Quote:
Originally Posted by zimagold
Do you think a front air dam will have a bigger payoff than trying to smooth the underbody of the car?
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I haven't tried a front air dam, but my car originally has had a plastic undertray... then I scraped it off on it's maiden voyage home.
Recently, I readded a coroplast tray to "replace" the OEM undertray - which only covered up to the end of the Jetta's oilpan -- roughly the front 1/3 of the car.
More recently, a roadkill porcupine or raccoon knocked it off.
The front 1/3 undertray did make a noticable seat of the pants feel -- the car tended to coast from higher speeds for a longer time. I didn't have a chance to measure the differences in depth. In my case, the front undertray probably makes 2, possibly as much as 4 mpg difference coupled with good driving habits.
And, like you, I'm more interested in less visible mods (but I might consider real wheel spats, IF they make a difference, and IF I can make them look a little better than handmade by a 8 year old).
A partial undertray will get you the lion's share of the effect without having to worry about considerations for the exhaust, and even if it's not pretty... it's under the car. If you still value aesthetics, that might be the tipping point for undertray versus an airdam.