when changing settings; the only reset to date was the 13B07 PCM update, which reset a lot of things. HAve fun, Frank