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Spoilers Effect?

M

mrutkaus

CEG'er
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
369
Has anyone noticed any effect on miliage or speed or handling or anything by adding a factory type spoiler?

And for '95 Duratec, hi test gas? Regular?

Mike
 
You will notice a change in gas mileage when you use 93 octane vs 87 octane.
With a factory spoiler vs none at all - not so much.
 
Most spoilers are designed to improve handling when the car goes above 150 MPH. Some Porsches' have rear spoilers which come up when the car goes above 70 miles or something like that. Makes it easy for cops to pull them over. :laugh: It was weird the first time I saw one working. I was behind and to the right of the Porsche when all of sudden in my peripheral vision I saw this "thing" rising from the back of the Porsche. :crazy:
 
frenchblueC2 said:
You will notice a change in gas mileage when you use 93 octane vs 87 octane.
With a factory spoiler vs none at all - not so much.
Click to expand...


This is not to say you will see an INCREASE in mileage with higher octane. Your 95 is tuned/programmed for a certain octane. Using a higher octane than required is not a guarantee to better mileage or more power.. just a resistance to detonation. If your car isn't on the ragged edge of detonating anyway, then you will see no benefit.

To utilize higher octane's benefits you would either need to RETUNE your car to run more timing, etc (which would normally cause 87 to detonate) OR you would need to have a poorly running 95 with a stock tune which is detonating even on the prescribed 87. Stepping up to 89 may stock the knocking.
 
Well, with my new spoiler I have experienced greater wear on my rear tires. I get about 4000 fewer miles out of a set of rears.



But maybe it has something to do with the change in driving styles...


hmmm...
 
Drive your car without removing the snow off of it. There is no snow above the front tires on the hood and fenders, it continues over the top edges of the car, down the sides of the back window and tucks under the spoiler. Seems pretty aerodynamic - but I'm not sure at what speeds it makes a difference.
 
the 96-99 taurus SHO "skateboard" spoiler was one of the very few oem spoilers to actually have any type of positive aerodynamic affect. car and driver or motor trend did a article on spoilers several years ago
 
I've found that using premium fuel in a vehicle tuned for regular will cause soot in the tailpipe(s). I don't have a Contour that uses regular to use for comparison but I noticed that the Ranger I had would soot up its tailpipe with premium (but not with regular) and also my neighbor's F150 would do the same compared to my F150 with a totally clean pipe. I'd say that premium doesn't burn as efficiently in a vehicle not tuned for it and wonder if there would be any gas mileage advantage to using it without retuning the engine to take advantage of the higher octane. My guess is that it wouldn't.
Karl
 
The original purpose of spoilers was on the racing circuits, where at high speed, the spoiler would exert downward pressure on the rear of the car, enhancing the traction of rear wheel drive race cars. Obviously, on a FWD car, there would have the opposite effect, tending to reduce the weight on the front (drive) axle. I read once what the vehicle speed had to be for a spoiler to have any beneficial effect, and it was definitely higher than any stock car would ever be able to attain. They currently are used on production cars strictly as a styling element to give an illusion of sportiness.
 
look up APR racing. they tell which wing is more suited for what speeds.

now doing over 120 isnt really a reality when driving everyday. but under 120 is
 
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Beachboy said:
The original purpose of spoilers was on the racing circuits, where at high speed, the spoiler would exert downward pressure on the rear of the car, enhancing the traction of rear wheel drive race cars. Obviously, on a FWD car, there would have the opposite effect, tending to reduce the weight on the front (drive) axle. I read once what the vehicle speed had to be for a spoiler to have any beneficial effect, and it was definitely higher than any stock car would ever be able to attain. They currently are used on production cars strictly as a styling element to give an illusion of sportiness.
Click to expand...

Hold a piece of cardboard the size of the rear spoiler outside of your car window at 30mph and tell me what happens!

There is alot of misinformation in that statement. Please do a little research on the subjuct of aerodynamic aids on cars and then let me know if you stand by your above statements.
 
Beachboy said:
The original purpose of spoilers was on the racing circuits, where at high speed, the spoiler would exert downward pressure on the rear of the car, enhancing the traction of rear wheel drive race cars. Obviously, on a FWD car, there would have the opposite effect, tending to reduce the weight on the front (drive) axle. I read once what the vehicle speed had to be for a spoiler to have any beneficial effect, and it was definitely higher than any stock car would ever be able to attain. They currently are used on production cars strictly as a styling element to give an illusion of sportiness.
Click to expand...

