The first time you see a car spoiler mounted on the trunk of a car you will wonder, “Now what is that?”. That reaction is quite understandable. A car spoiler sticking up from the trunk invites that question. Why would someone want to increase the weight of their vehicle and have an odd protuberance like that? Well a car spoiler is not there just for the looks it has a function to perform. It makes the ride more stable at high speeds.
To explain let us first understand a car without a car spoiler. The roads we drive the car on are not perfectly flat. And I don't mean large potholes even smooth roads have small imperfections. When a car moves over these imperfections it gets thrown off its trajectory. At low speeds the deviation is not much at all, but at high speeds it is substantial. Once the car gets throw off the weight of the car brings it back down. The new trajectory of the car is not the same as the old one. The variation will depend on the size of the imperfection and the weight of the car. If the imperfection is large or the car is very light the variation will be correspondingly large.
This change in trajectory is a measure of how well we are able to control the car and how stable is the ride. So how does a car spoiler contribute? A car spoiler acts the same way a wing does on an airplane. It creates a lift force which is perpendicular to the direction of motion. But with one difference. An airplane wing creates an upward force. A car spoiler creates a downward force. The faster the speed of the car the greater is this downward force.
Now when at high speeds the car gets thrown off its trajectory along with the weight of the car this downward force too brings the car back down. This makes the car hug the road more. So when you next see a car spoiler remember its a device which makes the car press down on the road at high speeds. This is very useful in high performance driving conditions. Car spoilers are sold as parts of body kits and also by themselves
To explain let us first understand a car without a car spoiler. The roads we drive the car on are not perfectly flat. And I don't mean large potholes even smooth roads have small imperfections. When a car moves over these imperfections it gets thrown off its trajectory. At low speeds the deviation is not much at all, but at high speeds it is substantial. Once the car gets throw off the weight of the car brings it back down. The new trajectory of the car is not the same as the old one. The variation will depend on the size of the imperfection and the weight of the car. If the imperfection is large or the car is very light the variation will be correspondingly large.
This change in trajectory is a measure of how well we are able to control the car and how stable is the ride. So how does a car spoiler contribute? A car spoiler acts the same way a wing does on an airplane. It creates a lift force which is perpendicular to the direction of motion. But with one difference. An airplane wing creates an upward force. A car spoiler creates a downward force. The faster the speed of the car the greater is this downward force.
Now when at high speeds the car gets thrown off its trajectory along with the weight of the car this downward force too brings the car back down. This makes the car hug the road more. So when you next see a car spoiler remember its a device which makes the car press down on the road at high speeds. This is very useful in high performance driving conditions. Car spoilers are sold as parts of body kits and also by themselves
