other than just look good? Specifically the 5th gen oem kit. I've been looking at it for some time and I'm a little concerned about increased drag. Most aero kits that come from the manufacturer decrease lift and reduce drag. But how is this done? How does the car become more aerodynamic by adding the front and rear lip, and side skirts. Ignore the rear wing because i don't believe it serves any purpose, even though I have one. Is drag reduced because the kit effectively lowers the car by reducing ground clearance, making up for any extra drag incurred by the extra body area? Does a car become more aerodynamic when ground clearance is reduced? I know one inch wider tires can increase drag by up to Cd.03, so could covering up more tire also reduce drag? Or does the drag just increase altogether? Sorry for the long post but I've been trying to get some input on this for some time.
i am not sure... but if you look at any race car form NASCAR to the EMSA to the TRANSAM series to the SpeedRacer MACH V.... they all have lower fendors for aerodynamic performance... i am not an engineer by any means but i would imagine that it would...
yeah huge rear wings are pointless--especially on front wheel drive cars. ALso spoilers only start affecting performance at about 120mph- and smaller ones (aka stock) work just fine--look at stock cars.
For all intensive purposes, underbody kits for production cars are just for looks. I watched a Discovery channel special about this the other day so I'll summarize what I remember:
For race cars, as you reduce the ride height, the faster the velocity of air will move underneath the car compared to the air above the car. This creates an area of lower pressure underneath the car and allows the car to have greater downforce and therefore more grip while cornering. These guys were talking about millimeters here!
They were trying to reconstruct a fatal accident during a formula one race and went through several scenarios as to what caused the driver to lose control. I don't remember the name of the driver though (Brazilian I think).
front spoilers are supposed to limit the amount of air that flows underneath your ride, thus preventing your ride from *lifting* at high speeds. the rear tail is also supposed to direct air down the ass of the car so again, the rear of the car doesn't lift at high speeds. most if not all body kits are just for looks. they increase the drag of the car thus slowing it down. air foils, diffusers and subtle lips and tails are the real deal...but they are on porshes' and ferrari's...
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Dont worry about drag our everyday driving a little more will barely do anything. YOu'll have to be at pretty high speeds for that little of a coefficient increase to slow you down or something. But dont you think it looks great?
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2006 Lexus IS350
"May future generations look back on our work and say that these men and women who, in a moment of great crisis, stood up to their politicians, the opinion-makers, and the establishment, and saved their country" — Ron Paul
After installing my OEM underbody, the little shake I had at 70mph went away (then it came back after about 6 months). I would have called it coincidence, but somebody else said something similar in a thread a while ago.
I don't think we drive that fast often enough to make a difference. Its just for looks 99.99% time. Maybe it did actually do something the one time I decieded to max out my car. But for the most part its looks.
On another note, I believe its the saleen s7 design that has so much down force, at its top speed 260mph it can drive upside down. And its not cause of the wing either
Yes the wing can produce downforce if it in fact is a wing. The supra's is. For it to effectively produce downforce it must create lift with a minimum amount of drag. A wing on an aircraft is shaped in a way where the underneath is flat and the top is curved. The top part due to the curve forces the air on top of the wing to travel faster than the bottom air in order for it to meet up at the same time in the rear part, because, it now has a greater distance to travel. This top air produces an area of low pressure, creating 2/3's of the lift produced. A real car wing follows the same design principles, only it is upside down, forcing the 'lift' to the ground. The high wing of the supra allows it to use a more reliable relative airflow as it is not affected by the car's aerodynamics. It is 'clean' air. The prelude's wing is right on the trunk. It does not take the shape of 'wing' and I'm sure doesn't produce any downforce. If anything it acts as a spoiler. When air passes over the end of a car, it creates what are called 'eddies'. This is when the airflow comes back in a downward circular motion and hits the car from behind, creating drag. A spoiler, mostly found on the edge of the roof of wagons like the civic, deflects the air upward so it cannot return in this form to produce drag. At best the wing of the prelude is a spoiler. But most likely it just sits there creating drag.
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