some sort of wing or spoiler for mpg? 97 sport

[94Blue302GT]

Is there a wing or spoiler that will help your mpg as well as look good? I know there are the types that redirect air to blow things off of your rear window, but do they help mpg or hurt it?

 

[chriswells78]

I have never seen any tests on this, but, as an educated guess I would say it would be the same or worse mileage.

The whole point of a wing or spoiler besides looks is to create downforce on the rear wheels. This mostly comes into play when you have a front engine/rear drive layout in a car with a high power to weight ratio. The front is much heavier than the rear in this instance and a wing, in the right angle/position and location can create downforce or pressure replacing the weight that the vehicle is lacking. You must be going a considerable speed for this to work as well. I have a wing on my Mustang, the APC kind that people make fun of, but it seems to make my rear end much more stable during cornering at higher speeds (ie highway entry and merge points), but I am not sure it has done anything for MPG, nor do I believe adding a wing or a spoiler to an X will bear such results.

What may help you is an aftermarket front air dam, aka ground effects. This helps by limiting the amount of air that travels under your vehicle where it not oly creates lift, it also has plenty of non aerodynamic surfaces to catch drag on. Yes you will be blowing a bigger hole in the air as you travel forward, but, as your front end hits the air and directs much of it over your vehicle. Ask the NASCAR guys about front end surface area at higher speeds. That is why they tape the crap out of the front of them on superspeedways, to create more front surface which equals downforce. They use tape because it makes it easy for them to adjust if their motor is running hot, they can remove it to get more air in through the grills, but removing the tape takes away from the downforce they get from the front end.

I have a Steeda splitter on the front of my Mustang and after I put it on, I expected to get worse mileage (the whole blowing a bigger hole in the air theory), but I actually did a little better on the highway. (City mileage always sucks because of my driving habbits in that car. ) I went up about 2 mpg average when I added 17" wheels and stickier tires and the splitter all at the same time.

 

[celly]

Aldive says he gets a mileage boost with this. I'm skeptical myself. Then again, I've never seen any other Explorer get 25 mpg in the city and 30+ on the highway either.

 

[aldive]

I have never seen any tests on this, but, as an educated guess I would say it would be the same or worse mileage.

Its not; take a look at http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1254065&highlight=spoiler#post1254065 post # 490.

 

[aldive]

Aldive says he gets a mileage boost with this. I'm skeptical myself. Then again, I've never seen any other Explorer get 25 mpg in the city and 30+ on the highway either.

Being skeptical is easy to resolve; do the testing yourself.

 

[celly]

Being skeptical is easy to resolve; do the testing yourself.

Did you do mileage testing before and after the wing? How many mpg increase did you get?

I was thinking of getting one of those wings until I saw one up close in a parking lot the other day. Mind you, it wasn't painted, but it looked cheesy on that Explorer. Definitely looks better painted I'm sure. I've got it on my list of mods to do some day. I'm still holding out on a Saleen.

EDIT: Just skimmed your thread and saw you got a mileage increase. You're definitely on your way to 40. You should start removing seats and components. Add some titanium to the mix.

 

[aldive]

You should start removing seats and components. Add some titanium to the mix.

I am not looking that way. I want the maximum mileage out of a truck that is a daily driver, has all the comfort features and can carry 4 passengers.

 

[chriswells78]

How many times did you run that test al? I have seen as much as 4mpg difference over 3 tanks of gas just driving back and forth to work (same route every day, park in the same spot-both at home and work, my normal driving style, no warming up the car, no new mods, no fluid changes,no trips anywhere else, just to work and back.---in my Taurus though)