I was wondering about spoilers on thirdgens. Are they strictly appearance, or do they actually do anything? For example, does the IROC/Z28 fin do anything? Does the 92Z28 spoiler do anything? GTA/Trans Am/Formula/Firebird spoilers do anything? My guess is that maybe they hold the car on the ground at higher speeds, but i dont know. Maybe someone here does...?

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1989 IROC-Z
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rebuilt 700R4 with shift kit
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new dual cats
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Excalibur alarm, keyless entry and remote start
new:
struts, shocks, bearings, distributor, cap, rotor, alternator, battery, regulator
245 ZR16 50 Tires, Rotors and brake pads all the way around

Go to my webpage to find out more about it.
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AOL IMer: JRShotliff

 

Not a thing, purely cosmetic.

 

i doubt with the weight of a thirdgen and the top speed of them that you would ever have to worry about the car lifting off the ground even slightly

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91 rs, convertible, K&N, Edelbrock open element cleaner, 3.73, B&M mega-shifter, goodmark cowl-induction hood,tinted windows,MacEwen Overlays
Coming soon......"Custom" non-red material.

 

The guy that is running 200 mph in a third-gen camaro replaced his spoiler with one from a GTA in order to keep her on the ground. I posted a picture of it a while back.

Probably not going to have to worry about reaching those speeds.

Steve

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Steve's Trans Am Temple

 

I don't even think spoilers are effective till after 100mph.

 

This is from the technical articles section, written by Paul Huryk.

Another area that should be mentioned is the phenomenom of Downforce.You may hear a lot if you are a Nascar,IMSA,Formula 1,NATC car fans.Downforce is simply how air affects the weight(relative to ground) of a car in motion.It can be negative,neutral,or positive depending on the car and application.Street cars are typically neutral,some are slightly negative(lift).If your car feels good at speed(120 plus),then it is neutral.If your car feels "light" at speed,it is lifting,a characteristic of negative downforce.Very few cars that are driven on the street have any measureable amount of positive downforce. There are two easy ways to increase downforce:wings and/or spoilers. Wings are used by Formula 1 and Indy cars(easy to see).Wings are simply turned over airplane wings,used to push the car to the ground.For street cars,they are so impractical that you should forget about it. Spoilers,both front and rear are typical of NASCAR racecars.Front spoilers that extend lower to the ground produce more downforce on the front tires,shorter ones produce less.Rear spoilers on these cars increase donforce on the rear of the car,the larger the spoiler is(height),the more downforce it produces.NASCAR racing has certain restrictions for spoilers that must be followed,but they are as crucial as suspension tuning for being competitive at 190+ mph.F-bodies,especially camaros have a rear spoiler similar to NASCAR racers,though not as tall,taller spoilers are available and are practical for street cars.The Firebird/TA rear spoilers are as effective,but do not resemble NASCAR rear spoilers.Front spoilers are where IROCs and TAs have an advantage in front downforce,they have lower front spoilers that produce more downforce than base camaros and firebirds.The bad side to tall rear spoilers is that they increase the CD of a vehicle,Lower front spoliers increase the frontal area.You need to balance the spoilers to get the optimum downforce,CD,and frontal area(I told you it was hard to achieve).