Why would any one spend good money to add a nonfunctional, ugly piece of junk to thir car? If this "wing" were flat, at least you could put beverages on it.

 

jeesh!! it reminds me of the headgear i had to wear with my braces! no thanks, but i bet it would look real purdy on a Subaroo.

 

It looks good....if its not on this car..

 

Obviously all of you previous posters are far more expert in both matters of taste and aerodynamics than I am.

Just for the sake of discussion, I'll offer this.

I'll bet that the mid hatch wing DOES affect the air flow. As you experts already know, the air flow in the back of a MINI (or any other squared off back vehicle) is cyclonic rotating UP from the road. I'll bet that this wing helps to stop the crap from collecting on the back window.

Rice on THAT!

 

Yikes, I certainly hope the weight posted there includes a lot of form stuffing and a heavy box. At 30lbs that is a damn heavy wing to weigh down the car. I thought we were trying to eliminate unnecessary weight?


Peter

 

SCOOPERS...buy one and let us know...just for the sake of discussion...

 

i think ill pass on that wing also lol

 

>>Obviously all of you previous posters are far more expert in both matters of taste and aerodynamics than I am.
>>
>>Just for the sake of discussion, I'll offer this.
>>
>>I'll bet that the mid hatch wing DOES affect the air flow. As you experts already know, the air flow in the back of a MINI (or any other squared off back vehicle) is cyclonic rotating UP from the road. I'll bet that this wing helps to stop the crap from collecting on the back window.

I'm willing to keep an open mind about mid hatch designs for spoilers/wings. Obviously companies like Freedom designs would not take the effort to work on upgrades if there were NO market for them.
http://www.freedomdesign.com/Merchan...ory_Code=newfd
This one on a 2003 Honda Civic Si is about $229.50

Compared to:

_________________
ALOHA

 

I'd rather have the crap on the back window than this rear wing.

 

>>SCOOPERS...buy one and let us know...just for the sake of discussion...

I'd TRY one, but at $245 and shipping, I could buy a detailer to keep the back clean. Just for the sake of discussion.

I suspect a rear diffuser channeling the air under the car would work better. And that may be worth the $245 try. I'll see if I can locate an aerodynamic engineer and ask.

 

Here's your aeronautical engineer. Those wings are used throughout the automotive industry as storage for sushi, sashimi, and rolls.

And by the way, at speeds above 1Mph, airflow behind the car is entirely random. The purpose of a rear spoiler is not to create some ancient Chinese downforce as most sushi restaurants would have you believe, but rather to cut the airflow such that the smooth airstream along the top of the car does not get sucked into the turbulent wake. The perpetually turbulent air at the rear of the car forms a streamlined cone that completes the aerodynamic shape of the car. Spoilers or sharp trunk lid corners keep the smooth roof airflow from penetrating the turbulent cone.

B.T.W. the S spoiler is dramatically more effective at cutting that airflow despite it's unintuitive shape. The gap allows some air to pass beneath the spoiler, providing smoother airflow at both the leading and trailing edges of the spoiler and therefore higher effectiveness. Notice the (Fowler) flaps on commercial airlines are sectioned off with big gaps between sections. For the same reasons, those gaps allow the flaps to produce more lift than would be possible with a sealed flap.

But the real issue here is the fact that that thing is hideous.

 

>>Ok, finally saw it.. it looks like a shelf for your drinks...
>>
>>Rocketboy_X

I agree. They should call it the "tailgate" add-on. ....."perfect for those days in the stadium parking lot......the ideal place for your condiments.....comes customized with the NFL logo of your favorite team"

 

Vespa, I'm not sure I can agree with everything you say.

Yes, in the commercial automotive market, those trays are merely cosmetic. They are look-fasts. However, the real reason for the wing is to keep the air moving OVER the car from going faster than the air moving UNDER the car. When the air OVER moves faster, that creates lift. That's fine for airplanes, but not so good for cars. That's also why diffusers work better than wings (they speed up the airflow UNDER the car, creating downforce). Now, obviously there's more downforce at high speeds (175-220mph), but I was surprised at the low speeds that still had some amount of downforce (down to 30mph).

