I just bought a 2005 Celica. This car has a spoiler on it and I am wondering whether there is much evidence that the spoiler does much for the car's performance (at least at speeds under, say, 90mph). It obscures my view out the rear window and I am thinking of removing the spoiler unless there is a good reason to keep it on. Thanks.
A real spoiler is designed to push down on the rear of the car, the faster you go, the harder it pushes down. That makes it possible for the car to negotiate circle track curves at 200Mph at the Indy 500. The fake spoilers you see on passenger cars do absolutely nothing other than create wind turbulance that sucks horsepower.
Nothing screams "wannabe" more than a spoiler on a passenger car.
Ted
One good reason would be the holes you will uncover in your trunk lid when removing the spoiler. Another would be resale value. Trade yours in for a base model Celica if it bothers you so much. Someone out there might think that was a good deal.
I don't recall any non-spoiler equiped Celicas aeroplaning off of the road; it's probably not likely.
Toyota MDT in MO
Richard Catrambone wrote in news:z2Jmh.6786$yx6.327 @newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net:
At the sort of speeds reached on North American roads, the rear spoiler does absolutely nothing. And even then only certain bodystyles really need one at elevated speeds. The Audi TT is one of them, the Porsche 911 another.
It's my understanding that the Audi's little lip was added after rear lift problems were discovered at speeds over something like 150mph.
Apparently the Porsche's automatic spoiler rises up at also about 150mph in Europe, which caused some consternation among North American owners, who wanted to see their spoilers pop up too. Porsche then recalibrated the spoiler to rise at something like 55mph, just to make its American owners happy.
The best reason for leaving your spoiler on is what Comboverfish says.
It has zero impact on the car's performance, save for possibly degrading it a little by adding a small amount of drag.
BUT, removing it is a pain and will require some careful bondo and paint work.
--scott
Most spoilers are for show. If you dont plan on going over 90mph, then its not going to help much. especially on a FWD car.
Especially aftermarket dorkage bolted to a trunk lid.
And even the FACTORY dorkage bolted to the trunk lid of may cars. Spoilers that are intended to really work and apply significant amounts of downforce are much more structurally integrated into the car. The braces for the wing on the Plymouth Superbird and Dodge Daytona went through the trunk and into the rear subframe extensions, for example.
It does a lot for appearance and very little for keeping the rear end down from everything I've read. They can also be used to hang beach towels from .
A body shop will have to fill the resulting holes and repaint. I would live with it or buy a car that doesn't have one.
I havent seen any for ages but there used to be some plates you could buy with a rubber gasket and cover to seal the holes from a spoiler in the trunk lid or panel.
Steve wrote in news:6NqdnRtxiaCgegbYnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@texas.net:
At least some spoilers work simply by disrupting air flow across a surface, not by actually applying downforce in and of themselves. In that case, they may be quite small and still functional.
The Audi and Porsche examples I mentioned earlier are of that type. The '05 Celica's is not.
Thanks for all the responses. It seems pretty clear the spoiler is worthless in terms of performance. I'm going to remove it and then take the Celica to a body shop to have the holes filled in nicely and the paint done right. I've done my share of bondoing and pop-riveting over the years on older cars I've owned where my mediocre bodywork did not matter so much. I think a pro is worthwhile in this case.
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