Of all the “performance enhancements” you can add to your car, spoilers — not the kind where you give away the story, but the wing- or fin-like attachment you place near the back of a car — are probably the worst. They’re of little to no use on most cars and driving situations, they’re often mounted on the trunk, where their minimal effect is reduced to zero, they’re usually low-quality, and more often than not, they lower the resale value. If you have a spoiler on a car whose drive wheels are on the front and you’re driving fast enough to generate downforce, you’ll actually make your car’s grip on the road worse (think about it: the downward force exerted by the spoiler will be applied to the rear of the car, lifting your drive wheels off the road). They’re a near-certain marker of a person who’s doubly dense, with neither style nor substance.
Still, there are those times when a spoiler can be useful. One such case: when you need to change a rear tire and for some reason, you don’t have a jack:
Or if you’re on the go but still want to eat al fresco:
Or if you’ve got a big function or hot date to attend and want to make sure your clothes look crisp:
3 replies on “Sometimes, a car spoiler is useful”
Just so you know – the last two pictures are not FWD vehicles. And, the purpose of the spoiler is not traction in acceleration, it is in reducing understeer in cornering where the car leans heavily on the rear wheels and needs all the grip it can get. Most front wheel drive cars have a front lip spoiler integrated into the front bumper, which doesn’t look like anything but is generally there.
The third last may also be an AWD model.
I’m not really well versed in cars anymore, and didn’t spend a lot of time studying aerodynamics, but wouldn’t the rear spoiler play a greater role in decreasing oversteer? It’s increasing downforce and traction in the rear, so it would be less likely to slip out.
That said, there’s a reason to have them on some cars in some situations. If your car needs it. But to figure out whether the car needs it or not (and how much it needs) is a very intensive process. It may be front, rear or awd—the driven wheels are just one factor to consider.
The last FWD race car I drove had a big rear spoiler, which didn’t look too different than the abominations in the first two photos. The suspension was set up to be very loose (lots of oversteer). The spoiler helped give more traction with speed, which decreased the oversteer more as the car went faster. Because while *some* oversteer is very helpful to get a FWD car around the track, it can also get very dangerous at high speeds. You don’t want the tail end of the car coming out when you’re taking a long sweeper at close to 200 km/h.
You’re right geodee. It all depends on the type of car you are driving. Some may need spoilers, and some don’t. Actually there many benefits when you have spoiler installed on your car like Fuel Efficiency and Weight reduction. Upgrades improve car’s efficiency. My bmw e46 has been upgraded. I started from the front lip which I bought from All-Fit Automotive. Second, the ecu tuning. And then now replacing the drive shaft with a light materials.