Bed cover

[kdxracer]

I recently added a bed cover and was surprised that I lost about 4 -5 mpg as a result. Would a wind deflector on the hood or cab help get that back? I dont think the type matters but it is a Gator soft top trifold cover. It does flutter quite a bit more than i expected, which also might be better with an air deflector, but it does great keeping water out.

I have a 2019 Silverado 1500 LT crew cab.

[ChriZ71]

I got a hard tri-fold that had negligible (maybe +1mpg) effect. Maybe the flutter is increasing drag which seems to be your concern. 4-5 mpg is a lot. Over what period of time did you base this on? I will have this amount of difference when comparing city only (16-17mpg) to city/hwy (21-22mpg).

[kdxracer]

I could get 20 to 21 city/hwy but now can hardly get 18. It has been like since i put it on four weeks ago. Maybe the flutter is causing some of it but dont know how to cut that down if not with a wind deflector.

[PhilB]

Have you tried driving around with the cover open or removed to see if that is truly what is causing your mpg loss?  4-5 mpg is a lot IMO.  You will need to try a process of elimination to find the root cause.  It could be the cover or it could be something else that just happened to appear at the same time.  

[Brent D]

I cant imagine that cover causing that large of MPG. You are more likely suffering from bad gas or similar than drag from a loose cover. A hard cover would add Total vehicle weight increase, the soft covers weight is negligible at best.

[Low Elevation]

Bed covers should help improve aerodynamics. Unless it’s installed wrong I don’t think it would affect gas mileage.