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I installed an air dam on my 99 Metro and it acted like an air dam. It blocked air. Of course that meant it kept some air from getting underneath the car, but it didn't really seem to do much to increase my mpg. I had attached a 7" wide PVC panel directly to the bottom of my bumper using 90% corner braces. It was only attached to the bumper and not any framing of the car itself, so the weight of the addition pulled the bumper down in the back enough so that I virtually had an air deflector that was perpendicular to the ground.
Of course my only real world test happened to be driving down the Interstate at 70-76 mph. The result in my case was little to no improvement. I was thinking that my aero mod was in fact an air damn and adding to the amount of wind blocked at the front of my vehicle. Back to the drawing board. You know bullets are rounded for a reason. Using the same 7" PVC and brackets I modified my air damn into an air spoiler. I bent the braces to 45% and ended up having to redo the ends completely because of that. I also attached the braces the part of the inner fender structure of the car. Results - success, I'm now getting 46 - 49 mpg with my 99 Metro.
Final word, make an air spoiler and not an air dam.
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