Mark Dreyer

Interesting that you mention uncertainty. That is a huge problem with experts in every field including my own. I am second guessing my certainty on things for which I should be an expert after having read Tolub's book, The Black Swan. Worthwhile read for all those that are certain on this wing issue. I think the lack of the wing causd me to go into the wall but am not certain. I may have been momentarily thinking about my not so pleasant ex. LOL

kezcapt

I don't know if all of that process that MK19 said works or not but "Hat's off" to the gentleman for being so detailed and trying to help. I really appreciate that his response was the process of a lot of time and effort. Cheers!

nick49

AMEN!

Porschelova

I learned more that I cared to learn in this thread. I would like an opinion or recommendation. I saw a 2001 996 cab wth the aero kit yesterday. It looked amazing. My question is if putting the aerokit rear spoiler only without the rear and side skirt and the front bumper a big drawback or counterproductive than using the popup spoiler.
Also does anyone know if the 996 turbo rear spoiler fit any other 996 model? thank you

"02996ttx50

i would imagine downforce the fixed wing the aero kit provides would equal if not exceed that which the movable one does? or why would it have been an option? and for reasons cited upthread in this wildly entertaining and info packed thread, i would also imagine that any extra aerodynamics the skirts provide wouldn't be noticeable in daily driving conditions either. but someone in here has a slide rule, and would know with greater certainty than i do. using the aero kit makes a lot more sense to me than the movable one, but better movable than none, i say.

pretty sure our 996 spoiler is peculiar to our iteration alone, though the 997t is not much ( if at all ) different, at least in design and it won't "fit" any other 996, far as i know.

Macster

If you are talking about mixing aerodynamic features no one can say.

The front, side and rear aerodynamic features are designed to work together to create the desired aerodynamic results.

That is unless you subscribe to the belief that Porsche has no concept of vehicle aerodynamics and just slathers on the plastic like a Pontiac auto body engineer on crack.

For aerodynamics one thinks of high speed stability. There's that. But first lets consider another area of aerodynamics.

There is the not inconsequential concern about limiting wind noise, managing air flow through the radiators, air flow into the turbo intercooler air intakes (which rely on pressure differences -- remember there are no fans in these ducts -- to encourage air flow through them), air flow over the car and over the engine compartment lid (which has louvers) which plays a role in engine compartment temperature control, air flow over the spoiler when not deployed and over and through it when deployed. Let us not forget the engine air intake is back there and the last thing I think anyone wants to do is create a low pressure area over the engine air intake opening.

The engine compartment fan is back there too and it would not do to have this having to work against loused up aerodynamics to maintain sufficient air flow through the engine compartment to keep temps down.

***** nilly modifications to the aerodynamics of the car can possibly affect one or some or all of the above and probably not for the better.

There there is the concern about vehicle stability under *all* conditions. The goal is to eliminate lift and help the car remain stable at speed, to be sure. These cars are capable of impressive speed not only on the straight away but also during cornering. Good suspension, tires and brakes work to increase cornering speeds for those that like to push it far above what lesser cars can do.

Some have noted the spoiler raises at 75mph (75mph indicated in the case of my Turbo but 70mph actual) which seems like a low speed to raise the spoiler making the raising more for show than go.

Well, at 70mph a headwind can raise the car's air speed up to in some cases 100mph. I have driven a lot and more than once have encountered head or crosswinds of 30mph.

There is too the sudden gusts from other vehicles that momentarily interrupt this wind or increase its force or change its direction as the vehicles pass by my car.

Having the car with proper/factory sanctioned aerodynamics in place is like wearing a seat belt all the time. You never know when you will need it and you certainly can't put it on at the time you need it.

(When my Cayman S was hit on the driver's side I didn't even have time to react before the impact. The seat belt pretensioner fired and pulled me back into the seat and the air bag deployed and the next thing I knew my head was pressed into the softest warmest pillow this side of 38D breasts. Still managed to bump my head -- thankfully not very hard -- against the side window from the force of the impact.)

Anyhow, back to aerodynamics: In the case of aerodynamics -- unlike seat belts and air bags -- you may not even know if they worked to keep the car on the road.

As for the Turbo rear spoiler working on other models, I doubt it, but have not looked into this any.

Just by eye though it doesn't look like it would fit. Take a tape measure and visit a lot where Turbos reside and measure the width and length -- do not forget to measure/note how the Turbo hydraulic cylinders extend down into the engine compartment -- and then see how this compares to a non Turbo model of car to know if major sheet metal work would be needed to make the spoiler and other body related hardware fit. 'course as I touched upon above, even if you manage to graft the Turbo spoiler to another car the results may be less than desirable.

Besides the physical fitting issues there is the auto deployment/retract feature that the non Turbo car electronics may not support.

Last but not least after having had to have the Turbo spoiler replaced because it stopped working I would not welcome the exposure to this risk and big ($2K) repair bill for a non-Turbo car.

rmc1148

This is very informative and may I add entertaining= right up there with oil and tires lol. My car has 13k and has had one switch replaced per records where as the spoiler is concerned. I would repair or replace if it gave me a problem.

cbracerx

So here is one for the Wing Crowd. I recently replaced the pump and cylinders with a used set from a list member. The car had the "wing fixed up all the time" modification performed by the last PO. Getting a Microswitch back together (one came apart) was a bit of a challenge but I think it went ok. Wing has been working fine since. In the past few days, the wing no longer goes down automatically. If I use the switch it goes down without issue.

Thoughts? Microswitch issue?

rmc1148

I agree would say take a look at the microswitchesand to make sure they positioned correctly etc .

Kevinmacd

Sounds like it. The down level switch is probably in the closed position as if the wing were down. Think you can buy the micro switch separately new, think it runs about $43

DaveCarrera4

you are not kidding, I was troubleshooting my non functional wing today. A micros switch popped loose from its mooring position...you need a lot of delicate moves to put it back together. I cannot believe Porsche would use such a delicate part on the car. The hydraulic pistons motor does not turn, so need to figure out how to tear it apart next. I'm hoping the plastic thingy is not shot, like others I read about. Also, how does one extend the spoiler in order to remove it from the rams with the special tool? It's under pretty good spring pressure pulling the wing down.

2002 Turbo - Basalt Black Metallic / 2003 Carrera 4S - Speed Yellow / 1955 356 Continental 1500 - Rust Red

cbracerx

I'd love to know which switch is which on the parts diagram. I only need the down detect switch, and they are different!

DaveCarrera4

im pretty sure the lower switch is the down switch. Must be a detention in the cylinder that allows the switch finger to extend into.

2002 Turbo - Basalt Black Metallic / 2003 Carrera 4S - Speed Yellow / 1955 356 Continental 1500 - Rust Red

rd.cullen

Rear spoiler, when extended provides something like 364 lbs of lift reduction (i.e. downforce) at 195mph. Should be pretty useful for most owners.

996tnz

Hi rd.cullen. Do you have a source for this figure and was it definitely for the 996 Turbo? Only asking because I've spent ages looking for this info and all I could find was that the car has a net downforce of about 18 lbs on the rear axle at 124 MPH IIRC. That figure includes all effects including body shape, rake, (mild) ground effects etc so am very keen to separate out the contribution of the spoiler alone. Your figure suggests that the spoiler is neutralizing significant lift, so I'd be keen to have that confirmed.

FWIW, I have spun the car in a 70-80MPH sweeper once with the spoiler faulting down, though that was mostly due to going in much too hot and I didn't feel the spoiler would have made enough of a difference.

As an aside, I'm happy to call it a spoiler or a wing as it seems to fall between the two in function. For it to function as a wing only it would apparently need to be mounted quite a bit higher in cleaner air, at the cost of some of its spoiler function (of helping air break away cleaner from the back of the car).