Just a fun sorta rant here,

I read all the replies and said My God...what the heck is the matter with soe of you?
:D

Back in the mid-late 80's,the Corvette had the great aftermarket of wings,body kits,spoliers and etc.
I have so many back issues of 80's type to 90's Corvette magazines and they have all the ads in there.

From Ferarri body kits,testarossa styling packages,to many brands of ground effects,to high rise,whale tail rear wings,to naca ducts,scoops,high rise hoods,cowl inductions,hood wings,air dam spoilers,targa hatches,converti coupes,stalker body kits,the Morrison body packages,etc etc,etc the C4 had it ALL to pick from.

Many of these pieces are still around today....this was before the Ricer scene got played out!

Also,Ive seen many C4's back as a teen have aftermarket wings and etc on the street.Greenwood was the popular kit.
There was NO RICERS THEN!!

If anything,the RICERS STOLE the ideas from the 80's C4,F car and Fox body crowds.

Because too many people today are clueless to what the aftermarket was like 15 years ago or more,they assume adding a wing today is Rice.Its been going on for many years.

However,I wont deny because of Ricers today,in most general sense of todays time,it may appear ricey to alter your car.
But look further back before the 90's and youll see the Vette had many to choose from.

But do what you wish...the GreenWood kit is the far better kit to add on.Make no mistake.ACI is also a good company but Greenwood kits have held their own in the marketplace with better fit and attachments.Plus theyre functional if speeds that high are ever used.

Btw,I laughed when someone said the C4 body was designed to go 168 MPH with the wheels planted...LOL...if you could see the late 80's issue of a Corvette magazine,with a LPE modified car going 170 MPH,in the photo,even the callaway cars,the back of the car looks like it has serious,rice from the 70's,air shocks in the back.

The back of the car lifted so high it was unreal.The stock body style,while its a great design,begins lifitng at top speeds.The wings,when installed right,do help the car at high speeds.The car can become unstable at very high speeds in sock form.It works,but dont make it sound like the car stay planted the entire time.

Also,people saying you cant use a wing because you cant go that fast on a certain road....well what do you have a sleek,aerodynamic Vette for?The speed limit is maybe 55 or 65 on most roads so how does that analogy apply to the entire low,slippery Coefficent drag of the car?

Most of us cant go fast enough to actually use the aerodynamics of the Vette without seriously losing our license,endangering others,getitng killed,and either wrecking or getting our cars impounded.

Bottom line is if you want to Mod your car,go ahead.I pick the greenwood kit over the aci and other counterparts.At least,some years back,having a Greenwood kit on your C4 gave you braggin rights and even increased the value of your car in theory...plus it made the car look pretty cool.It just suxs its being compared to rice when its been out alot longer then people realize.
:)

And btw,I dont have any wings or spoilers on the car...Its not my preference to do so.But I can play devils advocate here anytime eh?
:)

 

Go gettum Bill!!! Oh wait, was that to me? :jester

 

Bill, Very well said.

 

Umm... go talk to the guys that make the top speed runs all of the time in Texas and NM. They do it sans wings and spoilers. Also, read this post http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=428973 He doesn't seem to have any problems running at 170 in Germany - again, sans wing.

My point was (and is), spoliers are for looks 99% of the time. I'm proud of what my car is able to do without adding excessive wieght and potentially value hurting pieces of plastic. But as I said before, it is only my opinion, it is your car and I encourage you to do what makes you happy. :yesnod: :cheers:

 

Shawn,
I agree with you 100%...I know theyre for looks more then actual function...I also know people do hgh speeds without the need for wings but was adding that if set up right,it can be helpfu,but that isnt gospel eh?I was just adding to the idea of them being useful in some ways if needed for others then just looks.I think its safe to say that over 200 MPH there may be some serious issues but thats for the salt flat cars.
:)
Dont want to hijack this thread and change the subject too much and turn this into a downforce proving discussion.We do know if the C4 had wings installed on the doors,it would literally fly off the ground if it had a rudder and tail...lol...
:D

 

Not getting into the wing/no wing debate, but just wanted to add...

