Do Spoilers actually work..............?

[Auric Goldfinger]

My 230 has a black sparkly spoiler, it looks good but does it actually serve a purpose ?

[MoggyTech]

You will need a wind tunnel, smoke machine and a G metered platform to find out. At a guess I'd say probably increases downforce slightly, but not by much.

[ChoonDoode]

At normal road speed most spoilers and splitters do sweet af at normal road speeds. A lot of spoilers on your high performance cars have retractable spoilers which only come up at 75mph (120kph) and above.

 

Most of the spoilers you see are no use nor ornament in an every day situation..............but they look good though  

[EddGee]

Which numpty decided to call them a spoiler?

 

Ironically on an aircraft a spoiler is designed to disrupt air flow and increase drag and therefore reduce airspeed.  

 

[AGFalco]

If the spoiler is on the end of the boot/hatchback lid then no.

If the angle from the roof line to the rear window is more than 17 degrees the air will not flow down the window

and then the spoiler is not in the strong airflow.

Look at where they put spoilers on F1 / Rally Cars.

 

21 minutes ago, tunedude said:

but they look good though 

 

Thanks AG Falco

 

[peter3197]

A rear spoiler on a FWD is only useful if it keeps the muck off the rear screen. If it pushes the rear down the front end lifts, less traction, I don't think that is much good really.

[nidza]

1 hour ago, Auric Goldfinger said:

My 230 has a black sparkly spoiler, it looks good but does it actually serve a purpose ?

 

It does. Not there only for looks.

 

Brochure states it "works" above 80kph. Somewhere else I've read it produces 60kgs of downforce but can't recall at what speed.

 

Put your hand through the window at 80kph or more and you will feel how tight air gets, pushing your hand up or down, depends of the angle of your palm. Rear spoiler is definitely properly shaped to push the air upwards. It simply must add a certain pressure to the rear of the car according the shape. 

Gain - weight on the rear and more stability.

Loss - more drag, engine needs to produce more HP to compensate

[EddGee]

It must work when there are awesome beasts like this driving up and down our streets. I took this last year in my local shopping arcades. 

 

Certainly a crowd puller. 

 

Think it must have been the souped up deluxe version 

 

 

[cheezemonkhai]

Rs sline edition... no svr badge though ...

[Gerrycan]

Good aero at high speed is very important even on cars for public roads. The original Audi TT and the original new Beetle, both by the same designer that went onto Kia, had fatal autobahn high speed characteristics. The original Ford Sierra also developed far too much lift and was not real happy on highways in the company of commercial vehicles.

I'm not sure if the relatively small lip that Auric refers to really makes that much difference, even at speed as 60kg is not a lot really.

Much of current vehicle styling has references to racing car applications but are essentially ineffectual. I'm thinking of the fake bonnet scoops, dummy rear diffusers, the front 'air-scoops' that fog lights are usually mounted in.

Real aero is incorporated the styling but they are often subtle. Examples being the small plastic flap in front of the front tyres, the little 'kink' at the beginning of the large rear lights (this encourages a sharp break to the side laminar flow to reduce rear turbulence). I think you will find the small spoiler on the rear boot lid may perform a similar function to that side kink rather than just high speed stability.

 

The interstate 'highways' out of South Australia are mainly single lane unseparated roads and they carry a lot of trucks and B-doubles travelling at a true 100kph and the side draft from one of these in windy conditions is almost like hitting a brick wall so on busy days you are subjected to a constant battering.

My old mk2 1.9pd Octavia estate was the most stable vehicle in such conditions I have ever driven. I know it was relatively heavy with that great iron diesel lump in front but it was a joy to drive in really windy conditions.

The mk3 1.4tsi estate is much lighter and apparently has the same cd of 0.31 but I was truly stunned by how much more it was affected by oncoming trucks and crosswinds, a full load does not make much difference so it seems to be mostly aero characteristics. I have got used to the mk3 in these conditions now and realise it is as good as most modern vehicles and that the mk2 was just remarkably good.

 

A proper teardrop shape is best for low aero drag of course but not always practical.

 

 

Edited 31 August, 2018 by Gerrycan

[Gabbo]

For me, it is just cosmetic & a real spoiler doesnt really do anything until you are reaching the limit of legal road speeds anyway & it has to be correctly positioned to sit in the air flow.

Plus as Peter said, on a FWD car, you dont really want extra downforce at the rear...

[Sangrail]

13 hours ago, tunedude said:

Most of the spoilers you see are no use nor ornament in an every day situation..............but they look good though  

Point of order!

 

They might well be no use: but if they do indeed look good then by most definitions they must serve as an ornament?

[ChoonDoode]

10 hours ago, EddGee said:

It must work when there are awesome beasts like this driving up and down our streets. I took this last year in my local shopping arcades. 

 

Certainly a crowd puller. 

 

Think it must have been the souped up deluxe version 

 

 

 

that looks like a halfords special, especially with all the extra badges and stickers.

 

A rear spoiler or wing on FWD cars can be beneficial in some circumstances. They can help to prevent oversteer and keep the car planted. The problem with then getting to much downforce on the rear of the FWD vehicle, is you are then pushing the rear down too much, which leads to the front raising and thus the front wheels not gripping a lot. Again, speed plays a huge part in how effective they are.

