2017 Toyota Corolla LLE aero mods

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by euromodder

But then, why bother extending it further inboard with a framed "window" ?

Or they had designed a solid spoiler, and only later found out brake cooling could become an issue in some otherworldly scenario, kept the general design and its mounts, but made a hole in it ...


Which then can't explain how the same design ends up on 2 different cars :-/

That's exactly the thing an automaker can discover,once the prototype is constructed.Hucho has mentioned that features this small are hard to model in CFD and require wind tunnel verification,at full-scale.
They may have had the 'solid' taco fairing initially,only to find later, that they'd shot themselves in the foot,brake-cooling wise.Changing a small,thermo-formed piece of ABS plastic and it's tooling wouldn't be the sort of thing that would blow their budget.

[aerohead]

There might be an igniter on the wheel-well or some other electronic device,which needs some airflow over its heat-sink.You don't want to overheat a battery either.

[woodstock74]

Just a touch base. Back in November of last year I was rear ended. Car was damaged and subsequently repaired by January 2020 and all was well with the world. And then Covid happened. That put many things on backburner though I've continually been mulling what I'd do next, and more so recently. I've gone ahead and implemented some more grill blockage and I'm realizing I never documented my previous grill blockage piece. I'm further contemplating underfloor-age, as always, and I'm very intrigued with air curtains. Anyhow, lots of ideas, some decent tools (CAD and 3-D printer, composites, etc.), just a matter of finding time and executing! A shame it's cold now!

[JulianEdgar]

I hadn't seen your thread before but all that you are doing looks great.

[JulianEdgar]

Originally Posted by woodstock74

Still plugging away, added a few things that I'll detail later, but been wondering if anyone knows Toyota's philosophy behind their front wheel spats? With the open, but framed, inboard section? I'm close to completing a couple of small front underfloor panels that will substantially smooth out the airflow lead-in heading to that inboard open section and wondering what the consequences might be!

I don't know why they have done that. No definitive answer at all.

[IRONICK]

Air guide for brakes ...

[woodstock74]

Some general catch up from about a year ago:

So in the rad inlet just below the Toyota badge I noticed it was blanked, but only half blanked:



Which bugged me, so I envisioned creating a blocker panel that integrated into the design of the car and had some fun with it. Shaped sheet insulation foam:



And then covered it with fiberglass and epoxy, using acetone to eat out the foam form from the backside (I call it the lost-form process) leaving me with this, which I then had to tickle here and there for fit:



Final bit. Covered it in black vinyl:



Also added symmetrical grill blockers on the outboard ends of the middle inlet. Went simple route and they're made out of conveyor belt with holes drilled into them and then zip tied into place:



Created this little panel just at the end of the front undertray. It's where the tow hook used to reside and there was another awkward concavity:

[IRONICK]

Originally Posted by woodstock74

And then covered it with fiberglass and epoxy, using acetone to eat out the foam form from the backside (I call it the lost-form process) leaving me with this

Hehe ... it looks like you're playing on another level.
My first panel was made of fiberglass, 10 years ago.

[woodstock74]

While I'm at work and don't have access to pictures...I've been contemplating a small modification to my spoiler which I'll try to describe without pictures. So trailing edge sharpness is an obsession for me, maybe it's important, maybe not so much. But aero details on road cars are detuned to avoid pedestrian issues (and manufacturing practicalities I'm sure). I've been wanting to add a trailing edge extension to my spoiler (the old spoiler didn't survive the rear ending, see pictures further up in thread, and they replaced it with a proper factory spoiler) that essentially redoes that work, but also angles down slightly. So it would be an extension, not merely a sharpening of the existing trailing edge, perhaps 60 mm in length, angled down approximately 10 degrees from the trailing edge of the base spoiler. Curious thoughts on this? The idea is all about base area infill of course, and it would have a sharpened trailing edge to boot increasing turbulent kinetic energy as the airflow snaps off that edge. Or should I just concentrate on giving the existing spoiler a shaper edge (it's rather rounded)? Nothing pedestrian-slicing of course, the end part would be FDM 3-D printed.

[JulianEdgar]

Originally Posted by woodstock74

While I'm at work and don't have access to pictures...I've been contemplating a small modification to my spoiler which I'll try to describe without pictures. So trailing edge sharpness is an obsession for me, maybe it's important, maybe not so much. But aero details on road cars are detuned to avoid pedestrian issues (and manufacturing practicalities I'm sure). I've been wanting to add a trailing edge extension to my spoiler (the old spoiler didn't survive the rear ending, see pictures further up in thread, and they replaced it with a proper factory spoiler) that essentially redoes that work, but also angles down slightly. So it would be an extension, not merely a sharpening of the existing trailing edge, perhaps 60 mm in length, angled down approximately 10 degrees from the trailing edge of the base spoiler. Curious thoughts on this? The idea is all about base area infill of course, and it would have a sharpened trailing edge to boot increasing turbulent kinetic energy as the airflow snaps off that edge. Or should I just concentrate on giving the existing spoiler a shaper edge (it's rather rounded)? Nothing pedestrian-slicing of course, the end part would be FDM 3-D printed.

A few points:


- Trailing edges don't have to be sharp sharp to work, so I wouldn't obsess over that.

- If you "increase turbulent kinetic energy as the airflow snaps off that edge" you will likely make things worse, as I would think that the trailing vortices will be more intense. (That's not how separation edges work.)

- I think the notion of "base area infill" is a bit deceptive, as I don't think you can easily do that. What you can do is reduce wake size - not quite the same thing.

- An angled downwards rear extension probably will reduce wake size and reduce drag, but you'd find out only through testing whether it was worth doing. Test first with a mock-up of plastic sheet!