Aero misinformed?
 

Found this online while researching a 1990s Mustang that was heavily modded for top speed. Are they wrong about the Airdam?

TheMustangNews.com - How-To: Top 5 Mustang Mods That Suck Gas

1. Big Wings & Air Dams

Yep, they look awesome. Aftermarket body augmentations are the best and most eye popping way to suck more gas. Wings are the best. The larger the wing, the more drag is created. The same goes for the huge front fascia with the low to the ground air splitter. Sure it helps stability on the road course, but it does increase your frontal area by leaps and bounds. It takes more power to push all that surface area through the air, and thus more gas. Potential Efficiency Decrease: 1-3mpg

Depends on the airdam and the underside of the car. Sweeping generalization, at least.

Lol, we're looking at a website trying to burn more gas to save gas.

LOL no.. they think they are being funny in the way they are giving people the heads up on how common modifications affect their FE.. But you knew that <wink>

They are talking about air dams with splitters. Splitters are large panels which are basically horizontal. They trap air to form a high pressure area on top of the splitter and in front of the air dam / bumper. This high pressure area combined with the resulting higher pressure area on the hood and the low pressure area behind and below the splitter creates downforce. This is not ideal for fuel economy, but it does help stability at high speeds like they say.

Yeah, they are pretty loose with their terminology there. They first state air-dams, then they mention splitters, then "more frontal area" comment could imply air dams with no splitters... I think it comes down to the same simple anwer as usual - it depends :)

LOL "Results may vary"

This Is an old car of mine. Long gone, I used to race it at the drag strip, autocross and open track events. I put this airdam on it and I didnt notice ant difference but with the way the car was "set up" it was probably beyond and degredation of FE that airdam caused. As deep as it looks it is only an inch lower then the bottom of the rocker panels, the car was just really low.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e.../pitbull01.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e.../pitbull07.jpg

Oh for those of you who noticed the old school Mini Cooper on the trailer. The guy who owned and drove it is standing behind the trailer. He is around 6'3" and 300 pounds. he was a good guy and took our clown car jokes well. Those of you who have seen an original mini will understand.. LOL