Curious to see if anyone with a lowered R56 has removed or cut the lower rubber apron. At its lowest point I only have (maybe) 3" of clearance with that. Concerned if she gets caught in some snow that she is going to be a little snow plow. Anyone have similar concerns or am I the only one in the snow belt to drop a mini??

 

We don't get a ton of snow in NJ, but I'm already thinking of whether I'll be driving my minivan during the winter days. They don't always clean the roads around here and the mini doesn't have a lot of clearance.

 

I can't remember where I read it, but I believe several people have (or they've come off on the highway). There are plenty of people that think your MINI will explode without them though

 

it's a replaceable wearable flexible part. it aids in cooling and handling at highway speeds.

I think a lot of people here are coming from bigger cars that don't understand the lack of front & rear overhang on the mini, even as low as it is, you still have a pretty high approach angle.

just leave it alone, if/when you wear it out you can decide if you want to buy another.

 

I asked this same question some time ago, and got a bunch of responses. The answer is not many have taken it off, not many complain of it rubbing with a lowered car, and nobody has any evidence whatsoever that it's needed for handling/cooling a lowered car. Look at the thing, it's pretty minimal as it is. How much difference can removing it make? It's not like some huge air dam on an Excursion that sits 2 feet off the ground.

 

The lower your car gets, the more dramatic/noticeable the effects of a lower airdam are.
If your more concerned about navigating parking garages then the curves of the open road, go ahead & tear it off :P

I'm sure you can find some geeks to argue with about the physics of it all here
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=85744

 

Here is an interesting excerpt from "edward" from Physics Forums:

"To simplify the original topic, the purpose of an airdam is to improve the aerodynamics of a vehicle by not allowing the airflow to pass under the vehicle. The underside of most vehicles is an aerodynamic nightmare.

At Nascar speeds cars will actually go airborne if the front end of the vehicle is lifted or if the airdam is torn off."

Interesting forum, though a lot of it is a bit over my head. I'm a Criminal Justice major, not a physics one! :impatient

 

I'm definitely not a physicist (although I am scientist), but I would think that if you remove the air dam and attach a front splitter (i.e., from M7 Tuning), that might even it out a bit. It's kind of a more pricey route to go, the splitter won't be as low. Again, I'm not a physicist, so don't take my word for it. Just a thought

 

I've seen pics here where someone cut down the lowest sections along the sides so it was an even height all the way around and that seemed to help reduce how often it scraped without completely eliminating the air dam. The airdam is supposed to push air away from going under the car, reducing lift. The higher your speed the more it benefits downforce. It probably also helps keep airflow moving through the engine bay as the engineers designed, i.e. air comes in through the grilles in front, passes around the engine, and is pulled out below the car where there is less air. It's somewhat of a vacuum effect.

It's all theory as to how much benefit it provides, especially for anyone that only drives at or below legal speed limits. So with that said my recommendation would be to leave it on and don't worry about it being a snow plow or getting scraped to pieces. Each segment costs about $10 to replace if its lost or damaged beyond usefulness.

How's that for a wishy-washy answer

 

whats the point in cutting it off? The airdam rubs all the time for me but i see it as a warning to slow down to avoid hitting any parts that matter.

 

Don't the JCW factory cars not have this lip?

 

I took the air dam off and later cut off the rubber tab that it was attached to. The only difference I have noticed is not hearing a scraping sound every time I run over pebbles in the road...

 

im with you on this one!

I forget how cheap they are...but if recall correctly they are really cheap. Just keep it there...you'd actually be surprised how well it holds up. Also, the scraping sound it makes, sounds much worse than it actually is.

 

Not much point in removing it - the parts that stick down too far will remove themselves just fine in a few months...

 

Snowplow

 

 

As I thought, not fitted. Reason?

 

the aero kit design eliminates the need for it?

 

It still has a small apron in front of both wheels.

 

Any aerodynamic benefit that the air dam factored into at stock ride height will not be the same at a lower ride height. It's blocking air from running underneath the car to create a little downforce. Simply by lowering it you have altered the aerodynamics and how much air is able to still run under the car and cause any lift.

I removed it on my last slammed mini and plan to on this one as well. You'll still have better aerodynamics than if your car is riding at SUV height like any stock R55/56.

PS. If you have 3" of clearance on your air dam, you're not low enough

 

I scrape a lot and I've driven through 8" snow. It's gradually wearing itself down to where it needs to be.

 

Nope. The Aero kit comes with one. It's just not installed in that picture. Perhaps someone avoided installing it to cut down on scraping. I know a few people who just didn't install that part since they knew it would be lowered.

 

I was chuckling at your "slammed" comment (a lot of kids who lower their cars 1" around here say their cars are slammed). Then I saw your picture... I don't think I could fit a finger under there! Nice job!

 

Spent this last weekend playing with the suspension.Managed to squeeze a set of 225/45/18's on the back without adjusting the height from the 205/40's.