FDNewbie

iTrader: (10)

Your point's well taken, as Chris Barnett mentioned earlier. Again, my aim was to dispell the whole "wings shouldn't flex" blind following we have... do a search for "wing" or "spoiler" and "flex," and I guarantee you practically EVERY single thread has someone saying the same thing. Just got on my nerves, that's all

Re: the article, I did take a quick look (I actually was looking for the part where I read the rear tailgate was designed to generate downforce by itself, but the R1 spoiler was added as part of the overall R package for *greater* aerodynamics). Unfortunately, I couldn't find either. Of course, it would help if I had spent more than 3.5 minutes looking...

~Ramy

PS: You know, it's unacceptable that I have YET to meet you man. You gotta come up this way sometime soon for one of the meets...

little mark

If Im not mistaking,Is any wing driving on the street going to hold your *** end down to help that much to talk about?
I bought the wing for the look and price and wanted to pass the good deal on to other owners.

I dont like the look of the 7 without the wing...So I corrected my problem by buying the knockoff.

Zebb

The flex in F1 is about ultrathin CF wings that have different characteristics in different speeds. If they were allowed to flex, the F1 cars would do 450km/h + on the straits because of less downforce when the load increases.

The FD wing (-99) generates 75kg downforce at 100Km/h at the maximun angle, i heard. Maybe it flex a little in 200Km/h + but its not meant to flex by design. This has nothing to do with F1 tech. The FD wing is a thick piece of plastic and it doesent even help if it flex.

Btw, i have a OEM -99 wing on my FD so i know if it flex. If it flex we are talking about millimeters, and that doesent do anything.

7racer

Little,

could you take a pic of the bottom side of the wing. I am curious if they have the rubber seal to keep water from getting into the rear hatch.

little mark

No is doesnt have the rubber seal.I am going to get a piece of seal so it doenst leak though.

afterburn27

iTrader: (5)

Yeah, I get ya.

If I had to guess I would say that Mazda did not design the '99 spec wing to flex in such a way to aid aerodynamics. They probably designed the wing without flex in mind and decided that the minimal amount of flex occuring at high speed wasn't a problem. This is just from owning an FD and seeing how they 'engineered' other parts on the car, haha. I do not own an '99 spec wing and I haven't talked to any engineers at Mazda, so this is all speculation.

PS: yeah yeah... I'll make it up to a meet in NoVa sooner or later. lol

FDNewbie

iTrader: (10)

Absolutely. Granted, most ppl don't drive fast enough on the street for it to matter much, but from about 80mph, and definitely past 120mph, aerodynamics play a *crucial* role, and functional wings (and even spoilers) will generate a *considerable* amount of downforce, planting the rear firmly to the ground.

I don't recall ever seeing figures showing downforce in kg for the FD, but here are some actual concrete figures that I have seen...

"The wing features and adjustable-rake rear center blade with four alternate angles to create varying amounts of downforce while providing a spoiling effect to reduce drag. The 4 positions for the center blade are at 1, 5, 10 and 14.5 degrees. At the standard one-degree rake, the front lift coefficient is 0.045 and the rear 0.000. At the extreme fourth setting of 14.5 degrees, the car generates a front lift coefficient of 0.053 and a negative rear lift coefficient of -0.075, pushing the rear end firmer onto the road surface."

If your wing is plastic, it's fake For the THIRD time in *this very thread,* the OEM wing is NOT plastic. It's made of *urethane.*

If I were purely speculating, given that Mazda made both the R1 and Efini wing out of fiberglass, then changed and made the 99spec wing out of urethane, I would speculate that given this break from their trend, they went with urethane for a very specific reason. Urethane is *considerably* heavier than fiberglass. Moreover, even with the fiberglass R1 spoiler (super light), FDs equipped w/ the spoiler from the factory were also equipped with stronger hatch struts. So FDs equipped w/ the 99spec spoiler made of urethane (much heavier) would also have to be equipped with considerably *even stronger* hatch struts as well, due to the additional weight. That's a lot of additional engineering and expense for it to be purely coincidental, don'tcha think? But hey, that's just my speculation

~Ramy

Zebb

Urethane is a plastic.

FDNewbie

iTrader: (10)

Plastic is a VERY broad term, applied to a host of synthetic or semi-synthetic polymers. While *some* plastics such as (poly)urethane and pliable fiber reinforced plastic (PFRP) are known for their flexibility *after* the manufacturing process is complete, not all plastics have such properties. For example, one of the most common types of plastics employed in the manufacture of auto parts is acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic, known for it's *rigidity.* So when ppl refer to a plastic part (at least here in the US), they're usually referring to a rigid part. Hence the reason why we don't ambiguously call all front bumpers "plastic;" we specify "glass," "urethane," "ABS," etc.

Lets not play word games, k?

JustinStrife

iTrader: (2)

Good price for a replica. I just spent 650 through a friend getting the OEM 99' Spec wing for my FD. No idea if one is better than the other, I just know I was trying to go OEM as I try and avoid replicas as much as possible.

Zebb

I just said its a piece of plastic, you made it a big deal, not me. Urethane, in this case, is a plastic. But i dont really care what its made off as long as it works, and it does. I have adjusted it many times when at the track. To tell you the truth i can only feel a difference when at the maximum anglee. But it helps to balance the car if its oversteering in the fast corners.

btw, thx for the spec on the 99-wing, i will save them somewhere...

FDNewbie

iTrader: (10)

My apologies if I misunderstood you. But you said it was plastic in the context of it not flexing, so I assumed you meant it was rigid, that's all.

Yep. As I mentioned to little mark, if you're on a road course with high speeds, a rear wing will help *considerably* with cornering speeds, allowing you to maintain traction while taking the turns at higher speeds.

My pleasure And don't worry about saving them; my website's practically complete, and it has all that info (and more) on it

~Ramy

afterburn27

iTrader: (5)

That's the only reason I think you may be right, I had the exact same thoughts.

But hey, don't you have some huge GT style wing anyway? Mad downforce yo.

j/k

FDNewbie

iTrader: (10)

LOL. So if you don't think the same, then it's GOTTA be wrong, huh?

LOL oh it makes tons of downforce; it's simply not very aerodynamic (causes lots of drag as well). And I'm getting rid of it and replacing it w/ a functional wing (teardrop shape and all etc). Just kinda got tired of dropping money into the exterior when I still have the drivetrain to work on So patience my friend...patience.

little mark

UPDATE

Mount the wing today.Everything fit great.
Took about an hour to install..Cars off to paint shop Monday to get repainted(whole car) Going with black with crystal blue pearl. Will have pics when completed.

petros_rx7

any update ?
Pics from your new wing?
I am interesting to buy one.

quicksilver_rx7

That piece of info can be found in the Yamaguchi book.

FDNewbie

iTrader: (10)

Thanks man. I looked through it, but I *couldn't* find that specific page, and I wasn't about to read the entire chapter LOL. Got a page #?