986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post

MNBoxster · 09-19-2005, 10:46 AM

Hi,

If you want to keep the spoiler up all the time, raise it manually and then pull the Fuse!

So far as the Aftermarket Wings, these are very different from Spoilers. They really aren't 'Wings' at all, they're much more like Ailerons. A 'Wing' uses the motive force of the Car (Engine) to Push the Air out of it's way. Since Newton's 2nd Law of equal and opposite reaction is present, an equal amount of reverse force is exerted on the Wing pushing the rear end down, just like the Ailerons on an Aircraft.

A Spoiler operates under a completely different priciple. An actual Wing doesn't really create Lift, that is a misnomer. Air flowing faster on one side of a surface than another experiences a Pressure Drop (Bernoulli's Principle). A Wing works because the air on the upper (or curved) surface flows faster and so has a lower Pressure and actually Sucks the Wing upward. The airflow going over a Boxster moves faster at the rear of the Car than the air flowing underneath it, so it sucks the rear upward. By slowing this air down, or, Spoiling it, the negative pressure it exerts on the rear of the Car is reduced.

So a 'Wing' actually Adds a Force to the equation, while a Spoiler removes, or prevents it. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!...Jim'99

PS A Partial Vacuum creates quite a bit of Drag (robbing power and speed), by using the Spoiler to cleanup the Airflow on a Boxster, the Cd (Coefficient of Drag) is actually reduced by an additional 0.4 according to Porsche. A 'Wing' on the other hand would create quite a bit of additional Drag on the Car.

09-19-2005, 10:46 AM	#20
MNBoxster Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, USA Posts: 3,308	Hi, If you want to keep the spoiler up all the time, raise it manually and then pull the Fuse! So far as the Aftermarket Wings, these are very different from Spoilers. They really aren't 'Wings' at all, they're much more like Ailerons. A 'Wing' uses the motive force of the Car (Engine) to Push the Air out of it's way. Since Newton's 2nd Law of equal and opposite reaction is present, an equal amount of reverse force is exerted on the Wing pushing the rear end down, just like the Ailerons on an Aircraft. A Spoiler operates under a completely different priciple. An actual Wing doesn't really create Lift, that is a misnomer. Air flowing faster on one side of a surface than another experiences a Pressure Drop (Bernoulli's Principle). A Wing works because the air on the upper (or curved) surface flows faster and so has a lower Pressure and actually Sucks the Wing upward. The airflow going over a Boxster moves faster at the rear of the Car than the air flowing underneath it, so it sucks the rear upward. By slowing this air down, or, Spoiling it, the negative pressure it exerts on the rear of the Car is reduced. So a 'Wing' actually Adds a Force to the equation, while a Spoiler removes, or prevents it. Hope this helps... Happy Motoring!...Jim'99 PS A Partial Vacuum creates quite a bit of Drag (robbing power and speed), by using the Spoiler to cleanup the Airflow on a Boxster, the Cd (Coefficient of Drag) is actually reduced by an additional 0.4 according to Porsche. A 'Wing' on the other hand would create quite a bit of additional Drag on the Car. Last edited by MNBoxster; 09-19-2005 at 12:53 PM.