My car has rooftop ski racks on it. That I use more than half the year, so I never remove them. On top of that I lost the Key to unlock my roofracks, so I cannot remove them without breaking them... and it would probably be a perminant break, and I would need to buy new roof rackes.

But since I am going on this long cross-Canada road trip, I am wondering how much having ski racks affects my fuel Economey or "gas milage". The racks will be empty, but they still offer some wind resistance.

So I am wondering how large of an affect they have... because if its reducing my gas milage a lot and ends up costing my extra hundreds of dollars in gas... it might be worth breaking them to get them off.

   

Someone else was curious and here are their results:

http://www.metrompg.com/posts/roof-racks.htm

   

Wow.. A 12.7% fuel economy penalty. That's far more than I would have thought. The car he tested it on was a small little economy job, though - the difference might not be so great for a larger car.

On a trans-Canada return trip that could be well over 100 dollars, but I'd still be reluctant to ruin the ski rack.

Trev, maybe the maker of the ski rack or a locksmith could help you out.

   

wow thanks for the link, this guy is hardcore!
Mine will be empty. So i'm thinking more like 5-10%.

I might be able to just break the clips then find replacement ones.

These are 2 cool sites, i'm going to investigate further for more tips to improve fuel econemy
http://www.gassavers.org/
http://www.metrompg.com/

   

They say just dropping(opening) the tailgate on a pickup saves allmost 10%.

For the racks,see a locksmith,open that baby in seconds and maybe even make you a new key.

   

That was gonna be my recommendation also.... A Locksmith would be a lot cheaper than a new rack.

   

Actually zig they covered that one on mythbusters and showed that the tailgate down is in deed a myth! Has to do with how the air moves in the bed of a truck. Did it both imperically (drove a truck with gate up and gate down with a set amount of gas) and via experiment in a wind tunnel.

The air near the cab (gate up) would get into a circular motion causing the air going over the cab to flow right over the gate. With the gate down the air coming over the cab tended to go right down into the bed, in effect causing a down force (good for handling, bad for milage )

   

I wondered about that,if you open the small back window on older trucks the air seems to have a venturi effect and come back into the cab,exhaust also and the tailgate down doesnt seem to matter.

   

That is the term I was looking for! The venturi effect causes a cushion of air in the bed that causes the air flowing over the cab to stream right over the gate, improving the flow!

   

Find one or several 800 numbers for roof rack manufacters and ask them how to open their locks without a key possibly a locksmith may have an idea too ... now for the stupid comment > in the winter you could turn your car upside down and hook a chain to transport trucks so you could save on gas from the summer months of having the skis on the rack .

   

I’ve never noticed much of a difference in fuel economy driving with an empty rack on the car. The extra wind noise it makes drives me nuts though so I take the rack off when it’s not used.

Last summer we did a long road trip with a cargo box on the roof. That thing lowered the fuel economy but mostly when driving above 90-100 km/h. I found that 90 km/h or slower there wasn’t much of a difference. And really driving the Trans Canada through the Rockies there isn’t much opportunity to drive faster than 60. Still I’m going to trade in the box for a Yakima that has a lower profile and is a more aerodynamic.

What make of rack do you have? A retailer like Racks Unlimited might be able to unlock it for you. The locksmith would be worthwhile too. I’d definitely try all options before breaking the clips. Those racks are stupid freaking expensive.

   

Well I was able to remove my ski racks without breaking them. After readin the site proudcanukchick posted, I was convinced it was worth the hassle to remove them.

That site is very cool, has some very interesting reports. I am going to drive with my side-mirrors folded in on the highways. I don't use the passenger side one much anyway. Should add a couple % points to fuel economey.

   

Glad to hear you got them off without incident and you got some useful info off that site.