I understand the aerodynamic principles that make spoilers important for performance cars (at least in broad strokes), but I have always wondered if they actually make a big difference in cars that are not so performance oriented, especially fwd commuter cars. I know that aero is less effective at slow speeds, so I would also like to know at what speeds spoilers really give an advantage?
Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge!
In: Engineering
Spoilers on commuters cars have an entirely different reason than racecars.
They dont exist to create downforce, they exist to spoil areas of low pressure that cause drag.
When the flow is smooth this is usually a good thing. This is called “laminar flow”. But on the back of the car the smooth flow causes low pressure as the air goes over the back edge of the vehicle. The spoiler is there to ruin this airflow and reduce the low pressure causing drag on the tail.
Thats why the spoilers are shaped differently on commuter cars.
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