Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
Properly shaped, a spat will force air down (like a wickerbill) to channel it toward the contact patch of the tire. Keeping it out of the wheel well......................
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Interesting I logged in this morning thinking that I should have mentioned wheel spats yesterday, but I would not have described their function in the terms you have.
I'm not saying you are wrong, just that I've never read this version before.
In my mind wheel spats offer no more or less surface area they are bluntly deflecting air from.
How they work is (
according to what I can recall) they reduce the area of air hitting a spinning wheel, a spinning surface causes more drag and turbulence than a stationary one.
NOTE: some articles refer to rear wheel well covers as "wheel spats". That is not what I'm talking about.
Pictures and discussion of wheel spats in this old thread:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...s-13669-3.html
