shop-talk supported in part by Fat Chance Garage
http://fatchancegarage.com
Drew Rogge wrote:
> According to the guy on the show, Mercedes is adding something
> similar to their setup. I can't remember what their name was
> but I'm pretty sure it had the word "Tabs" in it. There was
> one other manufacture he mentioned but I forgot who it was.
> The mention of the auto makers doing something similar was
> what kicked this Tornado thing slightly above snake oil.
Sounds to me like something that would have to be extensively tuned
for each application.
Not impossible that Mercedes might have done extensive air flow
computation and decided that some shape in the air intake would make an
improvement.
This would very very rarely translate to a generic solution that
would improve any car.
Which also leads to the possibility that in some car somewhere a
Tornado-type device MIGHT actually produce meaningful results, and then
they could market the hell out of one obscure case.
I've seen test results for these before that showed a noticeable
improvement, *BUT* the fine print made it clear that they installed the
unit in conjunction with a tune-up, new air filter, etc. So changing out
the scuzzy old air filter alone might probably added a few mpg and they
claimed it in the ads for the unit.
I wouldn't buy one.
--
Trevor Boicey, P. Eng.
Ottawa, Canada, trevor@boicey.com
ICQ #17432933 http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
|