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Old 01-09-2009, 12:05 AM   #1 (permalink)
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Frontal area and Drag Coefficient? (Chevrolet HHR)

Does anyone know the frontal area of the Chevy HHR?
I think the factory Drag Coeffecient is .354.

I have lowered it 1.5 inches and put a 4" front air dam on it. Any idea how much that helped (hurt?) the Drag Coeffecient?

Any ideas to help Aerodynamics and still maintain the factory look?

Thanks in advance. Curly

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Old 01-09-2009, 01:36 AM   #2 (permalink)
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Well lowering it would decrease the area by the area of tire no longer exposed head-on. Assuming your car has a messy underside, the front air dam decreased the coefficient by keeping air out of the mess. It did increase the area, however. Likely, a net reduction in drag.

There's a sticky with 60 mods you can do...rear wheel skirts, a grille block, and a kammback would be good options.
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Old 01-09-2009, 08:37 AM   #3 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Curly1 View Post
Does anyone know the frontal area of the Chevy HHR?
Did you try Google?

Looks like the answers might be right there in the first search result (a GM document no less) when I searched "Frontal area and Drag Coefficient Chevrolet HHR"
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Old 01-09-2009, 06:12 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Curly1 View Post
Any ideas to help Aerodynamics and still maintain the factory look?

Thanks in advance. Curly

That is such a cool looking design. I can see how you would be reluctant to change the look of it any.
Besides decreasing the area of your truck, lowering it made it look even better too didn't it ?
So now you can 'have your cake and eat it too'.

If I wanted to retain the factory look, yet improve the aerodynamics, I would go with a stealth grille block for starters. By stealth, I mean have it mounted just behind the chrome slats in the grille and paint it flat black.
No one but you would ever notice. ( But of course block off only a section at a time and monitor the temperature till you get to the point to where the motor begins to show that it is getting hot - then back off. )


Besides the grille block, one other thing that you might consider is 'moon' wheels. It would actually go along with the look of the truck too, since it has the hot rod look.
Keep the stock wheels in the garage - it would be a shame to mess those up.

Other than these two things, you would have to start adding things that would take away from the look of the truck.

Post pictures !
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Old 01-10-2009, 01:57 PM   #5 (permalink)
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look

Chevy did a little better job than Chrysler with it'd PT Cruiser,but both suffer from the "all-frontal -area-wake-syndrome",where there's very little ( none for the PT ) cross-sectional area reduction of the body before the body terminates at the rear.--------------- The enormous wake behind the HHR is responsible for it's high drag coefficient and I can think of little you could do to lower it,without significant change to it's appearance.Vans,SUVs,and these "panel-truck" retro designs suffer from this designed-in inefficiency.
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Old 01-10-2009, 01:59 PM   #6 (permalink)
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You should build a kammback bed cover
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Old 01-10-2009, 02:56 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Thanks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cd View Post
That is such a cool looking design. I can see how you would be reluctant to change the look of it any.
Besides decreasing the area of your truck, lowering it made it look even better too didn't it ?
So now you can 'have your cake and eat it too'.

If I wanted to retain the factory look, yet improve the aerodynamics, I would go with a stealth grille block for starters. By stealth, I mean have it mounted just behind the chrome slats in the grille and paint it flat black.
No one but you would ever notice. ( But of course block off only a section at a time and monitor the temperature till you get to the point to where the motor begins to show that it is getting hot - then back off. )


Besides the grille block, one other thing that you might consider is 'moon' wheels. It would actually go along with the look of the truck too, since it has the hot rod look.
Keep the stock wheels in the garage - it would be a shame to mess those up.

Other than these two things, you would have to start adding things that would take away from the look of the truck.

Post pictures !
Ok, Here is a picture.

I did have moons on there for a while and I really liked the look but found a set of Solstice wheels I like better. So that is what is on there now.
I am proud of the way it looks (though I admit it is not for everyone) and it looks much better since I have got it. I am trying to make improvements but I am not going to do anything that takes away from the look I want. That makes it difficult to have your cake and eat it to. Still there are things to try and the grill block is one I may work on. Help the car and not hurt the look at all.
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Old 01-10-2009, 02:59 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Oops, I was thinking of the SSR.. of course you can't put a bed cover on an HHR
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Old 01-10-2009, 03:06 PM   #9 (permalink)
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Quote:
I am trying to make improvements but I am not going to do anything that takes away from the look I want. That makes it difficult to have your cake and eat it to.
You've pretty much summed things up there!

Too bad you didn't prefer the look of the moons - those Solstice wheels are fashionable, but they're air blenders. The tires on them are no doubt wider than stock, so both your Cd and A have taken a small hit.

Off the top of my head, you could go with:

- partial grille block
- side mirror(s) deletion
- belly pan
- replace the rear spoiler with a conservative, tapered roof line extension

And you may gain yourself a 5% fuel economy improvement (w.a.g.) at 55-60 mph.
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Old 01-10-2009, 03:57 PM   #10 (permalink)
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You can find frontal area by measuring the vehicle and calculating the area inside what you measure.

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