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The end of my air dam on my c7 stingray has unattached.
Anyone know how I can reattach?
Or do I need to take it to the dealer?
Thanks.
Hmm, sounds like you hit something and pulled out what amounts to sheet metal screws from the plastic that it attaches to. You could use washers to provide a larger surface area to hold it on, especially if the screws were ripped out, and use larger diameter screws. When I attached my splitter, in several spots I used large diameter screws to replace the OEM screws. If it's only on the end use a nut and bolt with some fender washers. I did that when I mounted my stretch bra to provide a gap it could slip into. It's not viable from the outside.
If it was ripped off the dealer can only replace the plastic it screws into and probably provide a new air dam. Many folks, who don't like the looks remove it anyway! My Z51 doesn't have a center air dam for high speed handling reasons.
The air dam does provide slightly reduced drag at highway speeds, that is why there is one on the Chevy Volt! However doubt you'll be able to tell the gas mileage difference!
Car lines look cleaner without the damn dams.
If you're like many (most) Vette owners you don't track the car and rarely get very high into the three digit speeds, so you don't "need" the dams and won't know they're not there. Besides that, the dams are hard to keep clean and I, for one, hate to see dirty air dams hanging down from the chin of my car.
The air dam creates a low pressure area that adds down force to the front of the car. Chevrolet added an air dam to the 1966 Corvair, definitely stabilized the car in high speed operation. I would think the same is true on today's C7 Corvette. The manufacturer put it on the car for a reason.
The air dam also serves as a great warning device. When you hear that dreaded scraping noise you know you have to slow down, or take some other action to avoid any real damage to the underside of your Vette.
That is one good reason not to remove it.
The air dam creates a low pressure area that adds down force to the front of the car. ~ The manufacturer put it on the car for a reason.
The manufacturer put it on there for a reason. But probably not for down force. If it served any performance purpose then the Z51 and Z06 would have all of it. As it is they only have the small sections in front of the wheels. These pieces serve to add flow around the large face of the tires and promote air flow over the brakes. Tadge commented in an "Ask Tadge" column that they decided against it for the high performance models to reduce, yes reduce, front downforce. Here's his words: "Too much down force on the rear and the car will understeer at higher speeds. Too much on the front and the car will oversteer. We tune all our cars to maintain neutral handling biased slightly towards understeer." Since Z51 and Z06 don't have the whole dam it must not be needed for proper balance at high speed. At low speed it won't matter at all whether its there or not.
Most likely the whole dam is on the base model to assist reaching CAFE requirements. It likely reduces drag under the car and increases fuel mileage. This is why GM and most other car companies are adding them to much lower performance cars.
I guess you have to ask yourself just how bad do you want to clean it since it isn't required for performance?
The manufacturer put it on there for a reason. But probably not for down force. If it served any performance purpose then the Z51 and Z06 would have all of it. As it is they only have the small sections in front of the wheels. These pieces serve to add flow around the large face of the tires and promote air flow over the brakes. Tadge commented in an "Ask Tadge" column that they decided against it for the high performance models to reduce, yes reduce, front downforce. Here's his words: "Too much down force on the rear and the car will understeer at higher speeds. Too much on the front and the car will oversteer. We tune all our cars to maintain neutral handling biased slightly towards understeer." Since Z51 and Z06 don't have the whole dam it must not be needed for proper balance at high speed. At low speed it won't matter at all whether its there or not.
Most likely the whole dam is on the base model to assist reaching CAFE requirements. It likely reduces drag under the car and increases fuel mileage. This is why GM and most other car companies are adding them to much lower performance cars.
I guess you have to ask yourself just how bad do you want to clean it since it isn't required for performance?
Your Tadge quote is the last final comment on what had been a puzzle!
When I got my September 2103 built Z51 there was a lot of discussion on why it did not have a center air dam, my C6 Z51 did! It was planned then they decided not to add it at the last minute. Lots of speculation and GM marketing speak but only one comment was made by the chief aerodynamicist in an article about the C7. He just said it was done to for handling reasons, no details.
Then Tadge gave the reason in a video Q&A when the Z06 came out. He said the front air dam was creating excess downforce at high speed promoting oversteer and their preference is slight understeer as he said in the recent forum post!
We who had modified Corvairs and those with swing axle Porsches know all about high speed oversteer! In fact Ralph Nader learned enough to to twist the facts and wright a book! I'm sure GM didn't want to have him wright another!
It is a balance between rear spoiler effectiveness and front air dams an splitters. Add more rear downforce and you can add more in the front and maintain balance. As his post clearly showed the downside it increased drag! As you note, an air dam has the advantage of reducing air under the car so at highway speeds and reduces drag. That is why the Chevy volt has a large one. At high speed it increases front downforce.
07-09-2016, 05:44 PM
Car lines look cleaner without the damn dams. 
