Installed GasPods on liftgate

[Jus-A-CMax]

mtb - anything to report. did the gas pods work for you - since its been a while now?

[salsaguy]

was wondering the same thing but felt bad to ask after the unfortunate event that happened to him.

was wondering if they let him use them right away and use previous fuelly data or made him get 2000 miles of baseline data first.

[susanne]

was wondering the same thing but felt bad to ask after the unfortunate event that happened to him.

was wondering if they let him use them right away and use previous fuelly data or made him get 2000 miles of baseline data first.

According to the website, any form of data that shows odometer and gas consumption, including that tracked at fuelly.com to be a part of their Test Team

Edited July 23, 2013 by susanne

[mtb9153]

best of luck fixing it. i agree call around and see all your options to figure out what to do. go with a pro. perhaps someone in your are can recommend someone?

 

 

to ensure they stick with the magnet you need the rate earth neodymium (sp??) magnets. Will make it hard to remove them too. Will need a soft bottom so it won't scratch the paint. might make it hard to position since the mag will be quickly attracted to the metal and force your hands to where IT wants to go not where you want it positioned. needs to be a balance of staying power but still movable.

I have a set of 9 rare earth magnetic GasPods on my CMax and love them.  No problems with attaching them to the metal painted surfaces.  They are strong but not so strong that it is difficult to place them how and where you want them.  Mine are painted to match my Platinum White color.  I have them located along the portion of the roof where it meets the edge of the LiftGate.  I also have a group of 9 black adhesive mounted GasPods across the roof on the glass.  Blend into the the black glass of the pano roof.  Not sure if they are helping any with MPG since my Max rarely gets higher than 45 and stay there for very long.  My best MPG seems to come while driving at freeway speeds.  We'll see after the August upgrade what happens?

[mtb9153]

mtb - anything to report. did the gas pods work for you - since its been a while now?

Sorry answered your question further down this thread.

[ScubaDadMiami]

Two days ago, a guy passed me in a non-hybrid, and he had them across the top of his roof line.

 

mtb, if you are unsure if they are helping, why do you love them?  Is it just for the style?  Any pics?

[Jus-A-CMax]

hey mtb, if you want to move them on, let me know...I'll luv to try 'em and see if it will do anything since I get pretty consistent MPGs on my set route.

[mtb9153]

Jus, I've not given up on them yet so I'll hang on to them.  I took some pics of both the black pods using adhesive to the pano window and the white pods using the rare earth magnets.  Even if they don't show improved MPG, I just like the styling it has added to my Max.  Looks racy and if I can fabricate a front splitter and rear difusser this will just enhance the Euro-look I'm trying to create.  You will notice that the white pods are not a true color match.  That is because they aren't.  They are painted for another car but the company that makes the pods had them laying around and sent them to me after hearing how I screwed up my rear spoiler with the first installation.  Guess they felt sorry for me?  Actually it worked to my advantage since I have both sets and can color match them to the locations on the car.  I've been using 3M 10lb rated gel adhesive to mount the black ones in their various locations.  I think this is the same adhesive which they came with from the manufacturer.

Edited July 23, 2013 by mtb9153

[salsaguy]

i think they are touted to work best at above 55-65 mph

 

Not sure if they are helping any with MPG since my Max rarely gets higher than 45 and stay there for very long.  My best MPG seems to come while driving at freeway speeds.  We'll see after the August upgrade what happens?

[susanne]

i think they are touted to work best at above 55-65 mph

I think the spread on gains claimed starts at about 35 mph and gets better as speed picks up.

[Jus-A-CMax]

I think the spread on gains claimed starts at about 35 mph and gets better as speed picks up.

Welcome to the forum - wondering if you are affliliated with th Gas Pod company?

[susanne]

Welcome to the forum - wondering if you are affliliated with th Gas Pod company?

Thank you. We're happy to be invited here by your members' thread.

 

Yes. I am President of the Company. When posting about GasPods, I'll keep my posts germane  to topics posted by others that are unaffiliated. I am here to keep information accurate, and unless invited to do otherwise, I'll keep posts limited to doing just that, or answering questions that may be asked of us. I've been a participant in forums since the mid-1990's. I'll do my best to follow the rules, but each forum and moderator have their sensitivity points. If I run astray of yours, just let me know and I'll temper down.

Edited July 23, 2013 by susanne

[ArizonaEnergi]

I don't believe these devices will improve gas mileage, but they do make the roof look interesting and easier to spot across a parking lot! Can you imagine a roof covered with a 100 of them?

[salsaguy]

i don't think 100 of them will help. they picked 9 for a reason and they need to be placed in a certain spot and in a  certain way to max the benefits.

[Jus-A-CMax]

Thank you. We're happy to be invited here by your members' thread.

