Air dams?
 

What's the general thought about air dams and their effectiveness on road cars from a pure drag reduction standpoint? Anyone have any real world feed back on their effectiveness? I've seen at least one wind tunnel study from the 80s that shows they do reduce drag. Though wondering if today's underbodies are better considered than they were in the 80s, and thus an air dam might simply not have the desired affect.

The consensus I've seen here is that air dams are great for cleaning up the shape, but shouldn't be used to increase frontal area.

Welcome, BTW.

Back in 1983 I put a large chin spoiler on my shortbox 1976 Ford Econline van.

I don't recall it improving gas mileage, but clearly remember it helping in crosswinds.

The van used to wander like crazy in the wind while on the highway. After installation of the massive chin spoiler I could take my hands off the wheel and it would drive straight.

The truck had a lot of miles on it, the whole front end was terribly loose. I even got a ticket after I hit a pothole and it launched me into the curb.

The three on the tree shifter was always binding up too, I had to crawl under it and move the leavers after it jambed up (more than once).

My conclusion, less air moving under the van was a good thing, despite it looking like a brick.

From my experiance air dams work. All of my cars have had very dirty underbellys(aerowise)and have picked up 10-15%mpgs.
96nissan altima,97nissan maxima,98chevy prizm, 04lincoln towncar.

People need to search before posting.

Get off the computer and rest your eyes, better yet go drink some beer with friends.

airdam
 

maybe an airdam even with the bottom of a belly pan,out just ahead of the nose.Which would probably require an 'active' feature so as not to be shorn away on the first driveway ramp.

You can see my air dam test results here.

Actually what I was after is discussion on the topic, it is a discussion forum after all...I've worked in motosports for a bit over a dozen years, gotten to know more than a couple of aerodynamicists, and when I posed the question I got multiple answers. The research says they work, but the available research is more than 20 years old. How relevant is it to today's cars with their much more thought about underfloors?

Excellent work Aveomiller...seems bigger is better...

I'm contemplating a small air dam tucked in a bit from the leading edge and angled slightly. I'll mount it to the small CF underfloor infill I put in last night.

Progress album here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...3&l=7c1ecda51f