Hi ecoangel, sorry for bringing up an older thread, but I've been thinking about lowering the car on a new set of sports springs, which give about a 2cm drop up front. How much would a 20mm lowering reduce the frontal area, and thus drag. ( have one of the redesigned i3's with the new front end, 120ah ).ecoangel wrote: ↑Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:08 amIt was built to a price. CdA is actually no better than a 1990s Toyota Camry.
Lowering any car reduces effective frontal area no matter how badly designed the undertray is.
For down-force without a drag penalty then yes a flat bottom with proper diffuser is the way forward for race cars.
Don’t forget to tape over all the shut lines alsoBertone wrote: ↑Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:43 pmRe-opening this topic...
I believe the front of the i3 could have been made more aerodynamic by the BMW engineers.
If you look at the area between the front headlights and "kidneys", it is not a very smooth surface...in fact air will flow between the headlight and kidney and be trapped under the frunk area producing drag.
Perhaps those "holes" could be "filled" with, for instance, polystyrene to form a smooth surface. Also the kidneys can be made more smooth "filling them up"..
The difficulty is to make a perfect fit...but polystyrene is a light and easy-to-work with-material so perhaps it is doable.
What do you think? Just a crazy idea....??
Having owned a 2000 Honda Insight for 15 wonderful years, I resemble that comment
I think caulk would be even better, combined with taking a green sharpie to the edges of the windows.Boxbrownie wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2020 12:57 pmDon’t forget to tape over all the shut lines alsoBertone wrote: ↑Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:43 pmRe-opening this topic...
I believe the front of the i3 could have been made more aerodynamic by the BMW engineers.
If you look at the area between the front headlights and "kidneys", it is not a very smooth surface...in fact air will flow between the headlight and kidney and be trapped under the frunk area producing drag.
Perhaps those "holes" could be "filled" with, for instance, polystyrene to form a smooth surface. Also the kidneys can be made more smooth "filling them up"..
The difficulty is to make a perfect fit...but polystyrene is a light and easy-to-work with-material so perhaps it is doable.
What do you think? Just a crazy idea....??![]()