 

Yes. I am President of the Company. When posting about GasPods, I'll keep my posts germane  to topics posted by others that are unaffiliated. I am here to keep information accurate, and unless invited to do otherwise, I'll keep posts limited to doing just that, or answering questions that may be asked of us. I've been a participant in forums since the mid-1990's. I'll do my best to follow the rules, but each forum and moderator have their sensitivity points. If I run astray of yours, just let me know and I'll temper down.

 

Well welcome, and thanks for letting us know. Back in the 90s would have been the newgroups...they're still around. Yeah, I have no problem with you posting whatsoever and I monitor most of the threads anyway but as gas pods are controversial, they will always be questions and doubts - which I guess is like water off a duck's back by now.

 

I think mtb is a good candidate for your gas pods, hes been struggling with getting the good MPGs so we shall see how it does. I've been nailing it and right now, still scouring the net to see if these deturbulators really work before plonking any money for it. I get above 60+ MPGs anyway (did 833.8 miles on a tank which still stands for now (c'mon Matt)) and I get pretty consistent MPG daily from my drives to work and back - and I can tell immediately if the MPGs are high or low due to weather, traffic or any other factors and I have ton of stats.

 

Anyway, enough about me...enjoy the forum and I look forward to your input here.

 

:headspin:

Edited July 24, 2013 by Jus-A-CMax

[bigalpha]

Thank you. We're happy to be invited here by your members' thread.

 

Yes. I am President of the Company. When posting about GasPods, I'll keep my posts germane  to topics posted by others that are unaffiliated. I am here to keep information accurate, and unless invited to do otherwise, I'll keep posts limited to doing just that, or answering questions that may be asked of us. I've been a participant in forums since the mid-1990's. I'll do my best to follow the rules, but each forum and moderator have their sensitivity points. If I run astray of yours, just let me know and I'll temper down.

 

Do you do studies of each type of car to find the best placement of the pods?

[susanne]

Do you do studies of each type of car to find the best placement of the pods?

 

Add spoilers, roof racks, utility lights, and different car shapes, models and modifications to the mix. Our Test Team members are working with us in this regard. Test Team members are interested drivers who have taken advantage of the discount we offer for providing baseline mileage, and a rebate for providing with GasPod mileage. Many, like this Ford Fusion driver - http://www.gaspods.com/wp-content/uploads/Results-2008-Ford-Fusion1.pdf - go farther and continue reporting back with different configurations, and new, subsequent baseline mileage. We hope to hear back from mtb9153 who is moving GasPods around on his CMAX as well.

 

The trailing edge vacuum exists with almost all vehicles. There is a sweet spot between the end of the roof or trunk line, and 10" before that where improvement can be seen on most passenger vehicles. We are working with our Test Team members to fine tune these sweet spots for different car body shapes.

[bigalpha]

I currently drive ~40k miles a year.  Getting a bump in fuel economy sounds good.  How do we get with this program?

[salsaguy]

here:

http://www.gaspods.com/

[salsaguy]

the fusion got was able to get a 9-11% increase in FE ?? wow but it does look like cooler weather (less a/c use need) was probably a contributing factor as well since its not a test in a vacuum where all key process inputs can be held stale. lots of variables involved.

 

Will mtb be the first tester using them on a c-max that you know of? or have others ordered them for the cmax?

 

 

 

 

Add spoilers, roof racks, utility lights, and different car shapes, models and modifications to the mix. Our Test Team members are working with us in this regard. Test Team members are interested drivers who have taken advantage of the discount we offer for providing baseline mileage, and a rebate for providing with GasPod mileage. Many, like this Ford Fusion driver - http://www.gaspods.com/wp-content/uploads/Results-2008-Ford-Fusion1.pdf - go farther and continue reporting back with different configurations, and new, subsequent baseline mileage. We hope to hear back from mtb9153 who is moving GasPods around on his CMAX as well.

[Jus-A-CMax]

the fusion got was able to get a 9-11% increase in FE ?? wow but it does look like cooler weather (less a/c use need) was probably a contributing factor as well since its not a test in a vacuum where all key process inputs can be held stale. lots of variables involved.

 

Will mtb be the first tester using them on a c-max that you know of? or have others ordered them for the cmax?

 

Hee...he can probably use it the most.

 

I would :airquote: volunteer but not at the expense of forking out money for this, not at those prices. If it was less at $20, yeah, I can afford to buy it and then move it / pay it forward etc  if it doesn't work. And as you know, I am darn good with tracking my mileage/MPG/fuel burn etc. From what I am able to gather, it may be 2 MPG improvement and really, for me, that a squirt or 2 of gas at most since I am running my route consistently high (64 MPG for the day!)...not sure if this will be way more beneficial for my speed range.

