Why do people delete their spoilers? Aren't they functional?

[Acidpete]

Thanks. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of it after I did all my suspension mods. Oh well, I'll get some this spring. Here's a quick time vid of it at Indianapolis Raceway Park on their road course. Right click save as.
I say pull the wing. What ever you decide to do stand by your decision and enjoy it. That's the point. It's your car, make it unique.

 

[J98GT]

The wing is not functional. Even if it were, the only thing that would matter it speed, not whether the car was turning or not. You could measure it by doing exactly what you said. Measure the load on the rear of the cars at speed in a wind tunnel. No need to be at an angle.

Wind tunnel time is expensive though, so I doubt you'll see anyone wasting their time to do it. You could also probably do it with load cells on your rear springs on a race track, but again, I can't imagine who would spend that much time and money doing something like that for a stock mustang wing.

OR, you could model it in some simulation software if you knew the exact geometery. That would be cheaper and easier, but I don't know how to do it.

 

[jadesville]

Thanks. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of it after I did all my suspension mods. Oh well, I'll get some this spring. Here's a quick time vid of it at Indianapolis Raceway Park on their road course. Right click save as.
I say pull the wing. What ever you decide to do stand by your decision and enjoy it. That's the point. It's your car, make it unique.

nice, cant even tell you're wingless in that vid

 

[~B7~]

The only thing my stock spoiler ever did was hold water and help me when I was backing up.......other than that.....it's good for nothing. If you keep the majority of the car looking stock, it looks good on there. But once you start swapping out body parts, you'll realize it should go.

However, I do like the 99-01 GT spoilers.....those looked good.

 

[MPSnyper]

Horses cant fly..

now a P51 has wings.. but it can fly

 

[silver02horse]

Yeah, R wing is good stuff

Now you're talking! I just love the look of that car period. I like the 01-04 wing, just looks too plain without it. I thought there was an improvement over the 99-00 spoiler. Although I have to admit I would much rather have the 03-04 Cobra spoiler, I think it looks clean...

 

[SHOStang]

Just about all cars produced with fatory spoilers are non functional and for looks only...including the Mustang. That's why removing the spoiler, in some cases, can improve your quarter mile times...parasitic drag. If you want to see what a fully functional spoiler on an American car looks like, locate a 96 - 99 Taurus SHO...the spoiler looks like a skateboard and is small but is functional. Looking at it you will see it's an inverted (aircraft) wing design. I had a structural engineer (B-2 Stealth Bomber) look at mine and he said it one of the best functional factory designs he has seen on a automobile. But, as far as looks on the Mustang go, I like the spoiler.

 

[WaltA]

I love the 99 spoiler. I think spoilerless is ugly.

Yea, my '95 came without a spoiler, and I thought it looked like weird; kind of unfinished and that something was accidentally forgotten. Matter of fact, adding the spoiler was one of the first mods I did to it.

However, this is all just personal taste. There is no right or wrong way to sport your trunk lid.

 

[rx7speed]

SHOStang your right most are pointless
the ones that generally work are small and almost wonder why they are even there
that taurus wish I could see a picture of it
but most of the functional ones just extend the lip on the rear out a little more to help with aerodynamic drag and lift
sounds almost what this spoiler is like


a spoiler CAN REDUCE DRAG and REDUCE LIFT at the same time guys not all are pointless
and doesn't mean you need to be going 170mph to feel the effects of it either

 

[Beau]

SHOStang your right most are pointless
the ones that generally work are small and almost wonder why they are even there
that taurus wish I could see a picture of it
but most of the functional ones just extend the lip on the rear out a little more to help with aerodynamic drag and lift
sounds almost what this spoiler is like


a spoiler CAN REDUCE DRAG and REDUCE LIFT at the same time guys not all are pointless
and doesn't mean you need to be going 170mph to feel the effects of it either

a properly designed spoiler will help out yes but i think the point is that most spoilers you see really don't help out that much simply because the cars aren't designed to need a spoiler. a mustang GT doesn't need a spoiler. Neither does a fart-can equipped honda civic. an F1 car does because it goes very fast and the wing's aerodynamics are incorporated into the overall design.

