should my rear spoiler come off?
 

i have read that most of the increases in aero are on the back of the car. i have a small rear spoiler factory installed on my car barely hangs off the trunk and only sticks up a little bit . would i benefit from removing it.

also ideals for my side mirrors they mount on the door not the pillar if i take it off there will be a hole in the door. i dont want to weld fill sand and paint it. its a curved surface. i pray to the aero gods to send me answers. or anyone with ideals

Wow thats a tuff call, I am thinking your particular car "looks" like it may be better off without the spoiler? the only way that spoiler could help is if the trunk below the spoiler is too low from the roof line to provide ideal air flow. the added height may put the trunk into a aerodynamic sweet spot by adjusting the flow angle of air/wind off the roof(and trunk). Often a spoiler adds drag but a well placed and designed one can reduce drag.
Here is a link to where the discussion on the roof angle that I was recently reading - http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...why-12732.html post # 10

...time for some "tuft" testing and video recording by a trailing car.

...why? because, typically, most spoilers don't really DO much unless you're doing 100+ mph, which in the world of MPG isn't practical. So, if it ain't *working* it probably should be removed. But, the "...tale of the tufts..." will tell.

From my understanding, anything that brings the back of the car closer to the Ideal Template, is a good thing. Since it is certain that the rear slope of your Tiburon is under the curve, (due to the fact you can see out of it) the spoiler may be helping.

As for the mirrors, they're mounted on stalks which is a good thing, the only way to reduce their impact would be to remove them, but at what cost? Safety should always be a top priority, and in traffic, them mirrors is gold. Also local laws can be a pain as to whether you need an outside side mirror or not, I for one don't want to give "The Man" any reason to stop me. (Thats why my car is painted flat black with Radar/Laser absorbing paint and my windows are tinted to 87%, they never see me...shhhhh)

http://i52.tinypic.com/10dtjsx.jpg

thanks for the advice i geuss the next time i meet up with my brother i will have him video with some tufts on.i thought about doing a-b-a testing with it off but i have yet to find a road that would work well and i dont know if i would be able to tell a difference from just the spoiler delete. i had thoughts of using some smaller cut to size mirror in the a-pillar attached to the door so i still have limited mirror and am in line with the law. i usually check my corners ( habits from riding a motorcycle) . and chazinmt that car would get pulled over faster here than almost anyother. cops rarely notice minor things like mirrors. but i love the paint awesome.

Hard to get decent side shots of these - Hyundai Coupe ? but what year ?

The rear slope looks a bit too steep, as it usually does, so the low spoiler could well be beneficial to bring the slope back on the ideal line.

That spoiler is low and unsuspecting, those are often the ones that might actually help.


Looks like the 3rd brake light is part of the spoiler ?
If it's mandatory (it is here) it'll be a nuisance when removing the spoiler

it is a 2008 tiburon, i agree that the rear window angle is probably a little to steep and that the spoiler may help in that area. i looked through my pictures and cant find any perfect side shots of my car. they are all front or rear quarter shots. this is one i pulled off of the company website from me sticking a ruler on my screen im getting around 20 degee angle of the rear glass is that what you see? (ideal should be 12-14 right?) the other is my car. i geuss they put the mirror on the door to improve visibilty if they had mounted forward it would probably be useless.

of yea i have taken the spoiler off once before to wax under it it is 4 nuts and in connector there is a grommet hole under one leg off the spoiler. law enforcement would never care about the third light being gone.

on
 

Just shootin' from the hip I'd say leave 'er as you found 'er.

Can anyone point me to this template?

Nice car ChazInMT.

About the Tiburon, just my opinion, no tuff test or anything..............that spoiler is just too small to have much of an impact either way, on or off.

At higher speeds I'd rather give up a little fuel economy for a little more down force. Where I live, winter is longer than summer, and safety comes first.

That isn't my car....I was just messin around. I have a beemer, but it looks like this. Shiney..Old..Still pretty cool...still Schwarz.

http://i51.tinypic.com/99houh.jpg

@ Kach:
Phil Knox Areo Template Thred

@ Moderator: Why isn't this a sticky or part of the Phil Knox Seminars & Such????

im not all that worried about downforce issues last year i had the car to 130 mph in a stint of stupidity. it is sitting on 225/40/18 inch kumho ecsta asx tires and the suspension is good enough. i usually only drive the car 15-20 miles a day and upto 65-70 mph. thanks for the link im mentally digesting it now.

Put the template on yer car pic, couldn't stop myself.

http://i51.tinypic.com/2zre260.jpg

yea im thinking the rear spoiler isnt that bad on my car the mirrors im pretty sure are. i dont think there is a good way to remove them. im just looking for the so called low hanging fruit. geuss i need to think about the bottom side and doing some under tray design.

Thanks for the link Chaz.

My two cents on photo below..

Similar?
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...-megane-r26-r/
http://images.thetruthaboutcars.com/...66-407x350.jpg

i have this bumper sitting in a box in my storage unit. i paid a ridiculous amount of money for it and then it showed up from korea in bare fiberglass and needed trimmed filled and fitted . still love the look of it. i love the little renault the rear kammback part is factory there is one in the parking lot that looks the same (its 4dr and green though) the fog lights look like they stick out into the wind rally car style. me and my brother have always wanted to go to nurumburg ring with our bikes . that would be a blast

I would think on a front wheel drive car any rear downforce wouldn't make much of a difference. Unless you are taking this on a road course or other high-performance track day it's of no use for downforce. The spoiler may well help for aerodynamics in general, though. I'd love to see "tufts" on the car with and without the spoiler! :eek:

No.

The Mégane's roof line doesn't drop too much, so the spoiler isn't there to lift it back up to follow the template.

That's a high performance car, so the likely purpose of the spoiler is to keep the rear on the ground ;)

The dotted line "B" turning his car into a wagon also does not drop down.

As far as downforce goes, on the rear of a FWD it will help the car remain planted and add safety. Of course you want balance, and do not want to lift the front, you would not want to lift the front on a RWD car either.

I'm rather shocked to hear so many people in the forum willing to give up handling and safety at speed to save a little gas.

I guess if you drive the speed limit and don't do any crazy aggressive lane changes you will be alright. Just pray it don't rain, snow or hail.

...for FE, you want the spoiler to be "neutral", that is, neither creating UPWARD nor creating DOWNWARD forces, just "continuing..." the uninterrupted air flow.

...for road racing, it's all about DOWN force.

It's a spoiler, not an umbrella.

Judging from the pictures the wing is fine as is. There may be more to gain by adding a small air dam and cleaning up the the under body. Consider adding some clear plastic to the side mirrors to smooth the air flow. Tuft testing on a four lane early on a Saturday morning with a video cam will help.

i will have to wait until i can get my brother to help with the tuft tests. i do think there is area for improvement on the front and bottom of the car. im still looking at what kind of tray i want on the bottom( just engine or full car) . and what kind of grill block to use the lower opening is curved around the sides so it wont be to easy to cover the foglight grill area.

new ideal though how about using the spoiler mounting bolts for attachment points for kammback to completely match the template. after the grill block chin spoiler or undertray install. thanks to all for the advice.

Okay, I can agree with this.