Edited July 27, 2013 by Jus-A-CMax

[mtb9153]

Everyone reading this thread, just wanted to say that I'm still playing around with the positioning to see where it might give me the best results.  Because most of my driving is in town and because I always run with my A/C on my results might not be the best.  Also as you all know I'm struggling with maintaining even 40Avmpg.  My biggest down fall I think is my lack of being able to execute good braking scores.  I get a few 100% if I really work at it and then along comes a 95, 93, 90 or even a 87.  Each time doing what I think is exactly the same effort that got me a 100% previously.  Plus I'm still struggling with driving techniques and anticipating signal light changes.  That probably is my biggest downfall next to over reacting when some jerk does something stupid in front of me.  That one I feel I will never improve on since I have had a string of bad luck, years back with accidents.  So I'm very fast on the brake to avoid another incident.

 

Jus I tried the 2 bar technique you outlined over the last few days and it just isn't doing much for me I'm afraid.  But I will keep trying to master it.

 

Suzanne if you are monitoring this do you think it is a bad idea for me to place the first black GasPods I bought from you on the leading edge of my glass roofline?  Maybe being out in front of the rare earth magnetic GasPods is disruptive to what they can do at the rear of my CMax?  I have attached the latest pictures once again so you can analyze them.  Possibly their placement is to close together and should be spread out more evenly across the roofline like in the rear?

 

Lastly I will add that my last two tanks has significantly dropped with overall mileage.  My current tank which is at 1/4 remaining will come up far short of even earning 500miles.  I'm presently showing 377miles with 111 miles before empty.  My fuelly.com graph chart also has taken a downward spiral to it's lowest level since I joined.  I have managed at least 500miles on the last half dozen tanks, so this one is very discourging. 

 

I look forward to any input...

 

Edited July 27, 2013 by mtb9153

[salsaguy]

mtb you might now be getting the roof rack effect worth your double placement.went did you decide on using 2 sets instead of only one?

this is why the magnetic ones let you move them around to try and find the sweet spot.

 

have you looked at other cars that are like the cmax in small shape to see how others have done it? also went can't we access your fuelly info when we click on your sig line for fuelly? it says it's a bad link

Edited July 27, 2013 by salsaguy

[mtb9153]

Salsaguy, interesting thought about the double GasPods which I had not considered.  As for my Fuelly.com signature not linked from the forum?  I have no idea what is wrong.  I have contacted Fuelly.com asking for their assistance.  Sorry for the problem linking my account.

[susanne]

Everyone reading this thread, just wanted to say that I'm still playing around with the positioning to see where it might give me the best results.  Because most of my driving is in town and because I always run with my A/C on my results might not be the best.  [snip]

 

Suzanne if you are monitoring this do you think it is a bad idea for me to place the first black GasPods I bought from you on the leading edge of my glass roofline?  Maybe being out in front of the rare earth magnetic GasPods is disruptive to what they can do at the rear of my CMax?  I have attached the latest pictures once again so you can analyze them.  Possibly their placement is to close together and should be spread out more evenly across the roofline like in the rear?

 

I look forward to any input...

Thank you mtb9153 for your curiosity and enthusiasm.

 

The Ford Cmax Hybrid body is very well designed. The slope running from the front end, up over the windshield and to the back is already aerodynamically clean. Placing GasPods over the front windshield might help with a box like our Volvo station wagon or the Ford Flex; its counter productive placement on your clean machine. 

 

#1 Remove the front set of GasPods.

 

The curve running around the car body in line with the rear lights marks the outside trailing edge of the car. See Image 1-9_logo.png below. That moves the placement sweet spot further out and back than might be on a hatchback with straighter lines. To test the accuracy of the following, everyone might like to see what your current rear placement alone might do. So, please just spread them a bit further out toward the side, with the left and right side end placed, as pictured in Image 2-gaspods_white2.png below, and let us know what happens with your mileage.

 

In the meantime, I'll get you out some new adhesive hoofs for your black GasPods so you can do the following:

 

#3 Let's give a try with the GasPods placed closer to the end of the spoiler, following in line with the curve of the vehicle, as pictured in 3-gaspods_white2.png. That places us within that 7"-10" sweet spot for the true trailing edge of your vehicle. Image 1-9_logo.png

 

We ask our Test Team members to provide, and aggregate fuel savings data based upon a minimum of 2,000 miles of baseline and 2,000 miles with GasPod mileage to control for other variables that may affect mileage. In actuality, mtb9153, you should have an indication as to whether they are working as placed, or at all, for your vehicle in the first couple of fill ups.  

 

Image 1-9_logo.png: 

 

 

2-gaspods_white2.png 

 

3-gaspods_white2.png: