Can someone please explain to me why I see cars everyday which are front wheel drive, but also have a rear spoiler on them? If im correct, a rear spolier would lift up the front of the car making it slower. Is this right or am I missing something?

 

That didnt help me at all. What Im tryin to say is the rear spoiler puts down force on the back of the car. So on a front wheel drive car, doesnt that decrease traction for your tires? I brought this up because I thought about it at the drag strip. Would it not slow down a car alot?

 

uh, you got enough power to spin the wheels out front while going over 80mph anyway? I guess you should remove the spoiler and bolt it to the hood.

 

You can design a rear spoiler to provide downforce to the front of the car. In a top fuel car, they use their rear spoilers to hold the front wheels down. If they lost their wing, they would flip backwards.....Mike

 

how about honda stock spoilers? do they have any purpose other than looks? I removed mine because I didnt like the look, but was wondering if it had any significant impact either way on performance (w/ drag/lift/downforce/etc)?

 

Well if this answers your question...I like street cars vanilla so leave the wing off.

 

It's mostly just cosmetic, unless your fwd car goes fast enough for it to do anygood. Hey 91grey accord; you oughta check out MidsouthSR. It's basically a bunch of people from Memphis and the Midsouth who are into racing. Several of us are taking a trip up to Jackson TN on the 27th to race at the jackson dragway. It's a blast. headsup drag racing in an eighth of a mile track at it's finest. Anyways, here's a link to MidsouthSR http://www.midsouthsr.org

 

I'll help you out Teken.

91GreyAccord:
This has been EXTENSIVELY covered in this thread:
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=221131

Please read the thread carefully. It will shed some light on the topic.

Good Day.


[Modified by WOTTEG, 7:41 PM 7/16/2002]

 

I'll agree that a rear spoiler can add downforce to the front wheels as well, if properly placed between the axles, but this is not the case with the Top Fuel rear wings. As you see in the picture below, the rear wing is clearly behind the rear axle centerline, so it is not possible for this wing to add downforce to the front wheels. If you disagree, then you must not have seen what happened to Cory Mac's dragster a couple years ago when the rear wing was creating such a large bending moment on the chassis that it buckled between the engine and drivers compartment, causing the car to look like an open drawbridge.

TypeSH, most of the factory rear spoilers Iv'e seen, including the one on my RSX, do little if nothing. I can tell just by the shape and location of the spoiler. Most of them hardly resemble an aerofoil, have thick trailing edges, little or no camber, and are usually located right above the decklid. The last point is important and often overlooked because even if you do have a well designed aftermarket wing, placing it in the factory position will greatly reduce the downforce produced. Here's why: As most of you probably know, aerofoils produce downforce by creating low pressure on the underside and higher pressure on top. But if you mount the wing directly above the rear deck, the low pressure zone acting on the underside of the wing will also act on the top of the trunk lid, creating forces that basically cancel each other out. So now your depending solely on the downforce produced at the top surface of the wing. What I'm suggesting is that the lower surface of your wing should have a clear view of the ground behind your car. Thoughts?


[Modified by JMF, 7:55 AM 7/17/2002]

 

I promise you that rear wing on funny cars and top fuels are for keeping the fronts down regardless. I have seen those cars lose their back wings and they flip right over. I know this is off topic because we are talking about a street honda, but I do even see advantage to pro class cars with rear wings. They also use front foils as well.

 

I believe this statement below is overlooking something very critical.
I think you are missing the distinction between a "Spoiler" and a "Wing".
Spoilers are typically designed to direct airflow to either a) reduce wake, or b) reduce lift (via detaching the flow from the body). Volvo has even done extensive wind tunnel studies utilizing spoiler "lips" to reduce dirt buildup on rear windows!

Wings are primarily engaged to do what you have described above. Create a pressure difference inducing negative lift.

Good Day.