removal of factory air dam

[91CavGT]

I'm thinking of removing my factory air dam to see if decreasing the frontal area of my truck will help gas mileage. As it is right now, the air dam is approximately 1/7th of the frontal area of the truck.


I'm guessing that it would slightly hurt gas mileage unless I made an under body tray. What do you guys think?


I haven't updated my garage yet, but the last 6 tanks of gas yield an average of 31 mpg with all of those tanks being 50/50 driving.

[Bill in Houston]

Originally Posted by 91CavGT

I'm guessing that it would slightly hurt gas mileage unless I made an under body tray. What do you guys think?

I think that you are correct.

[brucepick]

I also think you're correct in suspecting that removing the air dam and not installing an undertray will hurt FE.

But I also suspect that even with a good undertray, eliminating some air from under there by using a good air dam might have it's own benefits.

For any given space volume under the car, more air banging around under there will give more drag and less air should give less drag. At least that's my best guess.