If you watch any import sports car racing, you can tell that lowering, ground skirts, and wings must help in some way since all the cars seem to have them. I've read that stopping the wind from passing under the car (lowering and adding a front low wind deflector) greatly reduces drag created when the wind passes the rough underside of a car. I've also read that wings (spoiler) can reduce the turbulance created when the wind over the top rolls over the vacuum created by the squarish butt of most cars.
But poorly designed variants of ground effects and spoilers can hinder as much as help.
Maybe someone with a nicely lowered car and ground effects (skirts) can compare their pre-modded top speed with their post-modded top speed. Of course wind becomes a factor, so perhaps two runs in opposite directions would be needed.
I love the idea of improving performance with great looking mods. But the cat (curious) in me wants to quantify that gain, if any, before spending his cash.
On a side note, I've been looking at the new Toyota Matrix as a potential second car, and it comes with ground skirts. The mechanically identical Pontiac Vibe does not. Getting data on their respective CofD's should be revealing.
OpalBlue