 

[SHOStang]

rx7speed, here is the best picture of the Taurus SHO spoiler that I have. A side picture would show how the design on how it applies downward force to the back end of the car. It looks like a section of wing off a B-52 bomber only inverted. When an aircraft wing produces lift it causes the air flowing over the top of the wing to move faster than underneath so if you turn that wing upside down, it will then produce a downward force.

 

[rx7speed]

a properly designed spoiler will help out yes but i think the point is that most spoilers you see really don't help out that much simply because the cars aren't designed to need a spoiler. a mustang GT doesn't need a spoiler. Neither does a fart-can equipped honda civic. an F1 car does because it goes very fast and the wing's aerodynamics are incorporated into the overall design.

that might be but there are other good things that can come from a well thought out spoiler
and you don't need to go uber fast to see the point in having one

 

[Beau]

that might be but there are other good things that can come from a well thought out spoiler
and you don't need to go uber fast to see the point in having one

what other good things? are you talking about looks? thats just a matter of opinion for people. and looks have nothing aerodynamically to do with going fast. the simple truth is, that although a wing may be well designed, physics will usually dictate that in order for it to have any real appreciable effect, you have to be going very very fast.

 

[rx7speed]

what other good things? are you talking about looks? thats just a matter of opinion for people. and looks have nothing aerodynamically to do with going fast. the simple truth is, that although a wing may be well designed, physics will usually dictate that in order for it to have any real appreciable effect, you have to be going very very fast.

thats what a large wing is for

but honest truth sometimes you might see for lower speeds ppl will still use a wing and it does give some effect
though granted you will not see many of them on the street because they woud look fugly and cause way too much drag

but some manufacs have started designing the rear end of cars different because of less drag. granted it might not always be in the shape of a spoiler but there is usually a little lip on the rear of a lot of cars because of the effect it can have on drag
and I really don't see manufacs going through all the time and effort to place a lip there that works best with the rest of the flow of the car to reduce drag unless it did something at sane speeds

hell the litle wing plus 4 little things in front of each wheel dropped the Cd from .32 down to .28 and cut the lift in half
even at speeds of 65mph that should make a small difference
and with ppl talking of taking the wing off and gaining a tenth or so and maybe a 1mph just from a little wing I'm sure there would be some effect there



but please don't get me wrong I'm not saying that is always going to be the case and not saying everyone should go out and buy a wing for there car. if anything I'm not fond of big ones and the only reason the one on my car stays is I am fond of the looks of it being nice and smal as it is


and yeah with looks your right with that is up to the person looking so no arguement there

oh another thing a wing on a FWD car might actually be usefull
I know it sounds kinda funny but if you play with the susp you can actually tune the car for oversteer on a FWD car... sounds really weird but it can happen
but at that point I don't really see why you would do it just to add a wing unless it was a race bred car and during the low speed turns it might need the rear to kick a little bit while at high speed turns you might want it to stay put

who knows though read below I'm half asleep


sorry if I am rambling just came home from a long night so kinda tired at the moent


but take care guys :-D
good luck on the mustangs and have a beer for me

night

 

[Ghost001]

Heh.

I'm looking at some photos of my black hardtop Mustang GT, and I'm starting to think it would look better without the wing, sort of like a 1970-ish old-school muscle car.

What I especially don't like about the stock wing, is that it's so curved (as viewed from above), especially the front of the wing. The curve is augmented by those prongs that stick out toward the front, on each end of the wing. That curve doesn't go well with the staight, clean lines of the rest of the car, in my opinion.

Judging by the above posts, it sounds like the wing effect is minimal, and that the wing does cause a small amount of drag.

I think I've been "turned", and that I will delete my wing. I think the wingless look will look good with my 1995 Cobra R hood (which I will be installing, in March, after the paint finishes evaporating).

 

[Ghost001]

The deed is done.

 

[Acidpete]

Sweet, post pics.

 

[Ghost001]

Sweet, post pics.

Someday, I'm gonna have my own website, so I can do just that. I'm tired of not being able to post pics.

Anyway, I'm going to wait until my 1995 Cobra R hood is on (paint will finish evaporating by March 1, then I'll Zaino it and put it on).

 

[Acidpete]

Email me a pic, just one, I'll host it for you and email you the link for it.
[email protected]

 

[rjstaaf]

Personally I like the spoiler, after getting something out of the trunk the spoiler adds just enough downforce to close the deck lid without having to slam it It also does a great job of hiding those 4 holes Ford drilled into my deck lid