Curved or Straight air dam??

[COcyclist]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

This is what happens when an airdam has curved ends, and then hits something, and the ends have nowhere to go. Sure, it is possible to develop an airdam with curved ends that have provisions for the curved parts to disconnect and give way when hit to avoid breakage, but I've never seen that.

Any questions?

Frank is right on this one. This has happened with every car I have put a spoiler on, sooner or later. Rubber, fiberglass, polyurethane. On the Golf I followed the factory curve for a mini spat made from splash guard material and even that got crunched.

[Sven7]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

They're made of material that floppy? This I did not know.

Coroplast works.

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Yeah, it's called "buying a replacement".

I've read countless threads of guys with old, low VW GTI's who manage to snap off a spoiler multiple times a year. At $40 a piece it tends to add up quickly.

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

This is what happens when an airdam has curved ends, and then hits something, and the ends have nowhere to go. Sure, it is possible to develop an airdam with curved ends that have provisions for the curved parts to disconnect and give way when hit to avoid breakage, but I've never seen that.

Any questions?

You've seen mine

It's made of coroplast. I put a diagonal bracket in the middle to brace it against the belly pan at high speeds. The bonus is that coroplast gives enough to where I can scrape it on the middle or sides and nothing happens. I've scraped that thing more times than I can count and no damage has come of it. This is also why people use rubber garden edging.

Keeps its shape. Of course it looks like a bag of dicks, but I'm sure with a little messing around and more time spent on it you could have one that looked pretty clean. Look at Blownb210's work on the Sentra.

Probe in the Morning by Tyler Linner, on Flickr

By the way, the Vette's air dam looks to be just short enough to allow a constant approach angle with the nose. If you draw a line from the tip of the bumper tangent to the tire I'll bet it comes very close to the air dam. If you make a dam on anything that's not built for it you will probably lose approach angle (like the Probe has proven). However it's not that big of a deal if you remember to drive onto steep slopes at an angle, and generally watch what you're doing.

[Quasimoto]

I made a 2 piece air dam out of garden edging. It scrapes quite often, but since it has some give to it; won't break. I take the side pieces off when I put it up on ramps to change the oil or work on the bottom of the car. It works great.

[99clipsgst]

I have plans to attach the air dam to to my clorplast belly pan. This edging is pretty thick stuff, I don't think That I have to worry about the plastic folding back on it self. Maybe if I put a slight curve in the middle and curve the ends in front of the tires that would work the best.

[sc2dave]

Hmmm,i should be able to install a good size one on my 87 toy truck.It's still stock height. Approximately how much of a gain will this make?

[Reloadwin]

Originally Posted by Quasimoto

I made a 2 piece air dam out of garden edging. It scrapes quite often, but since it has some give to it; won't break. I take the side pieces off when I put it up on ramps to change the oil or work on the bottom of the car. It works great.

wow, do you have more pictures of your vehicle?

[TXwaterdog]

That looks good... did you just use L brackets to attach it?

[Quasimoto]

Originally Posted by Reloadwin

wow, do you have more pictures of your vehicle?

More pics at this thread: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...job-17534.html

[Quasimoto]

Originally Posted by SimonSellsAustin

That looks good... did you just use L brackets to attach it?

Yes, those are "L" brackets with self tapping screws.

[darrylrobida]

CRX-HF, had similar questions about curve of air dam. I just jumped in and built a prototype. Currently in test. ANY comments appreciated.
Darryl 805-598-1730