Celica Forums » Customization How-To Guides » EXTERIOR How-To Guides » [EXTERIOR] Front Bumper Air Splitters and Air Dams - FYI

a little FYI about front bumper Air Splitters... Air dams and splitters have the same basic purpose: to help the car create downforce (or reduce the amount of lift) primarily at the front of the car. Downforce is good because tires have more grip when they have more force pushing down on them. Air dams and splitters force some of the air that would otherwise go under the car to go over the top or around the sides of the car. By doing that they create a lower air pressure under the car which helps to pull the car down. They only have an effect when the car is moving and have more effect as the speed increases. A splitter is basically an air dam with a horizontal lip added to the bottom of it. The splitter can be used to add downforce to the front of a car because there is an area of high-pressure air in front of the car. The high pressure is created when the car is moving because the air is suddenly slowed down when it runs into the front of the car. That area of high-pressure air also forces air through the radiator and allows “ram air” systems to work. Adding a horizontal lip to the air dam gives the high-pressure air a surface to push down on, creating downforce.

In general, adding an air dam to a production-based car will tend to reduce the total drag and reduce the amount of lift at the front of the car. The reduced drag will increase the top speed and the reduced lift will help the front tires grip better. Adding a splitter lip to an air dam will further reduce the lift at the front of the car without a significant change in drag. Based on the rules you have mentioned, if you were trying to get the most downforce, you would want to make it as close to the ground as possible with the largest possible horizontal lip, and extend it under the car as far as you can. If you can make the ground clearance adjustable, that will give you another option for tuning high-speed handling.

Now that I’ve explained a little bit about how air dams and splitters work, you need to consider if adding one to your car will`actually make it faster. Since air dams and splitters have an aerodynamic effect, they will effect the high-speed handling much more than the low-speed handling. Since your car is new, you may not know how it handles yet. The thing to keep in mind though, is that adding an air dam or splitter will create more oversteer in high-speed turns. If you currently have understeer that’s good, if you already have oversteer that’s bad. If you need more understeer in high-speed turns, then you need more downforce at the rear of the car. Running the stock rear wing is usually a good idea, they do make a slight amount of downforce and in some cases actually reduce the total vehicle drag. Since you can’t add a different rear wing, you will have to evaluate if adding an air dam will improve your handling or make it worse. Increasing the total downforce on the car is always better, but if adding downforce to one end makes the handling worse, the car may be faster without it. Testing with careful lap-time comparisons should lead you to the best compromise.

For a track like Daytona, adding an air dam or splitter will probably make the car faster by reducing the drag. You will have to test to see how it affects the handling.

Just a heads-up... it wont fit on all bumpers unless you do some MAJOR modification to your bumper....

its NOT flat on the veilside...


its also NOT flat on the Invader...


Kaminari is another bumper that is NOT flat across the bottom...


Notice on the Blitz, it's flat across the bottom...


its also flat across the bottom of the K2...


TRD is also flat across the bottom...



...





If you don't care about the looks of Carbon Fiber.... Make a trip to your local Home Depot/Building Supply company and buy a sheet of ABS Plastic for about $14 from the Doors/Window section (Wood is NOT a good idea because it will tend to warp and it tears easily if you should make errors while driving/parking)

Remove your bumper. set it on top of the material. Draw an outline around the bottom border of your bumper, leaving a few inches in the rear. Use an electric saw to cut the material. Attach to your bumper with nuts and bolts and you are done

(use your fav color paint to spiffy the look of your new add-on)

I'd highly recommend though, if this is a modification that you are doing to a car you want to show-off... get it done correctly and go with the Carbon Fiber - its lighter and will get you much more compliments in the long-run


Here are some Carbon Fiber Front Air Splitter pictures showing the attachment...
http://www.celicahobby.com/gal3/inst_winsplitter

"If you plan on crashing your car a lot, you shouldn't modify your car". And with that said...

Some people think that by installing a wind-splitter, they can protect their front bumpers from being damaged - but the fact is, no one ever looks UNDER your car - so you will never notice scratches/scrapes.

When was the last time someone looked at your car with the same perspective as what is in this photo?

(Summer 2003)


or even...
(Summer 2003)


Most people will be looking at your car from this angle...
(Summer 2003)


So if you have scrapes on your front bumper....

NO ONE WILL EVER NOTICE!!!!
(Fall 2001)


(Fall 2001)


(Fall 2001)


..... 3 years and no problems with the lower part of the front bumper

The problems that you will have if you drive like shit will be....

the attachments inside your fender...
(ever wonder why there are no close-up shots of my driver's side front fender )

(Spring 2003)


(Summer 2003)


(Spring 2003)


(Spring 2003)