In the case of the MINI (why did they have to use all upper case?), there is a great deal of turbulence under the car, and as a result the air "boils" up from the road, circling down as it meets the airflow at the top. The key would be to channel that airflow under the car somewhere else. One way is to smooth the belly pan or to use a diffuser. Another way is to actually direct the upper air flow to go down at the back. I'm not sure what kind of lift that would generate at 135mph.

Do these mid-hatch wings do that? Dunno yet.

 

Scoopers you're thinking too hard. It's pretty simple...That thing is ugly with a capital U or should I say R for rice?

 

SCOOPERS, (why did you have to use all uppercase?) Yes a *wing* can create a downforce, but street cars either have little spoilers or, with enough Yen, a super gigantic wing bolted to the trunk of some poor Civic right in the wake of the rear window.

Unless we're talking about a race car style wing, which this sushi tray most certainly is not, there's no downforce to be had -- only spoiling. A spoiler just cuts the airflow to reduce drag, much in the same way the dimples of a golf ball induce separation to reduce drag. Anyway, at speeds above 1Mph or so, airflow will not round the trailing corners of the car and thus the entire back of the car is engulfed in turbulence. There may be a couple of inches of non-turbulent air that passed under the car but once again, it cannot round the corner and flow upward to hit the tempura or whatever is on that shelf.

 

 

WTF is up with your racist crap vespa?!?!?! I don't mind the word "rice" being used to describe crappy mods becuase its so common now but your "sushi" and "chinese restaurant" comments are just wrong! I dont like the mid hatch wing either but for all you know it could be made in the US to hold hotdogs and hamburgers! I know this is the interent and a public forum and all but watch what the hell you say man!

 

>>WTF is up with your racist crap vespa?!?!?! I don't mind the word "rice" being used to describe crappy mods becuase its so common now but your "sushi" and "chinese restaurant" comments are just wrong! I dont like the mid hatch wing either but for all you know it could be made in the US to hold hotdogs and hamburgers! I know this is the interent and a public forum and all but watch what the hell you say man!

OK lang yan 'tol. hayaan mo na. lahat naman na "anti-rice" racista eh. 'ala lang silang magawa sa buhay.

 

>>OK lang yan 'tol. hayaan mo na. lahat naman na "anti-rice" racista eh. 'ala lang silang magawa sa buhay.
Say what? i only speak pidgn english!

Also- why aren't there any numbers or letters on your California plates in you SIG?
Why don't you make some up and insert them. Like ER-DOC, GUNS4ME,GUNCLUB or something.
Your pictures are great by the way. You may be exceeded the carrying weight of your MINI when fully loaded-
Ammo is heavy you know. I did not see any bazookas. I did see a grenade launcher I think. It was hard to see through
the smoke.

 

>>Also- why aren't there any numbers or letters on your California plates in you SIG?
>>Why don't you make some up and insert them. Like ER-DOC, GUNS4ME,GUNCLUB or something.
it used to say something, I took it off. MightyMiniZ made that sig for me.ER-RN maybe.

I only put 1/3 of my collection in the MINI the entire collection used to drop my truck by 5-6inches.
which brings me to the wing. raise the MINI by about 2inches, put that wing and a significantly larger spoiler connect the two with a center crossbar, and you'll have a fairley decent immitation of the early ford escort rally car.

 

They are both quite ugly that's for sure, did you notice the published weight on the yellow one, they say it weighs 30pounds

 

>>I don't mind the word "rice" being used to describe crappy mods becuase its so common now but your "sushi" and "chinese restaurant" comments are just wrong!


That's like saying I don't mind when you call them "negros" but don't call them "nig. . ." Can your racism really be variable? Just how much more right are you if you only use the polite racial slurs and not the really bad ones?

 

Sorry guys, I wasn't referring to Asian people or their culture, I was poking fun at people of all nationalities who make their cars look like a slice of Tokyo just because the Asian look is trendy.

 

This is not a MINI Style.