Callway Sledgehammer...255mph...no wing...
http://www.callawaycars.com/Corvette...er_article.htm

If he had a wing, he would not have been as fast. They actually will slow you down even in a 1/4 mile drag race.

 

Exactly. And the person asking lives in my area, in the mountains surrounding NYC. Very conjested and very little open flat non-pothole laden stretches of road. Because of this, all the open spots are blanketed by law enforcement so there is little to no ability to drive at speed that would approach having a benefit from a wing on a regular basis. Most of our driving is sub 100 through twist and turns which is very satisfying in its own right but does not benefit from having a wing. Also, of the kits, the only ones that looked decent even back in the 90s to me were the greenwoods. But compared to some of the C5 kits like the tigershark they now look dated and crude by comparision to me, which puts modifying a C4 today more into the crude civic kit class instead of with the higher end stuff done on Porsche, C5, Viper, etc. Just my humble opinion.

 

I bought mine with the spoiler already on. It looks like it has been on a good while because the paint matches the car with aging. When I looked at the car before buying I was so excited about having the dream car I always wanted, I didn't really notice the spoiler on it. :D

 

Uhhhh....they did give them wings. Remember the '78 Pace Cars?

All you guys can speculate, but you are really full of it. The Greenwood wings that are made for the C4 become VERY effective at about 70 MPH, giving you about 100-150 lbs. of downforce. When you get to 150-175 MPH they give you about 300-350 lbs of downforce.

Vette92:
Lingenfelter was going to use the Greenwood wing on the Sledgehammer to plant the rear-end at 200+. He instead opted for 300 lbs. of lead bolted to the rear frame to reduce the aerodynamic drag the wing would have created. If you carefully look at the pictures in that link, you'll see that they have a lip on the rear bumper cover. This is a "wing" of sorts, generating some additional downforce while balancing the aero drag of a wing.

Don't be fooled that they don't work at lower speeds. They are effective.

The opinions are your own whether you like the looks of a wing. There are not many that I like, but the Greenwood C4R wing is the nicest out there. I'm getting the C4R kit for mine for Open Road Race conditions.

As for one of the previous posts about the Nevada & West Texas guys, not one Unlimited Corvette is running without a rear wing. They NEED the additional downforce the wing generates to keep the wheels planted at 220-240 MPH (to maintain a 200 MPH AVERAGE on the course).


[Modified by Joe90, 3:03 PM 11/8/2002]

 

Ahhhhhh, the '78 Pace Car had a spoiler, not a wing. There is a difference. :yesnod:

 

Semantics...it generates downforce.....

That's all a wing is designed to do. It is just MUCH more efficient at it than a spoiler...

 

your body provides plenty of downforce
The corvette is the flagship of GM and to a lesser extent american cars.
There is a reason why they dont come with spoilers. And its not cosmetic. GM definatly goes "form follows fuction" on vettes.
I was reading a thesis on C4 and C5 production. If you only knew how much thought, effect, testing and precision goes into your cars...
You dont even have a CLUE!
At TRW we are spending months on making this tiney revision on a lincoln LS's rear brake :rolleyes: .

A vette makes move downforce at 150mph than its own wieght. Yes thats right, you could drive UPSIDE DOWN at 150 :eek: (just dont hit the brakes if you want to come back down :p:)
Thats how effiecient your chassis/bodies are!
A spoiler wont help anything... you definatly dont need it.
An F-body's rear will begin to lift at 130mph where as yours gets heavier!
Trust me-
no spoiler needed
makes them look yuckey anyway for the most part :p:


edit:
maybe thats the C5 that does that :confused:
I gotta find out where i read that


[Modified by TreyZ28, 5:53 PM 11/19/2002]

 

Don't do it :nono:

 

do what you want! :yesnod: what you should have done also is post a couple of pics and do it as a poll! then those that say NAY can vote and those that say YEAY can vote for that as well! personally i LIKE wings....i plan on buying my late fathers mustang from my mom and i am going to put on a Cobra R wing! :yesnod: :cheers:

