Are OEM wings/spoilers functional?

[flyineagletsi]

Do not underestimate the amount of air that comes from the sides of the car and joins the air coming down the hatch and all ends up around the wing.

I agree. I can't remember where I read or saw it at but Mitsubishi did design the rear hatch to allow some wrap around air to hit the hatch area.

A string test on both 2gb spoilers and around the hatch would be very useful. Espechially at vastly different speeds.

I know at anything below 40-50 mph in the rain, I use my rear windshield wiper. Anything above that and it doesn't see a drop.

 

[Phil1320]

I would venture to say the late Eclipse & Talon spoilers were more cosmetic than function. For 2Gs my guess is that the '95-'96 Talon spoiler is the most funcitonal due to its surface area.

As for the 1G rear spoilers, not sure about downforce, but, for sure, I have read that WITHOUT a rear wing....drag increases. 1G DSMs were a slippery(especially in 1990).29 cd. Without the rear spoiler that number ends up around .34 cd. The 1G Talon spoiler having the largest surface area says to me it would provide the most downforce, however I'm no aerodynamacist.

 

[gsxeclipse97]

I have said this several times on different forums when it comes to the 2g turbo spoiler. I have drove one of my eclipses with the low spoiler, no spoiler, and high spoiler all in the same day on the same car. There was a large change between the 3 driving experiences.

low spoiler: car was stable, rear end of the car didn't seem to shift around turns

No spoiler: very unstable felt like the back end of the car was just going to slip out from behind me.

High spoiler: Solid rear end I wouldn't say it created down force per say but it surely directed air in a much different manner than the low and no spoiler.

This was done on a fwd model so I figure it would have felt different on a awd.

Actually I have a direct comparison. My ex-gf had a gst and her car was not as solid as my awd but it was certainly not all over the place.

 

[jtmcinder]

This thread is barely breaking even. For every post that actually has data (such as back-to-back comparisons), there's a post that "ventures to say" (which we all know is the $20 way of saying "guess") and then pulls numbers of out a place that makes the data in seriously need of rinsing off.

 

[knochgoon24]

Found an interesting photo while digging through some old ones.

(Photo is 2 years old.)

ALL the salt deposited on the car was done at 60-75mph. It was dry when I got on the highway, then I had to drive 2 hrs through slush, then it was dry again before I got off the highway. Car was pretty clean before this.

Look at the rear spoiler. See how the outside thirds of it have white on it from the salt, and the middle is mostly saltless?

Salty air came from around the car.
Saltless air came from over the car.

Looks like this drawing out of the 1994 (for 95 model year) Tech Info Manual.

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They make no mention of the spoiler. Although the 95-96 ones aren't that large.

The 2gb Talon spoiler does have the right cross sectional shape. It looks like it should provide some sort of aero purpose.

 

[arrowhead]

It looks from the drawings that all the air from the sides, top and rear bottom converge at basically the same point, and then it is managed somewhat by the spoilers, giving more sideway stability.

Years ago I built a Corvette and cut the rear bumper about halfway all the way across I always felt that the lower part of the bumper was acting as a big parachute and catching a lot of the air under the car, then I fabricated a fiber panel that went from the back of the rear end to the bumper I had just cut, the car felt much more stable at high speeds and I cant say for sure but after making that change alone and nothing else my average lap times improved by almost 1 second. In fact what I had built was maybe a crude diffuser I did not build it with the idea of downforce instead I did it to give the air under the car a smoother path

I have done the same thing to my talon and plan on also placing a panel in about the same place, as from looking at it the rear bumper of this car will also act as a big parachute.
There is also something very interesting in your drawings and it is the venturi effect at the back of the front spoiler.

Thanks for your drawings

 

[Phil1320]

Well the difference between fwd and rwd when it comes to a rear wing and down force is simply put... rwd has all the power going to the rear wheels thus down force is needed to keep the power to the ground. That being said rear down force on an fwd is kinda pointless.

You sure about that?

Tell that to Greg Collier and see what he says

Better rethink that one.......

 

[arrowhead]

I will agree with 1320 on this and there is more to downforce than the car being fwd or rwd a balance has to be achieved not only for traction but also for high speed stability which is really important, at low speeds on even wide sweeping turns
that speeds do not go over maybe 70mph or so, spoilers or wings may not make a lot of difference but once you get above that, you do not want that rear end swinging or floating from side to side, it is a very bad feeling and you will have to lift, specially on a track like Daytona, Sebring or even Homestead that crosswinds are sometimes above 30 mph.

 

[DSMBanditFZ6]

I really felt mine sink into corners at highspeeds, the 1g spoiler really reminds me of a fin on old muscle cars. Im not saying I have a piece of paper to back this up but if tge 1g fin maybe had a little more lip to it it would help drasticly with downforce. Since I will just bench race here but, highend cars from porches to veyrons the spoilers don't fully extend until 70ish+.
I would guess that diffusers would be better at increasing grip at slower speeds.

IMO

Rubber side down!

 

[rlacasse1]

Yes I do have proof.
This is the german owners guide:

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let me explain with some word to word translation:
Fahrwerte means driving data
Höchstgeschwindigkeit means topspeed.
oder stands for or
the *below is a extra comment why there are two topspeed values.
*Fahrzeug mit "Aero-Zubehörteilen" means: Car with "aero-parts"

btw. they only sold the GS here so all the data are EU spec GS.
And yes there are 4WD GS! but they are very very rare.

Holy sh!t, that is a long way to say topspeed.

 

[gsxeclipse97]

I have said this several times on different forums when it comes to the 2g turbo spoiler. I have drove one of my eclipses with the low spoiler, no spoiler, and high spoiler all in the same day on the same car. There was a large change between the 3 driving experiences.

low spoiler: car was stable, rear end of the car didn't seem to shift around turns

No spoiler: very unstable felt like the back end of the car was just going to slip out from behind me.

High spoiler: Solid rear end I wouldn't say it created down force per say but it surely directed air in a much different manner than the low and no spoiler.

This was done on a fwd model so I figure it would have felt different on a awd.

Actually I have a direct comparison. My ex-gf had a gst and her car was not as solid as my awd but it was certainly not all over the place.

So what I said is correct then. And while the low spoiler is no where near the height of the high rise. If you look closely at the curves under the low one you will see they are similar to the high one. To be more specific the curves on the ends that are close to the lines of the trunk. Which will still catch some air and direct it.
And as far as speed goes I would say I felt the difference in stability around 45 mph between the low and the high one. But at highway speeds it was night and day.