Airdam -- is it necessary?

A stray traffic cone hit at high speed ripped the airdam off my 1990

740. Should I bother replacing it? It looks like the holes in the driver's side of the bumper cover are ripped out, too, so those would need to be repaired, if that's even possible.

Is it worth it? Can I just drive without it? Does it serve any purpose beyond cosmetic?

MR

Reply to
MR
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Yes, for some reason it helps gas mileage considerably. The year they adopted air dams, the gas mileage improved almost 2 mpg.

In the Edmunds article:

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explains how the front fascia and air dam to reduce drag under the vehicle and improve fuel economy.Also, technically it helps down force at high speeds, but that is of very little practical use.

Reply to
Stephen Henning

The hell it isn't. Speaking as someone who's driven 240s with and without air dams at highway speeds it helps a lot at keeping the front end from being flighty. I would assume the same applies to the 7x0s.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Bradley

Go to a U Pull It and snag another one.

Easy to replace, and should be readily available.

Reply to
zencraps

Most people had 240s with flighty front ends and never complained. In fact I can't remember any problem with my 240's flighty front end. I thought the car drove rather well. Other than being tall and leaning over from cross winds and a lot of lean when turning, I never noticed any problems. And that was driving on the Autobahn and Autostrada as well as on the road to Hanna.

Reply to
Stephen Henning

That would be my plan, but the holes in the bumper cover are ripped out. How can those be repaired (don't really feel like R&R'ing the bumper cover)? Is it possible to just drill new holes in the airdam and the bumper cover and move the fasteners there?

Reply to
MR

I didn't say the 240s didn't drive well, but having owned 240s with and without air dams, I'll take one with for highway driving, no contest. The front end is just much better planted. I was expressing the contrary opinion to "They don't do anything." Volvo didn't put them on the GTs, Turbos, and later all of them just for kicks, and given that it required the switch to front vented rotors to make up for lost airflow it obviously wasn't a minor styling frivolity.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Bradley

Reply to
Darby OGill

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