 

no where did he ask what everyone thinks about it, thats the one thing i hate about this forum is everyone is always saying dont be a ricer, dont be like this or that. What does it matter if someone wants a spoiler or ground effects or whatever. If we were all the same life would be pretty boring wouldn't it, its all this stereo typing that is B.S. Being a ricer is just like being a corvette owner, just like we have a sense of community so do they, just cause their cars are slow or whatever who cares. Putting a wing on your car dont make you a ricer, acting arrogant like your car is the fastest on the road and making escuses when you lose is more ricer than anything. Just Venting.

 

I have an ACI, I can post more pics if you are interested

 

i like my wing :yesnod:

 

has anyone watched the callaway sledgehammer video?

The sledgehammer did have a spoiler on it. There is someone on this forum with a very similar spoiler on his C4, I cant remember who, but the pic is in his sig.
Also in that video Reeves Callaway takes a stock bodied C4 around the track at 170 MPH and he said the rear end was loose on it, as he tries to describe it with his hands. This was before the sledgehammer was built. And he wanted the sledgehammer to be built without these issues.

As for adding the spoiler/wing. Whatever, do what you like.
I think Bill makes a great point about wings vs rice.
I think the Callaway LM looks Great and that has a large wing on it too.

 

If the argument is now whether they are effective at 70 MPH then we're scratching something that doesn't itch. I don't have a problem at 70 MPH !! And in most areas driving at 150 MPH isn't a issue.

At the risk of being a conformist, I'm voting with the pack - wings are for wingnuts.

 

Actually...I think YOU totally missed the point.

The argument was that wings have no effect "AT ALL" on a C4....they were just for show. Here are few few statements from people who know absolutely ZERO about aerodynamics.

For those NOT in the know, it only takes 15-20 lbs of side pressure to start a NASCAR vehicle into a spin at speed. I watched a very in-depth "Inside NASCAR' segment about aerodynamics about this very subject. Think about that for a minute. A strong gust of wind at the wrong time and you are looking at the road from a very different angle.

They (the NASCAR Teams) are regulated by the rules with the angle and height of the rear spoiler to slow the cars down (NASCAR hoping that an unstable car will make the drivers lift a bit on the throttle). If they let them run more spoiler (and maybe some more tire), then 250 MPH track speeds would be seen more regularly. The insurance companies get a little worried about that.

What some of you don't seem to understand is a low drag co-efficient and downforce are two totally different things. GM does all that wind-tunnel work to make a car slick to maximize the fuel efficiency of the car. It has very little to do with generating downforce to keep the wheels planted. They balance the two to make the car as stable as they can... but they still try to maximize fuel efficiency.

For those of us who drive on the edge (or even within 70% of the capability of the car) the added downforce of a wing or spoiler can and will cut SECONDS off your lap times. In a sport where tenths or even thousandths of a second separate the top places, this can mean the difference between finishing 1st or 5th...maybe lower.

You'll notice I don't have a wing or spoiler on the car right now. I'm NOT a huge fan of them, but they are there for a reason. I'll need to go that way next year to remain competitive.

lfmn16:
You may not THINK that 150 LBS of downforce @ 70 MPH makes a difference, but throw in some adverse conditions like water on the road and that wing or spoiler just might be the difference between you making it home safely or being carted off in a body-bag. A well-designed wing or spoiler (like Greenwood's...who do a LOT of wind-tunnel testing on their products) starts to generate downforce at 30-40 MPH. If you are traction-challenged, how can MORE downforce be a bad thing??

Just watch an Indy or F1 race sometime and see what losing a rear wing even at low speeds (50-100 MPH) will do to one of those cars. Talk about a fun ride!!! Many of those guys need a good dry-cleaner for the racing suit to get the smell out afterwards.

CMR250R:
Do what you want. It is your car, and only YOU have to live with your decision. Like someone else posted....there are a LOT of C4's out there with wings on them. You won't be in a minority when you show up to an event if you choose to have one yourself...