Purpose of front air dam?

[youngcamarokid]

I hope this is the right board to post this under:

What's the point of the front air dam? You know...that rather large piece of black plastic that sticks straight down.

If you ask me, it's just a slight piece of weight, and it creates a slight amount of drag. Of course, I have had the thought that it reduces drag by making sure no air gets caught in little nooks and crannies under the car. I think it might force the air down lower to the ground...dunno though.

I'm thinking about removing it...since it's kind of ugly. Any thoughts? [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] or [img]graemlins/thumbsdown.gif[/img] ?

[MrCoffee]

It helps push air up into the radiator/intake.

When you have air traveling into a straight line, and you put a wall right in its path: it can either go up or down around the wall. But if there's something on top of the wall, "sucking" the air up, then more air will go towards the top.

It does create drag, but it also keeps the engine cooled and fed with air. Lesson Learned: Air damn = not pointless

[silvachris1]

Wanna hear something funny? My car has NO air dam. It's been gone since I got the car. No cooling problems really. I drove on a long road trip in 90* weather at 85 miles per hour and the temp gauge set right at 195 the whole time. Sure does get warm under that hood though.

[12secondv6]

Personally you would want to keep it there.
It forces air into your radiator.
It keeps the engine cool.
Also cool air will flow through your engine bay keeping it cool.
I have not taken mine off and don't plan on doing it anytime soon

[youngcamarokid]

Okay thanks guys, I'll keep it there. I am going to do the FRA and I didn't really want to cut the end of the air dam off, I'd just rather take the whole thing off, but I'll leave it like it is. Thanks again!

[Ike]

3rd gens had this horrible problem of overheating very quickly if the air dam was removed or mangled. Lots of people have ripped them on the parking spot bumpers (those concrete things). If you remove it, your car may be fine for a while, but if something else goes wrong, you may be in for a bit of trouble.

[pigglyroot]

i think chevy put it there so that it'll scrape on every kind of inclination or dip in driveways, parkinglots, etc. so that it scares me to the point of almost crying in fear of it being my tranny or rear end or some such

[silvachris1]

Oh, for the record, I didn't take mine off. The car was hit in the front end and fixed before I got it. It has no factory ground effects either so, that kinda helps out a little bit. But still, no problems in the past 20,000 miles without one.

[youngcamarokid]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by pigglyroot:
i think chevy put it there so that it'll scrape on every kind of inclination or dip in driveways, parkinglots, etc. so that it scares me to the point of almost crying in fear of it being my tranny or rear end or some such<hr></blockquote>

[img]graemlins/rofl.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/rofl.gif[/img] yeah that's the feeling I get too :D

[hockeyman]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Ike:
3rd gens had this horrible problem of overheating very quickly if the air dam was removed or mangled. Lots of people have ripped them on the parking spot bumpers (those concrete things). If you remove it, your car may be fine for a while, but if something else goes wrong, you may be in for a bit of trouble.<hr></blockquote>

My 86 T/A went through 3 of them in the past 12 years I've owned the car. BIG P.I.T.A.!!! :mad:

-Marc

[CamaroL32]

Besides the cooling, I've heard that it helps keep the car on the ground. At high speed its supposed to keep air from getting under the car and lifting it up. If you look at it, our cars do somewhat resemble the cross section of a wing, which would provide lift. Anyone else heard this?

[ChillPhatCat]

It doesn't directly help keep the car on the ground... it's solely for cooling purposes, the low stance helps more than anything else... if a car is low enought to the ground, very little air will go under the car... thus sucking it to the ground... so the air dam helps that a little, but it doesn't create downforce, it simply redirects air into the engine compartment.

[keith paterniti]

My dad works at Chevy and he has told me that at speeds above 60mph a cars front end will lift up a bit. Thus reducing the weight on the front end, resulting in really bad steering control. the air dam actually creates a low pressure spot under the front end at high speeds. So the car wants to fill that low pressure up and lowers itself by the downforce of the hood and this low pressure. This in turn puts alot of weight over the wheels giving you better handling.

[David Blalock]

While the aero benefits may look good in theory, 3rd gen and later f-bodies really don't have any problem at high speeds staying stuck to the road. I've personally had my firebird at 110 and it felt even more solid around a long slow curve than at 45. I really hate driveways with this car though since, like a couple people said, it makes me fear for parts mainly my front clip getting knocked off. Not likely but still unnerving.
David

[Loochy88]

another thought.... the wings west kit comes with another, lower air dam since the gfx kit would cut off too much air from the old one. they wouldnt include it if it wernt absolutely necessary.