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Old 05-22-2014, 06:14 PM   #106 (permalink)
j12piprius
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pris prius - '12 Toyota plug in prius
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drag vs nose & belly

Quote:
Originally Posted by basjoos View Post
If you are going to install a slant back nose to lower the stagnation point and already have a smooth underbelly, then an air dam likely won't do much to reduce your drag given its attendant increase in frontal area since you have already cleaned up the areas under the car that the air dam deflects the wind away from.
Most of the belly of my car is 8" from the ground, 20% is 7" from the ground, and less than 3% is 6" from the ground. If I'm understanding this correctly, the nose provides drag just like anything under the car, except the belly has more turbulence. Considering the drag would be equal, maybe a nose height of 7 or 7.5 inches would be good, low enough to keep drag away from the bulk of the belly, but not so low to create additional drag. With this in mind, a nose height of 6 inches would be too low is it creates more frontage & drag than is already under the car. Is this right?
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