whos had my spoiler!

My mother had an odd problem with her old Gulf. Often in the mornings the door would be unlocked, radio retuned and there was a strong smell of cigarette smoke in the car.
It mainly happened in the winter or on rainy nights in a nicer part of London.
My mother decided that it was better to have someone sitting in the car using the radio than having vandals steal it.
It happened for a couple of years and we just learned to live with it.
It was a rather unusual experience!

John
 
Couldn't you have left a key in it, one night? Then the "user" would have had his own key, and you could have locked it to prevent the risk of someone else stealing it?

David
 
A little off the point and I'm sorry to hear about the vandalism of the car but i am curious, how does the removal of the spoiler effect it's handling/efficiency? I have not intention of removing mine but reading a recent thread i am curious?
 
at a guess, without the spoiler, the tail current will be worse at cruising speed. So expect less stability and more drag.
 
dubbull said:
Thank you DJ 190
mrs is going to live with it until we get the right colour. if i had my way id get it but then your miles from us also.

i would also like to add. the spoiler is there for a reason. the steering is very heavy at higher speeds compared to slower driving. i would have expected it being lighter for some reason but then what do i know. even the mrs commented on it without me saying anything.
Click to expand...

I wonder if the reason for the steering being heavy is because the rear end is now been lifted and therefore more weight is being put onto the front. Which is a little worrying if the rear becomes light enough to loose traction, perhaps when braking or changing lanes at speed. See comment in other spoiler thread regarding the early TTs swapping ends.

When compared with other spoilers the A2's is pretty big and I wonder if this is because an aerodynamic shape will naturally produce a much greater uplift on the rear axle than something less slippery.

Andy B
 
I wonder how badly it would impact the operation of the ABS and traction control?
Presumably these are expecting a certain amount of pressure on each wheel.

It could also cause problems with tyres if the load index are quite low. For the A2 1.2 the minimum load index for the tyres would really not be good for the front if much more of the weight were shifted to the front axle.
I do not imagine it is so bad on the regular A2 but may be worth considering.

John
 
At the risk of turning this thread into a physics discussion I found this on piston heads "The rear wing on the original TT was not fitted in an attempt to create downforce as such but more to break up the laminar flow of air over the rear of the body that was making the car act like an aeroplane wing. If you look at the back of any modern hatchback, you'll see somewhere a horizontal crease across the whole of the width of the car (usually the upper spoiler before the rear screen), exactly for this reason. The edge of the boot on most saloons has the same effect."

So perhaps the A2s spoiler is (very) dual purpose, first to get that fixed point airflow separation to get the maximum aerodynamic Kamm effect and second to stop it taking off!!

Andy B
 
Yes and apologies here too - it is an interesting subject mind and I'm still a googling to see if I can find any other info.

Perhaps a new thread if I come up with anything

Andy B
 
hi no worries on the discussion its probably good this thread actually served a purpose. I am really sorry on the no photos yet. they are on my mrs phone and keep forgetting to get them off. i dont live where the car does or id go get a pic now. i promise i will get some this week for you all as i have cleaned the glass up abit more now. no chance of getting the bolts out though, they were in place before the tailgate was bonded/moulded/welded or whatever they done to it. its in/on the first skin of the tailgate.
 
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huh. well this thread was moved from its original location, i dont remember posting it in the exterior section so sorry for the mess up in the same category of the forum.
 
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