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Originally Posted by Daox
This is a great question, and one I've been asking myself lately WRT the Paseo. Now, the Paseo's spoiler doesn't look like much. There is barely a gap between the trunk and the bottom of the spoiler (less than an inch). This leads me to believe it may help with aero. Also, I have noticed that on a rainy day the back windshield stays completely dry at highway speeds. I believe this is a good thing? None of my other cars stay as dry as the Paseo in rain. So, is it possible that the spoiler helps this (since it is downstream of the airflow)? I think I speak for most here in saying I don't want to rip off the spoiler (a big PITA from what I've heard) just to see that it does in fact help aero.
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That spoiler probably does nothing at all for downforce, or the rear window, it should just smooth out the air as it goes over the back of the trunk, and not a good job of it, because it's so low. The reason i think you don't get wind on the rear window is because of where the turbulent air is sitting, if you have say a mini-van the turbulent air spins around and splatters the rear window, on your car i'd bet anything that the turbulent air (the big pocket that your car pulls along and holds the water spray from the rear wheels) is sitting behind the car, and not over the rear window, hence, not making it wet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3lr
is your rear window more sloped than your other cars
or it there a possibility that the distance of the rear spoiler to the trunk lid is carefully determined like the boundry layer (usually the lenght of both wings combined) as it provides a cushion of air that has allowed many ocean flying, out of fuel, airplanes to "coast" for many miles and make a safe terra firma landing.
perhaps in your case it creates a venturi, creating a low pressure area in front of the spoiler thus allowing air to speed up as it flows down the rear window?
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I'm kind of curious as to what you're on about.
Airplanes can coast for a long time because of aerodynamic advantages only when they're flying very low over the surface. To understand this you have to understand the airflow over the wing.
When the air flows over the wing on the top it moves towards the fusalage and on the bottom if tends to move away from the fusalage (this is because of high and low pressures)
So what you get as an affect is a big vortex spinning off of the tips of the wings, and a LOT of drag. When airplanes fly LOW over a surface it reduces these vortexes, and depending on a number of things, can help an airplane glide for an extended distance.
This effect has NOTHING to do with what's happening at the back of his peaso.
Also a low pressure area will NOT form at the beginning of a spoiler, a high pressure area will form at the beginning, and low at the back. Talking in terms of the aerodynamic effect of the spoiler though, excluding outside factors.