Aero Crosstour- Squeezing blood from a stone

[freebeard]

I've used Wing 3D previously. It has a work flow that was better for me than others, but eventually I found things not working as advertised.

Blender has a steep learning curve, but is improving at a rapid pace. They abandoned right-click to select for the industry standard left-click a while back. There're lots of tutorials on Youtube.

[Chonk_Master]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

By extending the "wheel air dams" I mean extending them down.
.

These little fellers?

[freebeard]

Search term is 'wheel spats".

[RedDevil]

Yup, yes. I bet they work by forcing the air around the turbulence ahead of the tire instead of mixing with it.

[RedDevil]

Also worth considering...

Originally Posted by JulianEdgar

I'd never seen this mentioned before. Just extraordinary. (Double post, but I think so important.) The incredible trick from Porsche.

https://youtu.be/AAYqrDUxTiY

The wheel air dams / spats are deflectors then ?
I'd think spats go behind the wheels anyway. Where they generally cause extra drag.

[Ecky]

Be careful with the aero template. I recall there being two versions floating around here:

https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthre...ate-33673.html



Here's your vehicle overlayed with this version:

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by Chonk_Master

I'm going to be very, very careful with tire pressures. I'd rather have the traction and lose a few %. I don't know where those two things start to rub against each other but it would be a last or, more likely, never resort. That thing is heavy and needs everything it can get.

I'd get a second opinion but this is really low hanging fruit, especially for a heavy vehicle. Most gains from raising pressure come with the first few pounds.

My uneducated opinion: the tires on the Crosstour have always looked stylistically oversized to me, though I had no idea they were that heavy.

Originally Posted by Chonk_Master

I'm dying to lower it. I know a few places make well designed springs that keep your steering geometry right while giving you a couple of inches. That's more restricted by a student's budget than anything else, but it's definitely on the radar.

You're in luck - your car has double wishbone suspension all around, which (typically) means your camber won't be impacted by changes to ride height. In a pinch, you could just cut a quarter of a coil off and see where it lands, rinse and repeat. To properly lower you would ideally go stiffer as well (to prevent bottoming out). I have no idea how much travel these have.

[Piotrsko]

Never cut coils. That causes more problems than it solves. There are spring clamps available cheap. Or you can use u bolts

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

Never cut coils. That causes more problems than it solves. There are spring clamps available cheap. Or you can use u bolts

https://www.eatondetroitspring.com/c...-coil-springs/


Just as an example, on the rear of my car, I replaced the stock springs with stiffer ones that maintained approximately stock ride height. I then pulled close to 200lbs out of the back of the car, and it was sitting about an inch and a half higher.

The springs were tangential end springs. I took a quarter of a coil off, and it was still a bit high, so I took another sixth or so and brought it back down to stock ride height, albeit much stiffer. They seat the same way when cut. When lifted, the springs are still considerably compressed so no risk of them falling out. I see no problems with taking a small amount off so long as you pay attention.

-Don't cut springs if it will change how they seat.
-Be mindful of suspension travel - going stiffer is a good idea, you don't want to be hitting your bump stops.
-Don't cut so much that they are no longer compressed when the wheels aren't on the ground.
-Be aware that with some types of suspension, you'll mess up your camber.

[Chonk_Master]

Thanks for that new overlay, Ecky. Yeah, I've gotten a few different comments on the overlay. In any event, I'm not expecting much, if anything, from that back end, short of going full kammback (which I won't). At this point, I more focused on smoothing out the front clip and reducing front cross section.

Definitely gives even more pause to the idea of any kind of spoiler, not that I'm complaining.

And I'm open to cutting springs, just because I know you can, but you can get a nice, high spring rate set from Megan for about $150. That lets me keep my spares in case the rate drops the car to the ground. Cutting springs is a bit of a "get it right the first time or you're screwed" affair. If it was a dedicated track car and I was on a budget, it'd be game on.

I was blown away to hear about the suspension. I like this car about 25% more now.

Minor Update: 4/13/2020
Going through the beginners' tutorial of FreeCAD. I think I can get a good mounting plate that requires minimal drilling or heat setting to fit and mount the new side mirrors. This will be the only project I work on this week. I need my side mirrors back, badly.