what would this do?
 

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f1...s/IMG_3021.jpg

what would this do? aerodynamically spaeaking ? would it be good bad unknown?. any idea why that lip sticks out at the bottom. I think it is well executed and good looking but whatgood is it?

the lip i know is used in racing to provide down force in either speed or cornering but not sure for actual mileage

so would make the front of my car act heavier? I don't want heavy, but it does look good doesn't it. great execution

i believe it would make it act heavier do not hold my word to that though, and yea the execution makes it look really nice

its a splitter. It is used in racing for front down force.

If driven at high speed, it will make short work of mowing your yard. Just sayin.

Aerodynamically, it could be a good drag reduction add on as well during the time that it remains attached to the car.

The splitter is a bit short, but it should still help to produce some downforce. Look at it this way: As you drive faster, the air pressure at the front of the car becomes greater. The splitter catches that high pressure air and pushes the front of the car down (downforce). The longer the splitter, the better the leverage.

In terms of aerodynamics, it should also help because the farther the front of the car is pushed down, the less air can travel underneath it.

splitter / lip
 

The lip at the bottom helps to catch air being forced down from the bumper. It directs it around the side of the car rather than letting it go underneath. That keeps you more aero.

Edit: Ed beat me to it! :)

It will divert air around the sides of the car instead of it tumbling around the aerodynamically dirty undercarriage. That's good. It should ideally stick down just far enough to shield the chassis and suspension components from oncoming wind, so it looks a little low to me. Perhaps cut an inch or two off the top edge and then install it. This is different for every car, so you'll have to eyeball it to see whether it's sticking down too much or not enough and modify accordingly.

As I understand it, downforce doesn't really make the car feel heavier as much as it just gives you more grip. It will increase your overall drag but make the car handle better. If you trim the thing right it will decrease your drag while maintaining basically the same handling. You're probably not going fast enough on the street for the downforce to make much of a difference anyway.

At the end of the day though you could probably get similar looks and the same aerodynamics out of black rubber lawn edging. Check out the Chevy Express van on here which did that and reported noticeable FE improvements.

The downforce at highway speeds might be significant, though. The amount the front end would dip would probably have more to do with the suspension/spring rates than anything else.

the hood and roof of a car acts like a wing on an airplane lifting on the car. The faster you go, the more lift you get. On top o that (or underneath actuallY), air is stacking up underneath the car with a high pressure, low velocity airflow.

The splitter on the front is an attempt to keep air out from under the car. The back of the car is left open so the road acts like a pump trying to get air out from under the car. The goal is a low pressure area is built under the car.

So, the roof is lifting the car. any downforce from the splitter offsets the roof lift.

From MPG standpoint, splitter keeps air out from under the car leading to better mpg.

Am I correct in saying if the air dam & splitter do not increase frontal area, then they will aid fuel economy, otherwise any further down they then become high speed racing mods to stop the vehicle taking off at over 150km/h and will be a fuel expense because frontal area is greater.

An air dam that slightly increases frontal area, can still give an aerodynamic improvement due to the reduced amount of air going under the car.

Thanks, so is there a rule for how much or is it just a case by case basis depending on layout under vehicle?