what are these?

GeorgeC

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GeorgeC
I have been noticing more and more aerodynamic doohickeys on cars.

Does the item circled in green serve a purpose or is it just styling?
 

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cars do not move fast enough to see any aerodynamic efficiency gain.....it's a stylish do-hickey.
 
Just for styling. On high end sports cars, those are usually open to the undercarriage and are sometimes part of brake cooling ducts and/or rear diffusers which aid in keeping the car planted on the ground to aid in traction. On most consumer vehicles, it's nothing more than an accent piece with zero function.
 
is there an exhaust pipe hidden in there?
 
Sooner is right. Most mainstream cars won't have the time or money to engineer a trim piece for function. The Fit actually wouldn't be a terrible looking car if they hadn't put that extra window in front of the side mirrors.
 
My guess is that just styling. I work for a supplier to the auto industry. We manufacture a lot of plastic parts for them. Most of what I have seen for aerodynamic efficiency has been in under body panels to reduce drag and improve fuel efficiency.
 
Short answer: for style.
Longer answer: for retarded style that shows how stupid people are to want an inop piece of equipment that is supposed to look like it is operational.

Wife has a Fit. The old base model. No frills, no fake vents, no fake gfx, no fake hood scoops, snorkels or ram air intakes. And it drives and functions. Go figure. :) The dealer was very unhappy that I didn't want to "sports package". Because when I looked up their definition, it used the words "appearance package". *goofy*

Ask me how many idiots glue shark fins on their hoods and front fenders to make the car "appear" faster. I could go deeper into the whole ricer dumbass culture where they weigh the car down with useless inop bolt-ons and stickers. Catch my drift? Tokyo drift? Gotta love retards. Where would the economy be without them? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Ask me how many idiots glue shark fins on their hoods and front fenders to make the car "appear" faster. I could go deeper into the whole ricer dumbass culture where they weigh the car down with useless inop bolt-ons and stickers. Catch my drift? Tokyo drift? Gotta love retards. Where would the economy be without them? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

How about those tow hooks? If you have one, you have to be fast, right? :rofl:
 
Just for styling. On high end sports cars, those are usually open to the undercarriage and are sometimes part of brake cooling ducts and/or rear diffusers which aid in keeping the car planted on the ground to aid in traction. On most consumer vehicles, it's nothing more than an accent piece with zero function.

Yeah, I imagined some kind of brake cooling, just not on a Fit.

I've seen diffusers on sports cars.

SUVs/hatchbacks/wagons all seem to have spoilers but I think those legitimately reduce drag.
 
cars do not move fast enough to see any aerodynamic efficiency gain.....it's a stylish do-hickey.

I can't tell if you are speaking only for this car and that fake vent or for cars in general, but I would bet my hat a Prius drive train in a Ford Fiesta (drag coefficient of .32) would get worse mileage than the Prius (.25) at 70 mph.

Yeah, I imagined some kind of brake cooling, just not on a Fit.

I've seen diffusers on sports cars.

SUVs/hatchbacks/wagons all seem to have spoilers but I think those legitimately reduce drag.

If this was an actual vent, it would be somewhat dual purpose. Wheel wells are high pressure areas, car manufactures put vents after them to help evacuate pressure, increasing down force. This also helps move air through the wheels and across the rotors/calipers/etc which promotes cooling.
 
My Avalanche had a carefully placed hole in that position, it was the step so you could climb up on the tailgate (or into the bed if you like).
 
The purpose of all those extra nooks, crannies, and doohickeys is to catch more bugs and mud. :mad:
 
I can't tell if you are speaking only for this car and that fake vent or for cars in general, but I would bet my hat a Prius drive train in a Ford Fiesta (drag coefficient of .32) would get worse mileage than the Prius (.25) at 70 mph.



If this was an actual vent, it would be somewhat dual purpose. Wheel wells are high pressure areas, car manufactures put vents after them to help evacuate pressure, increasing down force. This also helps move air through the wheels and across the rotors/calipers/etc which promotes cooling.

you do realize that the majority of your auto drag is from the undercarriage? Compare the undercarriages and let me know which is more aerodynamic.
 
you do realize that the majority of your auto drag is from the undercarriage? Compare the undercarriages and let me know which is more aerodynamic.

The majority isn't from under the car, if that was the case Ford and Chevy could still build cars that look like they did in the 60's but unfortunately those designs don't move air very well (coefficient of .50 or so). I don't care how many under body panels/air dams you put on them, too much air moves over the top of the car and around the sides.

Next time you are in a car with a sunroof moving at 60 mph or so, stick your hand out the roof and face it towards the front. Next, turn it 90 degrees, which one requires more effort?
 
Could be either. A lot of time is spend with CFD work and in wind tunnels working on drag, wind noise, etc. Most auto companies are prepared to spend significant money to improve fuel economy by just a couple percent. But at the same time, people buy style. The angle under the rear of the car (diffuser) is a big contributor to drag - that can result in wars between the styling and aero guys. (I was involved in some of the wind tunnel work that went into the design and quantification of the fuel economy benefit of shutters behind the grill.)
 
I always figured since the EPA tests mileage on a dyno "adjusted" for the drag coefficient supplied by the manufacturer, they stick on all the gee-gaws to justify low drag reports. :D

Or they just pull a Volkwagen and kluge the software. ;)

Cheers
 
Yeah, I imagined some kind of brake cooling, just not on a Fit.

