Canards Experiment
I've enjoyed experimenting with the aerodynamics of every car I've owned. Currently, my Mirage has an air dam, deep side skirts, partial grille blocking, a ducktail lip on the rear spoiler, and I've had a diffuser on it before the chain/turnbuckle for the rear alignment got in the way.
I noticed at 72mph, the steering wheel began feeling a bit floaty. Thinking about some ways to reduce front end lift, one of the simpler solutions I found was canards, or dive planes. I went ahead and whipped up a pair out of coroplast, corner braces, and Gorilla tape.
They weren't very effective, being a weaker material, and a flat plate. They helped move the floaty feel up a few miles per hour, but also seemed to add drag. I ended up cutting off the corners to make them a bit smaller, and that seemed to alleviate a bit of the induced drag. Overall, no significant changes.
I had some points on my Amazon card, so I ordered a set of universal canards. The material was a strong but flexible plastic, so I was able to mount it in such a way that I got a smooth curve to improve airflow and keep the flow attached on the underside of the canards. It came with two larger and two smaller ones, with the smaller ones being mounted above the bigger ones.
Canards function in two ways. They produce a small amount of downforce by pushing air upwards, but also generate vorteces down the side of the car. This can either help or hurt aerodynamics based on the placement. They aren't inherently efficient, and are usually used as last resorts to fine tune the aerodynamic balance or to get as much downforce as possible within the rules of whatever racing series you're running in.
Now, somehow, I must have found a sweet spot, because not only did the floaty feeling completely vanish, but they also seem to have reduced drag somehow. I aimed them to keep the overall angle of attack somewhat mild, and to keep the vortices along the most turbulent parts of the wheelwells. My average fuel economy going to work and back has gone up 2-3 MPG. I'd usually get about 49, but now I'm seeing 52-53 without even trying.
I always told myself any mods would be 100% reversible, but since my bumper already has a crack from hitting a bear cub 2 months after picking it up, I figured some holes wouldn't hurt, and these are bolted in place. The Gorilla tape is for gap sealing and covering the hardware.
(Note, the VX wheels and smooth wheel covers were put back on before the canards, since I was going to drive down to Florida, but that ended up not happening. The changes in MPGs were noted with the canards being the only change. I'll see how things behave whenever I put my 15" wheels back on, since I might wear down the old Generals down some more.)
Here's the canards I used: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MFGYVAH
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View my fuel log 2014 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 49.2 mpg (US) ... 20.9 km/L ... 4.8 L/100 km ... 59.1 mpg (Imp)