Spats on front airdam?

[grins2go_brett]

Since finding and joining this site, I've begun to notice all sorts of things on cars and trucks related to aerodynamics. I've also thought how I might be able to apply some of these to my Dodge Sprinter to squeeze a few percentage points of fuel economy out of it. One that I noticed recently is on my girlfriends Honda CRV. I can't post a picture because of my low post count, but if you go here: "automobiles.honda.com/images/2011/cr-v/exterior-gallery/gal_lg11.jpg", you can see what I'm talking about. The bottom front area is sloped back like a skid plate would be on a larger truck. At the bottom of this there are 2 pieces that are lower than the rest of it. If they were in front of the tires, I would call them spats. But they are in addition to tire spats that are already there. And they are about equal distance from each other and from the inside edge of the tires. And there is nothing sticking down lower in the engine bay or suspension that they were covering up.

Now I seem to remember seeing a show on Speed Channel not long ago about the new Kenworth T700. They didn't go into details, but I remember seeing something similar on there, and it creating high pressure channels of air under the vehicle to help smooth out the airflow.

My question to you is does this sound plausible? There must be some merit to it because that picture is from the 2011 model and my girlfriends is an '07. It would be something very easy for me to make a few out of coroplast and attach to the existing air dam. Unfortunately, I don't have the time, equipment (scanguage), or resources (money) to do A-B-A testing. And my driving is too varied to say this is why I got 3% better mileage this tank over last. Mainly looking to the group to see if the theory is reasonable and sound...or complete BS. Thanks!

[CigaR007]

For illustrative purposes !

[btracing]

I've seen them too, on several cars. I'm just as you, very curious!

[some_other_dave]

Generally "spats" are the covers over the wheel arch, such as seen in old 40's cars and on the 1st-gen Honda Insight.

I've seen the tabs you are talking about called "wheel air dams" or "wheel dams", and there are probably more technical names for them as well.

-soD

[mort]

I think these:


I have no idea what they do.

-mort

[JasonG]

The look like an air deflector but not really sure. They are too small and odly placed to make sense.
Are they there to allow the suspension travel to not hit the belly pan?

My service route, like yours, varies a lot. I have had success overall with this :
The "Brick" gets a new air dam especially on the Interstate.

[Old Tele man]

...the 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibes also has "spats" in front of the front wheels:

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by grins2go_brett

Since finding and joining this site, I've begun to notice all sorts of things on cars and trucks related to aerodynamics. I've also thought how I might be able to apply some of these to my Dodge Sprinter to squeeze a few percentage points of fuel economy out of it. One that I noticed recently is on my girlfriends Honda CRV. I can't post a picture because of my low post count, but if you go here: "automobiles.honda.com/images/2011/cr-v/exterior-gallery/gal_lg11.jpg", you can see what I'm talking about. The bottom front area is sloped back like a skid plate would be on a larger truck. At the bottom of this there are 2 pieces that are lower than the rest of it. If they were in front of the tires, I would call them spats. But they are in addition to tire spats that are already there. And they are about equal distance from each other and from the inside edge of the tires. And there is nothing sticking down lower in the engine bay or suspension that they were covering up.

Now I seem to remember seeing a show on Speed Channel not long ago about the new Kenworth T700. They didn't go into details, but I remember seeing something similar on there, and it creating high pressure channels of air under the vehicle to help smooth out the airflow.

My question to you is does this sound plausible? There must be some merit to it because that picture is from the 2011 model and my girlfriends is an '07. It would be something very easy for me to make a few out of coroplast and attach to the existing air dam. Unfortunately, I don't have the time, equipment (scanguage), or resources (money) to do A-B-A testing. And my driving is too varied to say this is why I got 3% better mileage this tank over last. Mainly looking to the group to see if the theory is reasonable and sound...or complete BS. Thanks!

My opinion is that while these attachments might show up in the controlled environment of a climatic wind tunnel,you'd be hard pressed to notice any difference in real world driving,with,or without them.
And with respect to to the CRV nose itself,it is aerodynamically incorrect.
I realize that it is marketed as a SUV,and has the ubiquitous high clearance for the Rubicon,but for mpg it would need to be dropped and re-contoured to get the air around the nose,not under it.Same for the Sprinter.
A flexible lower section is virtually mandatory.
With respect to mpg for the Sprinter,the elephant in the living room would be the enormous turbulent wake behind the body.That's where your going to see your best gains from mods.

[jsatter]

[QUOTE=Old Tele man;266601]...the 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibes also has "spats" in front of the front wheels:

My car has them in front of the rear wheels

[grins2go_brett]

Originally Posted by some_other_dave

Generally "spats" are the covers over the wheel arch, such as seen in old 40's cars and on the 1st-gen Honda Insight.

I've seen the tabs you are talking about called "wheel air dams" or "wheel dams", and there are probably more technical names for them as well.

-soD

Spats, air dams, dams, tabs...it's all semantics. From the responses here, I guess I won't worry about adding any to my Sprinter air dam for now. Seems like more real world research is needed to determine possible benefits, not just computers and wind tunnels. I am planning on adding some in front of the rear tires as there are not any currently. I also may increase the size of the front wheel dams at some point. Thanks!