After-Market spoiler for 1999 boxster
 

Love my car, but like most early year Boxster owners, not sure why Porsche came up with the lame "rear spoiler" concept for the car, looks better down, then up...... has anyone "upgraded" to a nicer looking after-market spoiler, several on **************************************** - i like the D2S Turbo Style Carbon Fiber spoiler. I don't like the idea of drilling through the metal trunk to install something, from the pictures, looks like this one works with the existing assembly rod mechanism - can't get much help from **************************************** and can't find any website for D2S - any recommendations or just leave as is? thanks

one problem with aftermarket "spoilers" is their aerodynamics and what they may do to the handling of the car at high speed.

Yes some of them may look nice, but if they have not done wind tunnel testing, the effects may be unpredictable
YMMV

Porsche calls the Boxster spoiler an "air dam" and it is built that way for a reason the after market spoilers may not accomplish.

It seems that it is made for function rather than looking cool. Basically, it's a gurney flap:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurney_flap

Slap a spoiler sticker on the current spoiler and be happy. It has a function and if you find a long two lane highway where you're running at like 80 in the forest you'll be glad to have it.

I wish I could get my hands on a factory aerokit or a cayman wing. Just don't go too far like this guy.
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...psiizoxisv.jpg

I'm guessing the guys who designed the car and did the wind tunnel testing knew a thing or two about aerodynamics and the need for the retractable air dam that comes with the car. It is functional if not stylish which is what Porsche is all about.

Contrast that with econo-box ricers that come standard with garish and somewhat outlandish single, double and sometimes triple wings which likely do absolutely nothing except add to the price of the car and make it hard to clean properly. Some of the recent cars put the wing on a Lambo to shame.

Give me function over form all day long.

They knew a thing or two about engines too... and they still came up with the single row IMS bearing idea ;)

Because they are engineer doesn't mean they take the best decision all the time based on functionality !

It's there for a reason. The earlier Audi TTs, a car that has a similar shape, had an issue with the rear getting light at speed with a few fatal incidents. To fix that Audi added a spoiler and then some. An engine blowing due to a cost cutting IMS is something completely different then a car that's unstable at speed. For your own safety and the safety of others be smart about a cosmetic mod that will change how a car handles.

Audi Offers TT Fix After 5 Deaths - NYTimes.com

thanks for all the replies, will stick with the Porsche engineers and not mess with it.

My point was just that because something is designed a certain way, doesn't you can't improve on it...

Maybe you can improve on it but how will you know you've improved anything unless you can do some aero testing like the designers did. Wind tunnels are the only way.

Well there's always empirical data like the kind that Audi had with the TT!:eek:

l

It's the classic struggle between esthetics, functionality/safety, performance and wanting it to look even cooler without having to shell out an extra $100g.

There are ways to measure down force if you really want to be driving over 80 a lot and need the aerodynamics to work without resorting to a wind tunnel.

I love the way Boxster race cars look but off the track on the street your going to attract an awful lot of perhaps unwanted attention and most likely some young guy in a winged flat black Honda is going to do something stupid, loose control and ruin your day.

If you can deal with that, it makes you smile and its not ridiculously expensive i'd go right ahead and enjoy.

There will always be those that are purists and prefer stock everything and those that like to personalize and pimp their ride to varying degrees. Its all good.

Ray

Yes, but are you really smarter than a Porsche Automotive Engineer? There are literally thousands of posts dedicated to "improvement" on the design and an equal number of failures the so called "improvements" have resulted in. It's a great design, just go enjoy it.:cheers:

Your statement may be incorrect. Every one has failed? Maybe many, or most, but not all. Do the folks at Gembella and Ruf know that their stuff doesn't work as well? Do all those folks that race their cars use completely stock setups? Many industries separate design functions between design engineers and designers who are not degreed engineers, and many use engineers who do not have a "stamp", i.e. they have an engineering degree but no state license. Which group designed this part? Why does SEMA exist? AMG? M? Shelby?

I didn't say "every one has failed." Racing cars are a different breed than our every day use Boxsters and the air dam that is designed specifically for our Boxsters works as it was designed to work. Unless the manufacturer of the after market spoiler has some form of testing documentation (which I have yet to see as I was once interested in this spoiler) one stands at risk to lose control at higher speeds. I wouldn't want to risk losing control of my Boxster on a highway, would you?:cheers:

I took a shot at using an after market "wing" to jazz up the appearance of our Box. I bought the unpainted unit from China and gave it a quick spray to get it close to a match. It was painted with a spray can from Automotive touch up. It's close but not great.

I cut the stock air dam to fit the wing on top of it to keep the designed in aero usefulness of the air dam.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...psio9ennki.jpg

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...pstgr12nex.jpg

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...pskgmanehb.jpg

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...psmcxic3w7.jpg

Please let us know how it works out particularly at higher speeds when it is deployed. Good idea to alter the dam and the spoiler looks a damn sight better than stock.:cheers:

OEM Cayman S wing retrofit

Full thread
http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/46156-cayman-s-spoiler-installed.html

http://s18.postimg.org/5f80k6v9l/20150624_064015.jpg

http://s13.postimg.org/bmd5tilo7/20150624_064347.jpg

i wouldn't put too much faith in Porsche aero. look at the airflow through the front bumper cover - it takes the air hitting the three rads and directs it downwards. it actually creates front end lift that increases with speed. uncertain if it was lazy engineering or purposely designed understeer. they fixed it in the 9x7 series (and the 996 gt2/gt3).

it also introduces air under the car. once you have air under the car then you get bernoilli effect (the air traveling over the car and under the car have to get to the back at the same time - the air traveling over the car has to travel a curve vs the straight line under the car so has a longer distance to go - as a result it has to accelerate - this creates a pressure differential between the top and bottom of the car that lifts the car). this lift gets reduced by putting an air dam on the back that disrupts the airflow over the car. caymans have a more aggressive front spoiler and no third radiator so less air under the car, they don't need an air dam and get a wing to create down force instead.

so, really, aero should be done as a package, but given how jacked-up the front airflow is on our cars, I don't think a rear air dam vs wing is going to be a deciding factor in losing control at hwy speeds.

at least you got it right that an air dam does not create downforce, but reduces lift

I would bet that Porsche did a fair bit of wind tunnel testing, so they probably do know what they were doing and have at very least a fair bit of aero design knowledge

Throwing some piece of fiberglass on the back of the car without any actual aero testing is at best dumb and at worst dangerous

does the caymen "wing" look better, IMHO, yes. The problem is the aero of the car is different and as you stated, aero needs to be a full car integration, not just adding a piece here or there.

I guess it depends on what you are trying to gain, looks or performance

I put enough faith in it to not worry at high speeds. I don't know about your Boxster but the faster mine goes the more it squats down and hugs the road. I don't experience anything like what you are describing and I'll risk life and limb on the Porsche design before I fall for looks over performance in a product that has yet to disclose any performance tests whatsoever. When they do and it is shown that it works just as well as the dam then I'll buy one as I think the Porsche one, even though it works, looks terribly unfitting on the car.:cheers: