What Does a Spoiler Do? Can Your Car Have It?

Spoilers on the car look cool, and you may sometimes wish to have them in your dream car too. But are they used only for adding an aesthetic look, or are there other purposes related to vehicle performances? Can your car have it?

In this article, we’ll find these answers together. I’ll also discuss other important things and some common concerns related to spoilers of a car.

What Does a Spoiler Do?

Spoilers are designed in a way so that they can spoil the airflow above, under, and around the cars to reduce the amount of drag and lift. Spoilers improve airflow and vehicle performances in highway driving such as more grip, less fuel consumption, providing additional safety, etc.

Aerodynamic drag increases if you speed up your car. More drag will make it harder for an engine to go forward. Lift reduces the grip of your car and makes it less stable. 

The front spoiler of cars ensures less amount of airflow under the car to reduce the amount of lift where rear spoilers create more downforce from turbulent airflow to make the car firmly planted on the street. 

Due to wind resistance or drag, the engine of the car needs to work harder. More fuel is needed due to drag, as it makes the car feel like braking. It’s difficult to maintain speed in this type of situation, and you’ll need to press the gas pedal. 

Pressing the gas pedal creates an excess amount of fuel consumption. Spoiler reduces drag to ensure a better fuel economy. 

Spoilers redirect the movement of air and decrease the possibility of skidding. By decreasing the amount of skidding in cars, it’s possible to reduce accidents. This also ensures effective braking.

Does Spoiler Affect Gas Mileage?

A well-designed and optimized spoiler will slightly increase the gas mileage if you need to do a lot of highway driving. An unoptimized spoiler will decrease the gas mileage of your vehicle on the other hand.

The detailed answer to this question is a little bit complex. We drive regular types of cars every day on the street. Spoilers actually do nothing in this case if you consider the speed. 

In some cases, it’ll reduce gas mileage, as increasing downforce also generates induced drag. Though you won’t notice any reduction at highway speed in regular cars.

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If you do a lot of highway driving, installing spoilers is a good choice. It’ll decrease fuel consumption by reducing drag. You’ll also get more grip and handling because of downforce created by spoilers.

Proper design and optimization are one of the most important things for spoilers. Experiments and a large number of simulations can provide the best possible arrangement. Otherwise, spoilers can only play the role of a cosmetic in daily driving and sometimes create negative effects.

Can You Put a Spoiler in Any Car?

It’s possible to put spoilers on any car nowadays, as they aren’t limited to muscle cars or race cars anymore. But you need to be careful about some important things before installing if you don’t want to face issues in the future.

It’s important to match the color of spoilers according to the paint of the body of your car. It may give your car a ridiculous look if you don’t consider the color.

Proper design and installation process are also very important to get improvement on vehicle performances. It’s a wise decision to take help from professionals before installing.

Sometimes spoilers don’t fit properly in your car. In this kind of situation, you end up with your car without spoilers but with some scratches and holes. So, it’s mandatory to go with proper planning.

I wrote more about putting a spoiler in a car and the costs associated with it in this article.

Does Spoiler Make Sense in Daily Driving?

Spoilers make sense in daily driving if you need to drive your car on the highway most often. In high-speed conditions, spoilers can improve some vehicle performances with better fuel economy. If you don’t need to do highway driving at higher speeds regularly, spoilers actually don’t contribute anything, rather they’ll reduce some gas mileage of your car.

Though some people use spoilers for an aesthetic look and it’s justified for them to use spoilers in any condition.

Are Bigger Spoilers Better Than Smaller Spoilers?

The spoilers of your car don’t need to be bigger. The most important thing is proper design and optimization considering all the crucial things. 

Spoilers may be smaller or bigger. It’s okay as long as they contribute to increasing some vehicle performances like stability, grip, fuel efficiency, etc.

Spoilers should be shaped and angled in a way that they can create a controlled air vortex behind you at the time of going. If you install bigger spoilers only for the look, you should carefully consider how they change the behavior of your car at higher speeds.

Are Wing and Spoilers the Same Thing?

No, wings and spoilers aren’t the same things. The way spoilers and wings redirect the airflow is the main difference between them.

An automotive wing looks similar to an upside-down airplane wing. It deflects the airflow in the upward direction to generate downforce on the rear of the car. 

A spoiler works like an obstacle for localized airflow and spoils the direction to improve overall airflow and vehicle performances under some conditions. Adding a spoiler is something like adding a barrier to reduce the amount of lift and airspeed.

You can read more about the difference between spoiler and wing in this article.

What are the Cons of Spoilers?

Unoptimized and incorrectly installed spoilers can lead to excess fuel consumption. Additional cost, issues with color matching, tendency to damage easily, and sometimes difficulties at the time of installation can be some other cons you may face with spoilers.

It’s mandatory to optimize and install the spoilers of your car properly. Otherwise, they will significantly reduce aerodynamic performances as well as increase the amount of fuel consumption by increasing air resistance. 

You need to spend some money on the spoilers of your car. It’s wise to consider your situation and what contribution from spoilers you need before installing them.

Sometimes you may face difficulties with matching color between spoilers and the body paintwork. This issue mainly occurs in older cars or those in very specific colors.

Car lip spoilers and rear spoilers are generally made of ABS plastic and fiberglass that aren’t very durable. They often scratch and crack regularly, as they can’t take much beating.

When are Spoilers for You and When Not for You?

If you prefer an aesthetic or sporty look in your car and do a lot of highway driving at a higher speed, installing spoilers will fulfill your demand, providing the desired look.

If the look isn’t a major concern for you and you don’t need to do a lot of highway driving, avoiding spoilers won’t matter anything for you, rather you can save some amount of money needed for the installation purpose.