The Little Fins Under The Car

The principles applied to the GS in that article sound more performance oriented than fuel efficient. Adding downforce and weight to the steering sounds like it will require more energy to move down the road.

 

The Prius definitely uses spats and air bending technology but it is for a different purpose. That's probably one of the reasons it's so floaty at highway speeds. lol

 

-Most- "air benders" that would actually -fit- under or on a Prius do almost nothing. It takes a pretty big wing (the fins are actually wings) to move enough air to have an effect at the speeds most cars travel on public roads. But they look cool!! Many of those grooves you see on the undertreatment of the Prius are there for stiffening. So the plastic doesn't wave in the wind, making even more strange noises than the Prius already does.

As an example, I learned long ago that the "wings" you will find over the trunk on "performance cars" perform one and only one function (other than looking cool) - they make it really hard to see out the back when you are reversing! They have been measured to give only a few pounds of downforce at any legal speed.
The one interesting use of "air benders" that I have seen is a rear "diffuser". A series of fins that attempts to direct air trapped under the rear of the car straight out the back, instead of allowing it to "leak" out the sides as well. This can increase the "vacuum" under the rear, helping to hold the rear of the car down at high speeds, but again supra-legal speeds mostly. This application causes no drag and actually does work, but only at high speeds.

 

If you look closely at the fenders in the rear you can -imagine- they stick down enough to start to actually form a diffuser. Many cars use this effect, some more effectively than others. If you look at a racing Corvette they have a -huge- rear diffuser.
Some cars really need the help. The VW beetle and the Audi, and they have so much air build-up it was lifting the rear wheels off the ground on the European highways, causing serious crashes! They had to legislate spoilers to fix this problem (some deploy at certain speeds - increasing the cool factor).

 

I just recently noticed the diffusers on my rear bumper. I wonder what those are for

 

Enhanced air flow all part of better MPG.

 

I think it is under the bumper on each side kind of like little fins. I think that is what he means, just my guess.

 

I saw those but I thought he was talking about the two fins on the rear bumper on the bottom. Sorry if I was mistaken!

 

Thanks! I Stand corrected.

 

F8L, is that the old(er) bowtie OEM center brace I see in the center of the car?

How old is the picture? Is it a pre-mods picture?