I tried searching around but never saw a straight answer if the R53 spoiler serves any kind of purpose besides cosmetic. Anyone out there know one way or another?

 

i would say no. or not really. it's a fwd car. i'm actually probably going to remove my spoiler this weekend

 

It might do something if you're going around a long corner at 110mph.

 

OK I figured as much. I know on some cars, like a friends 300zx we work on, the small spoiler helps break a vacuum at the back of the car. So since I drive tons on the highway (70-90 mph) I was wondering if it had any kind of affect on the drag maybe? IDK I don't like pointless fluff so just grasping straws!

 

There was a posting about the GP style rear wing awhile back. The claim was the stock R53 rear spoiler had a negative down force of 85 lbs at 130 mph. Nice to know if your on a race track but not much help at perfectly legal highway speeds.

 

I'm pretty sure it's there to make the back of the car REEEEALLLY dirty...I wonder of the non-spoilered cars get as much grime back there so easily.

 

Wow that is a good question! My car is FILTHY back there by Tuesday after her Sunday wash

 

I had an R50 with the flat spoiler, changed to an "S" spoiler. It looked better but no real change.

 

It excels at directing dust onto the rear window very effectively. I carry paper towels and Windex in the boot. One of the few drawbacks in the design of our wonderful MINI's.

 

I use the California Duster on the boot. Contrary to what you would think, it does not scratch the car. I love those things and give them away for birthday presents to MINI friends

I also switched out the "Rings of Saturn" S spoiler for a plain Cooper Sport spoiler about 18 moths ago. I noticed a slight reduction of gritty buildup at the bottom of the rear window. But I also did the rear wiper delete as I would on occasion hit the rear wiper function and the gritty buildup on the wiper blade would scratch the glass.....

So eliminating the rear wiper, and replacing the spoiler did help some with actual buildup.

 

Most spoilers don't really function meaningfully below 110 mph, 125+ yes, dont try 150 without one!