TC Spoiler Practicality
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SL Member
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 645
Originally Posted by Chimmy3
actually, you are making the common mistake of equating spoilers with wings.
Since they are both attached to the same place people often associate the two.
They serve the same purpose (vehicle stability at high speeds), however the way they accomplish it is slightly different.
Wings are actually the thing you are talking about on race cars. Their primary purpose is to create downforce (they are basically upside down airplane wings). This (normal) force increases the friction resistance between tire and road, hence better grip and therefore better stability.
Spoilers work differently. No matter how aerodynamic a car is, it is still displacing a large amount of air. Barring shaping simliar to a rocket, this air invariably rushes back into the vaccuum left behind a car (the "drafting" zone). And if you imagine the back end of a car to be a block of wood, and took a block of wood and moved it really really fast through water.. you'd noticed that water rushes behind the block of wood in a swirl like pattern.. that pattern is very similiar to the way air rushes back into around a car. At high speeds this swirling air vortex can create "some" lift, thereby destablizing the vehicle. A spoiler is added in this situation to "spoil" the air or to "spoil" that pattern so that lift effect does not occur.
So why are they considered cosmetic? Well for one thing, that swirling vortex is only really a problem at extremely high speeds. That's not to say the spoiler does nothing at low speeds, but the difference with or without a spoiler at such speeds will most likely be negligible. Another this is that some spoilers are made precisely for cosmetic purposes and really don't serve the purpose they were orginally meant. to.
Since they are both attached to the same place people often associate the two.
They serve the same purpose (vehicle stability at high speeds), however the way they accomplish it is slightly different.
Wings are actually the thing you are talking about on race cars. Their primary purpose is to create downforce (they are basically upside down airplane wings). This (normal) force increases the friction resistance between tire and road, hence better grip and therefore better stability.
Spoilers work differently. No matter how aerodynamic a car is, it is still displacing a large amount of air. Barring shaping simliar to a rocket, this air invariably rushes back into the vaccuum left behind a car (the "drafting" zone). And if you imagine the back end of a car to be a block of wood, and took a block of wood and moved it really really fast through water.. you'd noticed that water rushes behind the block of wood in a swirl like pattern.. that pattern is very similiar to the way air rushes back into around a car. At high speeds this swirling air vortex can create "some" lift, thereby destablizing the vehicle. A spoiler is added in this situation to "spoil" the air or to "spoil" that pattern so that lift effect does not occur.
So why are they considered cosmetic? Well for one thing, that swirling vortex is only really a problem at extremely high speeds. That's not to say the spoiler does nothing at low speeds, but the difference with or without a spoiler at such speeds will most likely be negligible. Another this is that some spoilers are made precisely for cosmetic purposes and really don't serve the purpose they were orginally meant. to.
. Anyone wanna hear about compressibility effects of air flowing faster than mach 0.3? he..he
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SL Member
Scion Evolution
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 535
From: San Jose, CA
Originally Posted by Captain tC
Originally Posted by Chimmy3
actually, you are making the common mistake of equating spoilers with wings.
Since they are both attached to the same place people often associate the two.
They serve the same purpose (vehicle stability at high speeds), however the way they accomplish it is slightly different.
Wings are actually the thing you are talking about on race cars. Their primary purpose is to create downforce (they are basically upside down airplane wings). This (normal) force increases the friction resistance between tire and road, hence better grip and therefore better stability.
Spoilers work differently. No matter how aerodynamic a car is, it is still displacing a large amount of air. Barring shaping simliar to a rocket, this air invariably rushes back into the vaccuum left behind a car (the "drafting" zone). And if you imagine the back end of a car to be a block of wood, and took a block of wood and moved it really really fast through water.. you'd noticed that water rushes behind the block of wood in a swirl like pattern.. that pattern is very similiar to the way air rushes back into around a car. At high speeds this swirling air vortex can create "some" lift, thereby destablizing the vehicle. A spoiler is added in this situation to "spoil" the air or to "spoil" that pattern so that lift effect does not occur.
So why are they considered cosmetic? Well for one thing, that swirling vortex is only really a problem at extremely high speeds. That's not to say the spoiler does nothing at low speeds, but the difference with or without a spoiler at such speeds will most likely be negligible. Another this is that some spoilers are made precisely for cosmetic purposes and really don't serve the purpose they were orginally meant. to.
Since they are both attached to the same place people often associate the two.
They serve the same purpose (vehicle stability at high speeds), however the way they accomplish it is slightly different.
Wings are actually the thing you are talking about on race cars. Their primary purpose is to create downforce (they are basically upside down airplane wings). This (normal) force increases the friction resistance between tire and road, hence better grip and therefore better stability.
Spoilers work differently. No matter how aerodynamic a car is, it is still displacing a large amount of air. Barring shaping simliar to a rocket, this air invariably rushes back into the vaccuum left behind a car (the "drafting" zone). And if you imagine the back end of a car to be a block of wood, and took a block of wood and moved it really really fast through water.. you'd noticed that water rushes behind the block of wood in a swirl like pattern.. that pattern is very similiar to the way air rushes back into around a car. At high speeds this swirling air vortex can create "some" lift, thereby destablizing the vehicle. A spoiler is added in this situation to "spoil" the air or to "spoil" that pattern so that lift effect does not occur.
So why are they considered cosmetic? Well for one thing, that swirling vortex is only really a problem at extremely high speeds. That's not to say the spoiler does nothing at low speeds, but the difference with or without a spoiler at such speeds will most likely be negligible. Another this is that some spoilers are made precisely for cosmetic purposes and really don't serve the purpose they were orginally meant. to.
. Anyone wanna hear about compressibility effects of air flowing faster than mach 0.3? he..he
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