Paint/Body Work/Exterior For discussions about painting your Monte, body work, and other exterior mods.

7th Gen ('06-'07): Fwd downforce question

  #21  
Old 07-24-2014, 10:31 PM
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 169
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Won't help you downforce wise on your car unless your car is slammed. NASCAR began to use splitters with the COT in 2007. One of the main reasons they switched to splitters is the advent of coil binding. Cars are now sitting as close to the track as possible. The splitter simply is used to seal off the car completely to the track. NASCAR felt that the splitter gave a better seal than the traditional valence while also adding more downforce to the front of the car in the hopes of lessening the impact of "dirty air." Also keep in mind that the extra downforce helps plant the front of the car harder into the ground thus wearing the tires more. It's a grip vs wear situation. That being said who gives a crap lol if you want it then add it and I hope you get the desired effect. Best of luck!
 
  #22  
Old 08-23-2014, 05:52 PM
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 5,951
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Originally Posted by Red Monte Carlo
That all really depends on how your car is. If it was a RWD it would need a rear spoiler to push down the back wheels with downforce to produce more power. My car is FWD so the power is in the front wheels. The downforce created by the splitter will put force into it creating more power and better turning. It really just depends.
A splitter/spoiler has little to do with helping to push on the drive wheels to put more power down. Think about the conditions when you spin your tires and have a hard time hooking up - typically this occurs from a dead stop, or at least somewhere in 1st gear. At these extremely low speeds, you're never going to generate enough downforce (FWD or RWD) from these aero parts to help gain more traction.

Where these aero devices start making noticeable downforce is closer to highway speeds and above (depending on attack angles, etc), and are more for increasing traction for turning. My bet is your car does just fine putting the power down going WOT at 45+ mph. Don't get me wrong- you can certainly drive at say 50 mph, crank the wheel all the way, and floor it- and have a hard time putting power down. However, if this is how you drive, you're better off investing in racing school because that's not the right way to take a corner at all. No professional school (outside of drifting maybe) is going to have you early/mid corner with the wheel cranked trying to add WOT power- you're supposed to be rolling into the power as you straighten the wheels back out coming out of the corner.

If your goal is to improve traction from the wheels driving from engine power, then you should instead focus on better tires. No, it's not as sexy of a modification as crazy aero, but stickier tires can greatly improve all areas of the car's performance. The same goes if you're talking about handling only (not trying to put power down in a turn)- a set of performance tires will greatly improve your limits in cornering as well.


My guess is that part of the reason you want to do it is for the look (and that's OK). My only caution to you is to keep in mind your vehicles top speed, and the mounting of these parts. Stick your hand out the window flat with your palm facing the ground at 100 mph (heck, even at 65 on the highway), now rotate your wrist to expose more of your palm towards the front or back of the car (mimicking an airplane wing). You will quickly see how strong air is at those speeds.

What you're looking to do is add something 6 feet wide (plus some if you also do the canards shown in the 2nd pic) that is at the forefront of the car's airflow. The forces at your top speed will be severe, and your factory bumper's cheap plastic clips were never designed to take those kinds of aero forces. There needs to be some sort of solid connection from the body to your aero parts. Note how in your 1st pic, the front splitter isn't attached the plastic front bumper at all- they're two totally different pieces.

The reason I caution this is the first time you get out on the highway with a custom built piece (made by a high school kid, not an engineer) just screwed to the plastic bumper, there is a real possibility that this thing could tear the front plastics of the car apart and cause real danger for you and other motorists.
 

Last edited by bumpin96monte; 08-23-2014 at 06:01 PM.
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