Airtabs - do they work?

how hard is it to wipe the surface of your truck with denatured alcohol and apply a decal to it?

Only in this case, about 40-50.

http://www.buyairtab.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Airtab-install-july-2012.pdf

 

Someone at the start of the thread estimated 1.5-2 hrs. Probably about right to get everything cleaned and lined up right.

 

Under 2 hours if you have access to a roll around ladder (like they use for trl roof repair. Painting the tabs to match can use up a fair amount of time. It takes 2 or 3 coats to get the color even on the tabs, but I made the mistake of buying white tabs and painting them dark green, I might have gotten away with two coats on black.

The sides went up quickly. There is a tool for spacing that's included in the kit. I stopped using it after a while and started to place them one by one. It was less stressful that way. Use the seam between the two cab extenders as the point to work from, that way you avoid either a big gap or putting an air tab on the seam.

Placing the air tabs on the roof was the difficult part for me, because of the curvature of the roof not giving a flat surface to work against. My roof line ended up being a little V shaped.

 

A similar product can be found at www.prfprod.com . These are a 12" sheet of vortex generators available in black, white, and silver, and widths of 2,3,&4 inches. Can be pop-rivetted or screwed onto the vehicle, or industrial double-sided tape is available on the website. The rectangular sheet might give a different appearance than airtabs for those worried about that, and different widths could allow more options for mounting them. Always nice to have options

 

Driving at 45 would probably make you loose a load, so the reduced fuel cost is out weighed by less income. Airtabs cost 220 bucks. they dont slow you down or have any negative impact on driving. If they don't do anything you only invested 220.

 

I'm not saying you have to get Airtabs, just answering the original question, "Do they work?" Yes they do, though in some applications the benefits won't be as apparent, others you'll see a night and day difference. Not a magic bullet, won't double your fuel economy, but they usually do help fuel economy as well as improve stability, and visibility in rain and snow. Someone told me when removing weight from a race car, don't just look for 100 places to remove a pound, also look for 1600 places to remove an ounce. Meaning, don't overlook the little changes, they add up.