 

As pointed out above, when a manufacturer puts either a front splitter or a rear wing / spoiler on their cars, they (usually) will have spent a good bit of time and effort making sure it does the intended job. That's why in recent years, the size of them has usually decreased. BMW M3's used to have a rear wing on the E30 and E36, which then from the E46 onwards, has changed to a boot spoiler. The only time the rear wing has returned on their M3/M4's, are on the GTS models, but they're stripped down racing versions. The only road car nowadays I can think of which bucks the trend, is the A45 AMG.

[fabdavrav]

21 hours ago, EddGee said:

It must work when there are awesome beasts like this driving up and down our streets. I took this last year in my local shopping arcades. 

 

Certainly a crowd puller. 

 

Think it must have been the souped up deluxe version 

 

 

 

& the spoiler is fitted the wrong way around....the side panels should be small/short edge facing the front, & the shape/angle is all back to front of the main section.....fecking barryboys….

 

& according to the DVLA its a 3lt diesel...

 

& this is a similar spoiler correctly fitted:-

 

http://www.supertweaks.com/jaguar/jaguar-xk-xkr/jaguar-xk-xkr-carbon-fibre/jaguar-xk-xkr-xkr-s-gt-carbon-fibre-rear-spoiler

 

 

Edited 31 August, 2018 by fabdavrav

[Genoa1893]

In a word, I doubt it may do anything meaningful.

 

Instead, one aerodynamic modifications which seems more effective (and interesting, at least to me) is a front lip/splitter. Of course there are also drawbacks of reduced height from tarmac/terrain in terms of stone chips, scratches and so on.

[ian_feel_keepin_it_reel]

On 30/08/2018 at 23:57, EddGee said:

It must work when there are awesome beasts like this driving up and down our streets. I took this last year in my local shopping arcades. 

 

Certainly a crowd puller. 

 

Think it must have been the souped up deluxe version 

 

 

This isn't a spoiler its a wing. The little black lip along the edge of the top of the boot could be classed as a spoiler. 

 

A spoiler is a device which changes the direction of air flow aka it 'spoils' the flow. 

 

Most production cars don't generate any meaningful downforce from their aero packages. 

 

What a spoiler on a modest production car like an Octavia will do is clean up the separation of air behind the car, reducing drag and as a result increasing economy. 

Edited 1 September, 2018 by ian_feel_keepin_it_reel

[shyVRS245]

On ‎30‎/‎08‎/‎2018 at 20:21, Auric Goldfinger said:

My 230 has a black sparkly spoiler, it looks good but does it actually serve a purpose ?

Mine certainly felt very stable at 165mph, combination of front spoiler jutting out and rear spoiler sticking up and taking the wind over the roof across the boot surface. Having recently seen under my car when the new wheels/tyres went on I was surprised how many flat panels there were under the car. Indeed the only gaps was where the exhaust system is located.

[ChoonDoode]

1 hour ago, shyVRS245 said:

Mine certainly felt very stable at 165mph, combination of front spoiler jutting out and rear spoiler sticking up and taking the wind over the roof across the boot surface. Having recently seen under my car when the new wheels/tyres went on I was surprised how many flat panels there were under the car. Indeed the only gaps was where the exhaust system is located.

 

How fast?!?!?!

 

Well you've highlighted in which situations they're good for; high speed.

[shyVRS245]

33 minutes ago, tunedude said:

 

How fast?!?!?!

 

Well you've highlighted in which situations they're good for; high speed.

The APR 245 demo car in Germany was recently clocked at 280kph (175mph) on the unrestricted Autobahn with 330bhp. Next month mine will have between 350-370bhp hopefully. Top speed circa 288kph (180mph) LOL HA HA !

[SC03OTT]

Still getting 50 to the gallon though...

[shyVRS245]

2 minutes ago, SC03OTT said:

Still getting 50 to the gallon though...

Unlikely only getting 40-43mpg with the current 8.5J wheels and 235 tyres. Was showing 15.9mpg at 165mph.

[MorrisOx]

Most road car ‘aero’ isn’t there to generate downforce but to improve stability at speed. You’re just not travelling at anything like the velocities that would generate  the kind of downforce that makes a noticeable difference to lateral grip (which is what aero is there for on the track). What road car aero can do, though, is reduce or counterract lift - a common problem on road cars which sit well above the tarmac and shift around too much on their suspension.

 

But who cares as long as it looks good?

[shyVRS245]

10 hours ago, MorrisOx said:

Most road car ‘aero’ isn’t there to generate downforce but to improve stability at speed. You’re just not travelling at anything like the velocities that would generate  the kind of downforce that makes a noticeable difference to lateral grip (which is what aero is there for on the track). What road car aero can do, though, is reduce or counterract lift - a common problem on road cars which sit well above the tarmac and shift around too much on their suspension.

 

But who cares as long as it looks good?

This is exactly why cars like the original Audi TT, new shape VW Beetle and even early Mercedes A Class were very unstable at high speed and some had spoilers added during their development to add stability.

Edited 2 September, 2018 by shyVRS245
change word

[SWBoy]

13 hours ago, MorrisOx said:

What road car aero can do, though, is reduce or counterract lift

Which is why on road cars they are called spoilers (as they spoil the airflow) but on race cars they are called wings (as they improve the airflow).

Edited 2 September, 2018 by SWBoy