2000SilverSVT said:
Hold a piece of cardboard the size of the rear spoiler outside of your car window at 30mph and tell me what happens!

There is alot of misinformation in that statement. Please do a little research on the subjuct of aerodynamic aids on cars and then let me know if you stand by your above statements.
Click to expand...

Beach boy is correct.

2000SilverSVT, what are you trying to say? What does a cardboard have to do with a spoiler?
 
I think he is trying to say that there IS a force present on a spoiler at speeds much less than those stated by beachboy.

The fact is, there isn't SIGNIFICANT enough of a force on ANY oem spoiler at 30mph (as stated by 2000SilverSVT) to do ANYTHING.

Simply holding your HAND out a window at 30mph gives you enough "drag" on the wind to make your hand move backwards... but it isn't enough "downforce" to overcome your muscles ability to lift your arm. Simply put, the surface area, and aerodynamic shaping of your extended hand isn't enough at that speed to increase downforce on your arm in a manner that will add a POSITIVE pressure on the ground beneath it.

Whether or not you feel the cardboard "move" or exert any "force" on your HAND which is holding it is irrelevant. the force would have to be equal to or GREATER than the weight or your hand PLUS the motion your hand would try to take if you lifted it. The energy on that cardboard (spoiler) would have to be great enough to exert a POSITIVE pressure between your hand (the car/tires) and the ground to increase traction. simply adding DRAG (as you have alluded to) isn't proof that a spoiler will add DOWNFORCE.
 
If designed right a spoiler could give significant down force at nominal speeds 45 - 50 mph. (small airplanes take off at this speed, yes a bigger "spoiler" but ...)

However "most" OEM spoilers are purposely designed to give no lift at all speeds for safety. The average driver is not prepared for a change of down force with speed.
 
1st. What is on the back of SVT's is a Spoiler. Its purpose is to change airflow, not to produce downforce. I do not know how much wind tunnel testing was done on the car to know how much it helps or hurts on our particular car. A spoiler can be both on the front and back of a car. On cars the purpose of a spoiler is to improve / smooth airflow over or around the car. On an airplane it is generally there to disrupt airflow and create drag or reduce lift on a wing.

"Spoiler
An aerodynamic device that changes the direction of airflow in order to reduce lift or aerodynamic drag and/or improve engine cooling."
http://www.caranddriver.com/glossary/4534/caranddrivercom-glossary-of-terms.html#s

My RX-7 has a rubber rear lip spoiler that went through extensive wind tunnel testing from Mazda and helped reduced the CD of the car. It is a fully functional piece of the car.

The Early 3000GT VR4 had active spoilers on the front and rear of the car to improve aerodynamics at all speeds.

Yes, there are street cars that have fully functional SPOILERs.

2nd. A wing on a car is intended to produce downforce and in all race classes where wings are allowed, they are used reguardless of drive wheels.

An example is the Real Time racing RSX
http://realtimerl.com/
main.php

If a wing did nothing for or hindered a FWD car it would not be on there.
These are also cars that might see 130mph top end on a very long track. They will spend most of their time in the 60-90mph range. Well within street car limits. However the only non exotic street cars that I know that come with wings are the Subaru STi and the Mitsubishi EVO.

A wing can start producing downforce at very low speeds (30mph) and depending on the size and angle can contribute significant downforce. I have seen full Mod Cars in SOLO II with massive wings to aid in grip. Keep in mind speeds average ~40mph in those events.

They currently are used on production cars strictly as a styling element to give an illusion of sportiness
Click to expand...
That is the only statement that has elements of truth.

what are you trying to say? What does a cardboard have to do with a spoiler?
Click to expand...
What I am saying is that aerodynamic affects start to happen at very low speeds and the effects can be felt by holding a piece of cardboard out of the window.
 
FWD cars can benefit from a rear spoiler just as much as a RWD car can. Look at any SCCA or BTCC touring car. Granted they travel at speeds well above what we ordinarily do but the general principle is the same. FWD cars need rear wheel traction too. Rear wings on street cars generally are for looks, regardless of where the motive power meets the road.
Karl
 
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