Long panels below trailers reduce windrag?

Well I have, and I'm here to say its not a problem. So quit worryin' about it. You'll get more snow build up on your landing gear than anything that will stick to those boards. And yeah, I know about it... I'm rarely under 78k GVW.

Well maybe there's something to the way people drive, or the variety of tire... not all wide singles are created equal, ya know! Many outfits put Michellin XDN2's on their drive positions... it's not an OTR tire, but something that's cheaper and made for regional/local work. That may have something to do with it...

Those tires have the rolling resistance of a squared-off stone block too. Lousy for fuel mileage.

 

I don't remember what type they were, just that they were Michelin and they had terrible traction. Also, they had a habit of cracking in the tread, just inside the sidewalls. This would eventually cause the sidewalls to blow out if the tires weren't replaced.

 

Well that's some crappy tires to say the least!

I'd probably not be very impressed with them if that had been my experience. Its probably the specific line of tires rather than the entire genre thats the problem in that instance.

From what I've been hearing over the last year, the tire manufacturers have had to learn how to build this kind of tire from the ground up, so there have been some flaming disasters for them along the way. I'm quite happy with the Michelin X-One Energy series.

 

I saw a prostar the other day with super singles on the tandems along with some futuristic moonie hubcaps like this



Noticed he was carrying a spare rim tucked down behind the sleeper and hard mounted to the frame, but no spare tire.

 

SNI swears they get an extra 1% increase in fuel economy with those things...

 

That Prostar was probably MCT. Was it blue, with goofy looking graphics?

 

Might have been, I forget the name exactly but it was an acronym painted toward the top of the sleeper more near to the driver and passenger doors.

 

Yeah. Those are some stupid looking graphics, the colors clash terribly and those aerodynamic flat hubcaps make it look like a toy. With belly skirts, flat hubcaps, and those stupid-looking tail cones, no sun visors on Cascadias, I just wonder what kind of stupid-looking contraptions they'll invent next to make our trucks look ridiculous in the name of fuel economy. If they really wanted fuel economy they'd ditch all that EGR, DPF and DEF garbage and go back to regular LSD fuel.

And that Scion in the picture above: the first time I saw one of those things I thought it was something some redneck built in his garage out of plywood.

 

naw he's talking about these guys http://www.m-v-t.com/.... mesilla valley trans out of new mexico... pass em all the time

 

You mean MVT! lol They also have trailer tails, and from the 6 O/Os leased to them that i have talked to they said they are getting 1-1.5mpg increase since they put the trailer tails on.





American Trucker