Its between a Tonneau Cover, or a FIPK at the moment. I'm getting both this by the end of summer but what do you guys think I should get first?

I'm thinking the cover cause thats just extra money I'm saving. Right now I get like 12 City and like 16 highway (ALL highway).

What have those of you that have tonneaus seen MPG wise? I've heard 2-3.5 increase from my friends that have them. That would save alot on money and it would pay for itself pretty quick. I imagine they mostly help on highway too, which is what I'll be doing mostly. I'll be driving home from school the 330 miles, the rest of the time it will be sitting in a parking lot. [:'(]

Also, I"M NOT GETTING THE FIPK TO GET BETTER MILLAGE, so you don't have to post that long novel HankL

I'm leaning to the Tonneau, and I've been looking around and the Extang Tuff Tonneau looks like a pretty good one. Any of you have it?

 

FIPK

 

FIPK, as the tonneau isnt going to realize you 3mpg more with it on. It will help, but not enough to pay for itself like you think it will.

Also, while the FIPK wont give you any real gas mileage increase, it will allow your truck to breathe better, thus utilizing more of the power of the motor.

 

FIPK all the way

 

If you are set on those two choices only, I say tonneau. I am seeing a solid 2 mpg increase from mine (see this thread: https://dodgeforum.com/m_440745/tm.htm ). The FIPK is nice, but by itself, you will not see much performance gain. I've been learning that since our engines are speed density rather then mass air flow designs, adding additional air is not as great of a mod as we all think it is because the PCM doesn't know what to do with the additional air flow. All you accomplish is freeing up HP that is already there, but was lost due to factory "detuning" to meet various emissions requirements. For some, this results in noticable improvements, for others, no perceived difference at all, just depends on how much of this lost hp they have managed to get back already through other mods. So to ideally get the most out of air intake mods, you would need to get a custom PCM flash or a mopar performance PCM to go with your air intake mods. The exception seems to be bored out TB's, like from Fastman. General concensus is that it provides noticable gains for most who install it, mostly in the form of smoother acceleration and response. I think it just allows air to flow better into the intake (doesn't increase air flow), so the rules of flashing the PCM to get results don't seem to apply to it as much. Results seem to be noticable by most who try it. I saw 2 mpg increase from my Fastman also, and noticable throttle response improvements. It is about the same price as the FIPK and cover you are considering.

 

Silver is correct there. My truck doesn't have a mass air flow sensor unfortunitially. If I can get 2mpg extra that will add up quite a bit I think. Paying 60$ to fill up and only going 300 miles now versus paying 60$ and going 350 miles. Right there that will save me $10. Like I said for the next 3.5-4 years my truck will be mostly highway, where the tonneau will help more. I realize how it won't help AS much in city driving.

My friend with a 2001 S-10 got s solid 3 MPG after he had one of those hard fiberglass ARE covers installed. And another friend with an 2003 4.6L F-150 got a solid 2 after installing his Extang Tilt Cover.

That F-150 gets like 25 highway with the tonneau, FIPK, and Flowmaster exhaust. It has the factory cat too. Not to bad for a full size V8 truck. Don't worry, I'll never go to Ford though unless they get 5000 MPG

Either get Tonneau now and FIPK in a month or so, or vice versa, so I will be getting both. Maybe even a fastman before summers over.

 

I've got a tuff tonneau and a cai. I would go with the cai before the tonneau. With the tonneau, I saw about a 1 mpg improvement. It is nice, but will take a while to pay for itself.

 

I see you have the Extang Tuff Tonneau, what do you think about it?

 

It is a very nice tonneau. I especially like that it does not have any snaps, but uses the press and seal type of closing system. Makes it very easy to get to the stuff in the bed and then close the cover back up. Just don't try installing it in cold weather, believe me.

 

Def. go with the tonneau. You could get more use out of it in the long run as well as mpg