Why don't planes have dimples like golf balls?: R/askscience

Curious then, was there another explanation for MythBuster's result?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUiGhyHC-1A

I'm fully aware that this show is a "pop science" show and not one with particularly rigorous, controlled, scientific testing... But a ~10% increase in fuel efficiency for something like a car seems more significant than random noise would generate.

I did some reading on this which suggested that it could be effective, provided that the dimples were scaled up appropriately to whatever they were being placed on.

And we have to keep in mind that they had to add the clay to both cars, increasing weight dramatically, which, with something like a thin-material-skinned plane or car would be much more difficult...

Still, their results, while admittedly not particularly scientific or rigorous, are interesting.