I noticed no difference at all with the cover on mine. Buy one because you want the coverage, not because of any potential mileage gains.

 

Yeah, that seems to be the concensus. I don't think it'd be worth the
money considering how much I use mine.
Dano

 

Dano: Will do! Will be later this summer since I want to make sure the truck is broken in a bit first but I'll post the results in a new thread when I'm done.

 

If I recall correctly, many years ago (pre-2002) someone on this site did a paper on this topic. They tested cap, tonneau, nothing, tailgate net, and stock tailgate. From best to worse it worked out cap, tonneau, stock tail gate, nothing tailgate net. The first to were kind of instinctive. The last three were a bit shocking. The explanation, as I remember it, was the tailgate caused a cushion of air to form in the truck bed that worked similar to the tonneau. The last two caused eddies of air to form in weird places disrupting the air flow over the vehicle and causing more drag.

The other problem with the tailgate net is it caused stress on the sides of the bed when driving down the street. It made sense that it pulled inward on the sides. With a hard tailgate there are cushion pieces on the sides that only allow for the sides to come in a small amount. The extra wear from the tailgate net would theoretically cause premature wear out of the sides of the bed.

Another thing I had read a while back is aerodynamics only comes into play at speeds in excess of about 40 mph. Below that there isn't enough air flow to significantly harm fuel mileage.

 

I've also seen no noticable difference with mine.

 

Don't buy it for MPG savings.

Ultimatly you'd get.. whatever you wanted out of it. And when the wife asks you if your saving fuel, you'll say yes M'am. Dang near payed for itself already!

 

Dano

 

Looking forward to it.
Be safe,
Dano