Spoilers on road cars

[billyo]

Is there any point having a big spoiler on a road car. Is there any performance gains and do they actually give downforce.

I think spoiler is the right word for the F1,Le Mans style rear wing.

[old-git]

Originally Posted by billyo

Is there any point having a big spoiler on a road car. Is there any performance gains and do they actually give downforce.

I think spoiler is the right word for the F1,Le Mans style rear wing.

Not quite. A spoiler is usually a small unturned lip at the rear of the car designed to disrupt, or spoil, the airflow that was causing lift. A wing is an inverted aerofoil designed to create negative lift, or 'downforce'. Most of the appendages stuck to the boots or roofs of cars may look like wings but act more like spoilers, due to their shape and location.

Under normal driving conditions most spoliers/wings fitted to saloon cars will have no noticable effect on the downforce because they are both badly designed and badly positioned, they are really only for show. What they will do, however, is create a lot more drag!

So, in answer to your first question, there is no performance gain in fitting an off the shelf spolier/wing to a road car. Your money would be far better spent on engine and suspension mods. This has the added advantage of making you look less of a p**t. .......... IMHO

[Massive]

ive heard that they can also make your handling and acell worse?

[waynne]

I agree with OG even if a wing was properly designed it would have little effect at speeds below 70mph.