That non wind tunnel tested wing is a POS for high speeds. Car will be much more stable without and faster.

 

high wings put down force on the rear tires AKA the Road Runners and the Daytonas why did they win so much races because the wings put down force and kept traction and was better going into corners.

 

I think those Road Runners and Daytonas won so much because of what was under the hood. My stocker wing is shakey and unstable at high speeds. The drag Cobalts use a totally different setup, but they go way faster than our street cars. The "Time Attack" Cobalt used an after market wing for their run, but again this is a higher HP car that was meant for the twisties on a road course. Down force actually makes you slower, at high speeds you have to sacrifice speed for handling though, otherwise you'll crash. I think in a drag race situation it would hurt us, just my opinion.

 

Well if you say the wing "helps in stabilizing the car at higher speeds to some extent", then that's precisely because of the downforce that it generates.

So you can't say on one hand that "no it doesn't produce any downforce" and then say right after that it helps somewhat.

Contradiction there.

NOTE: Personally, I don't care if the wing helps or not. I wouldn't drive an SS/SC without one. That's because in my opinion, it drastically improves the appearance of what is an otherwise plain looking vehicle.

 

I agree with you, the cobalt without a wing, even if its the small one, makes the car look 100% better.

 

If you're agreeing with me, then I guess you meant to say "I agree with you, the cobalt with a wing, even if its the small one, makes the car look 100% better."

Right?

 

Haha yea sorry, Teacher came around i guess i wrote that by accident.

 

The large Cobalt wing looks like some ricer Kragens bought plastic piece. I'm sorry, but it just looks like over sized junk to me. Chevrolet really blew it on the design/looks of the large wing. The designers obviously were drunk at lunch and drew it on a napkin.

But functionality of it.....There isn't any. Its all for looks and thats it..period. It isn't high enough to do anything as the air stream follows the cars window contour onto top of trunk lid and air stream is going under the wing and not down on to it.

 

i would really say chevy 'blew' it with the wing, because a lot of people, myself included, like it, some don't have a preference, and others don't like it. personally, while i tend to like the overall look of the cobalt, i don't like it when there's nothing on the truck. small spoiler or wing makes the car look a lot better, for me. i feel like it helps me stand out from the pack, i feel more unique with it, so i like it.

as far as helping or hurting, it should really kick in at all until speeds around 90-100mph. as the speed increases, so will the effectivness of the wing, good or bad. think of a stock car. when nascar runs short tracks, in this case lets use martinsville, cars with banged up front ends can still fun pretty good. they typically top out at @130mph on the straights, down to around 65-70 in the turns. no spoiler or front end, not really a big deal. same theory can be applied to the street, only i'd say because our cars are less 'aero' than a stock car, we'd feel the effects of poor design at slower speeds. so, based on my uneducated and highly opnionated theory, we'd see the effects probably around 90mph or so.

sorry for the novel!

 

Well any down force that may be generated buy the wing is killed by the big trench on the underside which makes it completely just for looks. But I'm glad some people agree with me its like a small parachute on teh back and that it would explain this incident.

 

i don't think the wing would cause this obvious of a difference. however, what I DO think happened in the race was this: the wind direction and speed was such that you were affected moreso than your stageII friend. in fact, your stageII friend may have ostensibly been drafting you (using you as a wind-breaker) even in a different lane, given a certain wind direction .

as an aside, has anyone ever almost lost control after passing a semi who's blocking a stiff wind coming across the highway -- sometimes you have to correct by turning the steering wheel in towards the wind ~ 1/4 turn!

Anyway, wind takes a helluvalot of energy to overcome at higher speeds. Now if this is happening in 4th gear, i think you both are 100+mph at this point, making wind a worthy adversary.

 

it does have an effect.
but theres 100 effects that would far greater effect the outcome you had than the little drag from the wing.

in short. no. the wing didnt cause it.

 

Well, It has been good to see you guys chip in with your opinions. I am the driver of the wingless cobalt aforementioned. I will give a complete list of mods for both cars.

Maxim_x's mods:
2.8" pulley, 60lb injectors, airbox mod, catless DP, side exit exhaust, HP tuned, Cobra HE, GM dual pass.

06BlackSC's mods: GM stage II, 2.9" pulley, Fujita CAI.

the only physical difference on the exterior is i have a shaved trunk and he is with stock high rise wing.

