Valance panels?

[TantoTrailers]

So I have 2 plastic Valence panels on my 2016 F150 bumper and the first one is really low where it rubs curbs when parking. The second one blocks the front tow hook mounts. Reading up on the purpose and it appears to be for appearance and airflow/aerodynamics. Does it really make that noticeable difference with airflow? Is it for anything else more critical? The radiator seems protected with a separate plastic panel there. Any input on whether or not it should be kept?

Don’t have a pic of mine but it’s item 20 and 21 in the diagram and I found a pic on the webs.

 

[TantoTrailers]

Welllll....I kinda asked my question AFTER I removed that stuff off of my truck...so it now is up to the road test to see where my MPG sits. On the 50 mile drive to work this morning there was 0 difference with a freshly cleared counter. I will run it a week and see. I am also looking for some skid plates just in case those plastic pieces offered any sort of protection from flying road debris.

 

[rayra]

It will impact mileage, it's the only reason it's there, to achieve / meet Federally-mandated CAFE / fleet average fuel economy standards. But I would expect your own personal driving habits have a greater impact.

 

[rho]

Welllll....I kinda asked my question AFTER I removed that stuff off of my truck...so it now is up to the road test to see where my MPG sits. On the 50 mile drive to work this morning there was 0 difference with a freshly cleared counter. I will run it a week and see. I am also looking for some skid plates just in case those plastic pieces offered any sort of protection from flying road debris.

They're only there for aerodynamics. They help create a smoother, more laminar flow of air under the truck. Real world they get ripped off, scrapped by curbs, etc. Basicly if you hit one big bit of bumper to bumper traffic where you have lots of stop and go or you floor it passing someone you'll waste more fuel than the air dam saves.

It will impact mileage, it's the only reason it's there, to achieve / meet Federally-mandated CAFE / fleet average fuel economy standards. But I would expect your own personal driving habits have a greater impact.

100% that. Driving habits have a way bigger impact in a large truck or SUV than aero stuff for the most part. Once you get away from the highway P rated tires most trucks seem to come with these days, that'll have a huge impact as well.

 

[buellconvert]

I can't believe the airdam on a full-size truck actually sits low enough to hit a curb, that seems way too low. I guess I am used to my 1995 Chevrolet K1500 that's high enough in the front not to even think about curbs or parking blocks.

Sent from my moto g(6) play using Tapatalk

 

[rayra]

24 more years of wind-tunnel tests will do that, combined with auto-makers being compelled to achieve higher MPG averages despite the general population still buying pickups in large numbers.

 

[TantoTrailers]

Ty for the input everyone! I’m going to roll with it for a while and see what happens. I am not kidding about the curbs. It also didn’t like the parking blocks...got my tow hooks installed though and those look much better than the damn dam!

I’ll post up mileage results with my normal driving for a week. After which I will try my hardest to drive more better

 

[TantoTrailers]

Interesting article - https://www.caranddriver.com/review...onda-cr-v-vs-bmw-m5-ford-f-150-dodge-charger/

Does anyone run anything besides 87 in their F150? It seems like 93 gives you an MPG boost?

7 Day road test so far has yielded identical MPG (19.9) to before changes which includes before switching from stock road tires to my Pirelli AT tires...so I don think those panels were helping in my particular case. I will report back with 1 month of results.

 

[Todd780]

Interesting article - https://www.caranddriver.com/review...onda-cr-v-vs-bmw-m5-ford-f-150-dodge-charger/

Does anyone run anything besides 87 in their F150? It seems like 93 gives you an MPG boost?

7 Day road test so far has yielded identical MPG (19.9) to before changes which includes before switching from stock road tires to my Pirelli AT tires...so I don think those panels were helping in my particular case. I will report back with 1 month of results.

I run 87 in mine. Even if running 93 gives you more mpg it costs more to fill. So in my mind it negates any mpg savings. (If you're looking at from a purely monetary point of view)

 

[Regcabguy]

And then there's the stop/start nonsense. We had a rental with one and it drove us nuts. There would be a momentary lag as the engine restarted.
Starter motor sales should skyrocket all in pursuit of an eighth of a gallon improvement.
A guy in the neighborhood with a 6.7 F-350 chopped his off before a Score race. It was that or having it self destruct in Baja.