This was the first air dam I built for my new Smart Fortwo Pure. I cut it from some PVC sheet I had laying around and mounted it on a spring-loaded hinge so it would flip up against the bottom sheeting if I hit something like a thrown truck cap, but easily snap back into place with a simple pull.
It was kind of an experiment to find out how effective it would be on the Smart. It scraped a lot because I mounted it way loooooow for maximum aerodynamic effect. There was a question about whether or not the drag induced by the dam was greater than the drag it eliminated because the Smart has a pretty clean underbody. I use a 7-mile downgrade and an anemometer to try to verify aero mods. It seemed to go a lot faster so I was getting pretty stoked about it when I left for Phoenix.
I was convinced at the time that I was getting better mileage but I didn't really get enough time to test it. What was absolutely certain was that it was much more stable in crosswinds. Dramatically more stable.
But then disaster struck. I was drafting a truck in heavy traffic (for survival, not mileage) on the San Bernardino freeway before the overpass into Riverside when I hit a thrown truck cap. Unfortunately, this cap was folded over on top of itself and was sticking up pretty high, pretty high like 5 or 6 inches when I rammed it. There was a really loud bang. I pulled into a rest stop near Needles to pull the air dam back out but it was gone.
It's yours if you can find it.
The next dam will be more forgiving. Maybe bristles or something. I've been looking at plastic broom heads with poly bristles that I could cover with cheap, sacrificable pvc sheet or tape. Still thinking about it.
With bristles, I could let some air out of my tires and sweep parking lots for gas money.