Not only on this occasion, but once previously, we had similar results while racing. I tend to think that the wing has something to do with it, but i'm certain there are other factors to figure in to this.

this Saturday there is a local dyno day and if Maxim goes we will both be able to do fourth gear pulls on the same dyno, same day and figure out if it is in fact a tuning issue or if there is something more to it.

stay tuned guys. this could get interesting.

 

variations between two cars could easily account for the difference..

 

How much do you weigh??

 

Now that's the way to see what's what!

Dyno testing both cars together on the same day on the same dyno will definitely help to shed some light on the subject.

Let us know what happens!

 

heres a theory he is running a 2.9 on a stage 2 tune hence his car is probably running a bit lean. lean is dangerous but makes a bit more power. but i may be wrong.

 

actualy, quite the opisite. with gasoline, you will make more power when you are richer than stoich (14.7:1). now if you go too rich you start losing power. when tuning, you can feel when you have gone too lean, the car will tend to nose over.

 

The engines were better, but not by that much by the time the Daytona an Superbird hit

Look at the aerodynamics of the cars, and you can easily tell why the cars won. The front end went to a point and had a front spoiler, and the entire rear taillight section was completly flat. The rear had the tall spoiler (to get to the non-turbulent air) that made a huge difference. It was not like the POS ricer wings that are on the cobalt. They weren't weak fiberglass, they were very strong and inflexible, mainly due to the supports going all the way into the trunk and bolting down to the top of the frame rails.

Chrysler could have left the street 440 6packs in them, and would have still won.

The engines didn't really matter, it was the overall package.

But yes, the wing on the Cobalt does add some downforce, albiet very little controlled downforce.

 

I'm sorry to burst your bubble but it is actually functional in the same way an EVO or STi wing is, it improves aerodynamics through streamlining the air coming off of the rear, think of it (abstractly) as a diffusers only without producing down force (as some do, the GT40 and F430 for instance). It helps to smooth the air coming off the rear of the car to prevent vortices's which can cause the rear of the car to become unstable at high speeds. Obviously it does not do as much as on a F40 or F50 but it is functional. GM described the entire body kit in one of its ad's as "helping to lower the drag coefficient to .324" (that is lower then an STi). So though it may be ugly to some and others adore it, it is in the end functional along with the rest of the body kit.

Regards,

Ryan

 

Its not functional. I can prove it. If you know anything about how a wing works, take a look under you wing. You will see a big groove right down the center of it. That groove would break up the air traveling over it and negate any down force that the wing could give if that groove were filler in.

Anny vehicle is more aerodynamic than an Sti LOL.

And whatever you read from GM sounds like marketing bullshit not fact.

Anyways I went to the dyno and got 250 230. The wingless cobalt was not able to make it, but I don't think their is any stg, 2.9 + intake cobalts running around 250 HP.

In fact we had a stage 2, 2.9 intake and FULL exhaust ion their that made right around 250. A stage 3 2.8 and full exhaust cobalt that made around 250. And a just stage 2 car that made around 220

 

Think of how much wobble comes out of that wing at high speeds when airflow is crucial, (my wobbles quite a bit at least). The wobble or flutter alone will disrupt airflow tremendously. Also, the rear window transition from the roof to the trunk lid is already extremely well sloped and would probably keep a great airflow back all the way to the end of the trunk.

The wing isn't even strongly mounted enough for holding up to strong winds. I could be wrong since i haven't done any wind tunnel testing on the cobalt bodies, but i believe the wing is there for looks and not for any actual performance increase.

 

I have both, the high wing on my Black Balt and the low wing on my Sport Tint Balt. I notice that when you are behind a tractor trailer the Balt with the low wing tends to wiggle from the distorted air. In the same situation with the Black Balt and high wing it is not as pronounced, almost un-noticeable.

 

And with these cars it is extremely noticeable. At least I think cause I know 2 guys running the same exact set up and one Cobalt was a hell of a lot faster.

BTW, who all uses fuel injector cleaner? I do every 3 to 5000 miles and I have began to noticed that my performance doesn't fall off like it used to before I started using it.

 

Consider this.............

http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/te..._2/index1.html

And some more information

http://aedcentral.com/Aero/aerodynamics.html