I've seen diffusers on sports cars.

SUVs/hatchbacks/wagons all seem to have spoilers but I think those legitimately reduce drag.

Are you speaking of spoilers in the traditional sense, like a fin or wing on the trunk? If so, they provide next to zero real downforce (increased aero drag). They are almost purely for cosmetics than actual function. Porsches, Corvettes, etc do have some functional spoilers, but they are usually only useful above 50mph or more.
 
Yeah, I imagined some kind of brake cooling, just not on a Fit.
A clueless chick once asked me about the brake vents on my sports car. She called the V8 Z28 a "ricer" (*shudder*) because of these "fake holes". I showed her that they were not fake, they actually provide induction cooling to brakes. Chicks. *rolleyes* :D

My Avalanche had a carefully placed hole in that position, it was the step so you could climb up on the tailgate (or into the bed if you like).
Those are very cool. Truck owners that don't have them are secretly jealous. (so am I ;) )

The purpose of all those extra nooks, crannies, and doohickeys is to catch more bugs and mud. :mad:
No idea what the wife would say if I took her Fit mudding and brought it back full of mud in all nooks, crannies and doohickeys. Well, I do have an idea. But I don't think it would be wise to post such profanity here. LOL Though I am sure she would at least politely point out that it's what my 4WD F350 is for. :D

If this was an actual vent, it would be somewhat dual purpose.
I agree. Too bad that the idiots just put a piece of plastic in there. If they could get the heat off the brakes and decrease the negative pressure behind the hatch, it would definitely increase .... wait, we're talking about toy cars here. Never mind, I'll STFU now. :D
 
Are you speaking of spoilers in the traditional sense, like a fin or wing on the trunk? If so, they provide next to zero real downforce (increased aero drag). They are almost purely for cosmetics than actual function. Porsches, Corvettes, etc do have some functional spoilers, but they are usually only useful above 50mph or more.

Agreed.
Put a wing on an F1 and you can drive it on the ceiling of a tunnel once you exceed 100mph.
Put a wing on a 4-door Civic and you are just a douche-bag retard ricer. :goofy:
 
Never been a fan of cars like that.

Vette
Wrangler
R1
Couple subies
Etc

All function, no fluff
 
I can't believe you guys are discussing the Cd of a Honda Fit.....what a joke. :lol:
 
I can't believe you guys are discussing the Cd of a Honda Fit.....what a joke. :lol:

I'd bet good money you'd have loads more fun taking a Fit around a track than driving a Gallardo around town. So, as a matter of fact, those values do make a difference in how the car drives to people who know how to drive them.
 
I'd bet good money you'd have loads more fun taking a Fit around a track than driving a Gallardo around town. So, as a matter of fact, those values do make a difference in how the car drives to people who know how to drive them.

Eh, probably not, they do make a difference to gas mileage though.
 
Eh, probably not, they do make a difference to gas mileage though.

You don't think a professional driver, let's say, a Honda test driver, would be able to feel the difference in drag on a car?
 
I'd bet good money you'd have loads more fun taking a Fit around a track than driving a Gallardo around town. So, as a matter of fact, those values do make a difference in how the car drives to people who know how to drive them.
Eh, probably not, they do make a difference to gas mileage though.
Bring them both to the track and watch the Fit get worse mileage than the Gallardo. Take my word for it.

You don't think a professional driver, let's say, a Honda test driver, would be able to feel the difference in drag on a car?
Are we talking Stig??
You know he's got acid for blood, right? :D
 
what's the average driving speed of a commuter car? 40-45 mph? yeah.... :lol:
 
You don't think a professional driver, let's say, a Honda test driver, would be able to feel the difference in drag on a car?

I don't think so, unless it was gross difference, like a piece of plywood sticking up on the roof. Horsepower overcomes a lot of sins.
 
Are you speaking of spoilers in the traditional sense, like a fin or wing on the trunk? If so, they provide next to zero real downforce (increased aero drag). They are almost purely for cosmetics than actual function. Porsches, Corvettes, etc do have some functional spoilers, but they are usually only useful above 50mph or more.

Not on the trunk, on the top of the liftgate:
 

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Not on the trunk, on the top of the liftgate:
Similar to the lip on the tailgate of a pickup - control the vortex behind the vehicle and reduce drag. Auto makers fight for tenths of a mile per gallon improvement in the sticker values.
 
Some spoilers help with aerodynamics by NOT having the airflow try to follow down the back side of the car (especially handy in things that have rather abrupt tails). However, more often than not, they're about as functional as tail fins were.
 
cars do not move fast enough to see any aerodynamic efficiency gain.....it's a stylish do-hickey.

Yeah, none of this stuff works either. It's all just a fad.

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Awwww.....you mean Audi stuck this on my car for no good reason?
4bbcd1aec19fe19fe504a6229e52bcd3.jpg


Vorsprung durch Technik.
 
Awwww.....you mean Audi stuck this on my car for no good reason?
4bbcd1aec19fe19fe504a6229e52bcd3.jpg


Vorsprung durch Technik.

If it was on an A4, then I'd probably say yes. As I mentioned, they do usually have a function on purpose-built sports cars, so the TT may be functional, but that's not a given.
 
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