Well it seems to be the trend to put HUGE wings on front wheel drive cars for effect....i was wondering if this actually improves performance (seeing as how spoilers are designed to provide downforce) but since the spoilers are in the back wouldnt that make you lose traction on the front wheels where the power is?
thanx

No! They are all just for looks. Most of the spoilers out there are not designed with fluid dynamics in mind. So if they produce any downforce they are inefficient. Truth is they will actually decrease your top speed by a few mph. Not many cars on the street right now would even benefit from a proper wing anyways, you just aren't cornering that fast.
If you are using a proper rear wing on a FWD racing car:
Rear wings on front drivers won't affect them at all, unless the wing at (high)speed changes the body angle and the front aerodynamics start to create lift. If there is lots of downforce on the rear and the front stays neutral however this may reduce any oversteer conditions that existed before, as it would help pin the ass of the car to the track.

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Originally posted by tryptamine:
No! They are all just for looks. Most of the spoilers out there are not designed with fluid dynamics in mind. So if they produce any downforce they are inefficient. Truth is they will actually decrease your top speed by a few mph. Not many cars on the street right now would even benefit from a proper wing anyways, you just aren't cornering that fast.
If you are using a proper rear wing on a FWD racing car:
Rear wings on front drivers won't affect them at all, unless the wing at (high)speed changes the body angle and the front aerodynamics start to create lift. If there is lots of downforce on the rear and the front stays neutral however this may reduce any oversteer conditions that existed before, as it would help pin the ass of the car to the track.

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Wrong-O! It's true that some are for looks, But If you get a smaller one, You'll notice that it does somewhat improve performance. The downforce Pushes the rear wheels down more, thus creating more grip, and better acceleration (that's what usually happens) this is why they ARE suited more to rear/all Wheel drive cars, then Front.

Wrong O! ?!? WTF
Honestly even the small ones are just for looks. Street cars cannot get more acceleration by putting more force down on the rear, there has to be some wheel slippage. Even then a wing doesn't work until you get going at speed. There isn't a stock car out there (excluding high end supercars)that needs it's wing.

Wings are good for really fast racecars however: A formula one car at top speed has over 8 tons of downforce on it from all of its aerodynamic features. this means it can race on an upside down racetrack as long as you can get it up there in the first place.

BTW I worked on the formula SAE racing team at UBC for a year.

Even with a functonal spoiler (one that Isnt just for looks) you will get a notable increase in traction to your rear wheels at about 80mph or so. I dont know of many states with Speed limits over 80mph, and that is just on the interstate. Not much use there. Even for drag, a spoiler is pretty pointless unless you're running top fuel or some crazy shit like that. Because your average 10 second RWD Car already has the traction it needs by the time the spoiler would actually make a difference.

yeah well, VW is coming out with a new bug......that has a "speed sensitive" (or something like that) spoiler.....im not sure of the link, but you can get there through the home page. does that have any affec or is it more bullshit?

Spoilers can help, but you have to be going at a certain speed to get any kind of downforce out of them. I guess those speed sensetive ones just change angle depending on how fast you're going, but they probably won't do much of anything unless you're going 100+ mph or so.

Look at teh spoilers on race cars. They are either humongous like a formula 1 car or they are pieces of reinforced sheet metal at a steep angle like on a nascar. The ones that you see on the street are 99% just for looks and create more drag than they are worth. It makes the owner feel like he is in a better car or something.

i have been the the HRT (v8 supercars) work shop, the only way in is to know someone, anyway its unbelievable, the money the poor into just a couple hp. They have a huge room just for the wings, (and i said wings not back spoilers) and your just about right, but rear spoilers are 100% show and no go. just 4 looks. unless u buy a WING, made 4 a race, that will help keep your ass from flying. but it nothing like the v8 supercars of f1.

Talking of f1 they used to have some sort of side spoiler that worked by sucking them down like glue, recored speeds were set until they were banded because as soon as the seal was broken the car would fly!
thhey would miss judge a turn, take it rough an flip.