Air Curtain

[dremd]

Originally Posted by Floordford

dremd: seems like it wasn't really effective. As a side suggestion, yellow string might be more visible. Im glad you made an effort to try though.

Good idea on yellow, when I picked a color I was thinking white car, black string. Lol

[dremd]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

Left and Right are universal though (except for Mrs A...), so you could use those terms

My Fabia had that grill in the front, left wheel well for the IC. It also had a vent in the bumper ahead of the wheel well but I think that was for looks.

I think your Fabia had a front mount intercooler, right? PD 130?

Right and left can be somewhat confusing when working around cars due to the fact that when looking backward right is left, just like Mrs. A.

[Otto]

Originally Posted by dremd

I agree with everything above.

I'm going to say my vent is useless as an air curtain, that said, this does not rule out using a larger vent (look at front of M1) to have some actual effect.

Well, as presently constructed from louver, it may be useless. But, what if instead of simply venting via louver, the air were channeled by plastic duct into a vertical slot shape, to directly counter the worst of the tire vortices?

Hucho et al say there are 6 vortices from each tire, and among other things these bugger the sideflow air past the car. So, maybe your louver could be replaced by a slot vent oriented so as to prevent or contain such wheel vortices?

Think of it as a sorta Fowler flap, arranged vertically.

[mcrews]

not sure what happened here.....
Why would anyone think that the air coming uot of the louver was even close to being the correct flow????
The 'air current is created by air that is coming uot within 1 inch of the body lip. and the narrow slot is 10-12 inches long.

I guess what surprises me is that 'we' (the group) would think that air coming uot of a square vent thats low and in the middle, would somehow create this curtian.

I dont have any qualms with were the air enters but come on.......

[Blu3Z3rg]

My first thoughts are this:
WHY oh why does it have to be a "tunnel" or tube there? Can't it just be a channel along the side of the bumper?
In fact... then wouldn't simply a smooth bumper transition with the correct angle coming in towards the wheel well do the same thing, only better?
I'm sure they have tested this in their wind tunnel, but perhaps they started with this idea being all to complicated and havne't given thought on how to simplify it.

[mcrews]

Originally Posted by Blu3Z3rg

My first thoughts are this:
WHY oh why does it have to be a "tunnel" or tube there? Can't it just be a channel along the side of the bumper?
In fact... then wouldn't simply a smooth bumper transition with the correct angle coming in towards the wheel well do the same thing, only better?
I'm sure they have tested this in their wind tunnel, but perhaps they started with this idea being all to complicated and havne't given thought on how to simplify it.

Yeah, those stupid auto engineers........what do they know........gosh, I bet they don't even use wind tunnels.....

[Floordford]

Originally Posted by Blu3Z3rg

My first thoughts are this:
WHY oh why does it have to be a "tunnel" or tube there? Can't it just be a channel along the side of the bumper?
In fact... then wouldn't simply a smooth bumper transition with the correct angle coming in towards the wheel well do the same thing, only better?
I'm sure they have tested this in their wind tunnel, but perhaps they started with this idea being all to complicated and havne't given thought on how to simplify it.

I get what you mean. Im sure they have to find a balance between aesthetics and function and cost.

Pay no mind to Mcrews.

[mcrews]

yeah, I figured those charts on exhaust od size on the honda vx shut you up. Now mr 'bolt on" is an expert in air flow.

The trick here on THIS forum(as opposed to the 'boy racer bolt-on forums') is to contribute factually to the discussion.

snarky comments only reflect on the poster.

[Floordford]

Originally Posted by mcrews

yeah, I figured those charts on exhaust od size on the honda vx shut you up. Now mr 'bolt on" is an expert in air flow.

The trick here on THIS forum(as opposed to the 'boy racer bolt-on forums') is to contribute factually to the discussion.

snarky comments only reflect on the poster.

See, it doesn't feel good when someone points the jokes at you does it. Im just keeping you in check. You keep tearing into people for no reason. Thats what the wrong side of the bed poster was for. Good grief, the guy just posted a "my first thought was.." and you got snappy with him. Notice how Im taking the high road and just saying to back it down a notch instead of taking your road and lashing out.

[Blu3Z3rg]

Originally Posted by mcrews

Yeah, those stupid auto engineers........what do they know........gosh, I bet they don't even use wind tunnels.....

and with a wind tunnel, they got .1 cd out of this? Really effective. I'm sure your car was perfectly engineered to the point that you couldn't mod it to get better mileage out of it either? No? Well then....

In any case... it should be able to be done WITHOUT enclosing it... especially if you have a wind tunnel at your disposal. Unless they are just trying to make it look cool or something. I really think that the nascar style of front bumper being fairly flat across the front is probably the best solution. They probably just wind tunnel tested different shapes a million times and ended up with something that simply streamlined the front bumper... and the air curtain was a side effect.