Quote:
Originally Posted by Vman455
Here are a few examples off the top of my head. Of course, the aforementioned Volt:
Also its sibling, the now-departed Malibu:
(Sorry, some of these pictures I was more interested in the wheel strakes than the air dam).
The Audi A4 uses a sectioned air dam and undertray:
So does the TT:
The Honda Clarity has this curious center air dam despite an almost completely-covered underside:
The Kia Telluride uses a full air dam, separate wheel strakes, and engine undertray:
And of course, the Mustang Ecoboost has this interesting air dam + undertray combination (this one isn't my picture):
I can't speak to why these designs are out there. Your guess is as good as mine, which is pretty worthless without any data.  |
Without trying to split nomenclature hairs, most of these I wouldn't call 'air dams'.
To me an 'air dam' is a device that's function is to
prevent frontal airflow passing under the car. That would make the Volt and Malibu have air dams.
All the others look to me to be placed to
guide or modify airflow. That's why they don't quite make sense as air dams (eg the Honda Clarity). The Kia Telluride will get flow reattachment onto the undertray behind it, for example, and so the lip might be placed to create a turbulent boundary layer that will then have better 'sticking' qualities on the rest of the underside. (That's of course just my guess.)
Thanks for the interesting pics.