Body kits and air flow

[Mx-3SHO]

I was just woundering if anyone knows if any of the body kits for the mx-3 have better Aerodynamics compared to stock or other boddy kits. I want the most fuction out of a body kit more then i'm worried about the looks.

[zytariuk]

...do you race?

[992mmx3]

you'd have to put it in a wind tunnel to make sure, the only company that i know of that tests there kits in wind tunnels is veilsides.

[marshmallow15]

my brother studied aerodynamics and we set up a regular heavy-duty fan in the garage and used a steamer cleaner and he examined the bodyflow of the stock mx3 body and his car. you can try that and have someone look at the airflow who's an expert.

[992mmx3]

Thats kinda cool.

[marshmallow15]

would the amount of drag that a bodykit can produce even matter on the stock hp on our car? or does drag affect the aerodynamic performance THAT much for daily driving??

[Mx-3SHO]

I plain on racing I don't yet. I now that body kits incress drag but they also incress down force if ther designed right so its kinda a mix and match thing to find a happy medium. also some kits are designed for an intercolor (which I plain on getting some year) and for had cooling to the brakes. For example I'm thinking about getting the aggresive kit from onderground design. To me it looks like it would work for all three purposes but then again looks can be deceiving.

[Guest]

well, for one, aerodynamics has absolutely NOTHING to do with the horsepower of your car, thats like saying a honda with wing can go faster, i doubt it....and for our cars, basically aerodynamics doesnt come into play until you are going at a decent speed, city driving, it probly will make no difference at all, highway driving, probably a little bit, but nothing that you could notice, it will affect your top speed though, and spoilers have absolutely no function besides looks unless you are going faster than about 120 mph.

[laboiler]

I'd just like to add some facts to the discussion, I'm was a jet engine mechanic for 12 years and have been a Flight Engineer for 10 years after that. I have had several teaching jobs in this field so I know something about this stuff
Actually, the aerodynimic effect of a spoiler at any speed is directly proportional to it's angle of attack/size/location. The steeper the angle of attack (the direction the air hits the wing in relation to the chord line of the airfoil) the lower speed the spoiler will work. This is traded off in greater speed, the spoiler will at high speed create turbulence, which increases drag if the angle of attack is too steep and the spoiler/wing will become ineffective. The size is also an effect, the more surface area you expose to the airflow the more parasitic drag you will encounter. The faster you go, more parasitic drag will develop unless you can control laminar flow. The location of the spoiler/wing will also dictate downforce/drag. If the airfoil is presented in clean (non-turbulent) airflow, the turbulence is low but downforce/drag is high. The trick is to optimize all these factors. The small cunards on the outside of the nose add little or no aerodynamic advantage, but they look good. To control downforce on the nose, keep air out from under the car. Lower is better. Side skirts help a lot here too, keeps air from entering behind the front wheels. The rear wing creates all the downforce for the back. There are two types, the inverted airfoil has larger surface on the underside than on the top. (look up bernoulie's principal in physics references) The other type is the spoiler. This type is as found on NASCAR's. It's sole purpose is to spoil lift, and thereby create downforce.
Hope this helps. It'll also give you some idea why some companies R&D budget can be in the millions.
Again not trying to show off, just educate.