It might be a stupid question, but does anyone run a rear wing? My buggy starts getting very loose in the rear end at 140km/hr+. I was thinking that a wing may help with this, or could it be to do with suspension setup? my rear is reasonably stiff, but feels pretty goood so I would rather not change it.
There are one or two running wings in NZ. However I have no doubt it's either a patch for poorly performing suspension or it's not functioning at all. I've been clocked in my Jimco at 220kph using radar and 247kph using my Aim datalogger (gps). Not a whisper of instability and I'd hardly call my car "aerodynamic". It certainly doesn't like to jump at that speed but I doubt a wing placed in what is predominantly dirty air would do anything but slightly weigh down the rear. I've never run a wing, never will. You'll probably be more successful unlatching the roof and letting it lift naturally (every one I've ever seen creates lift!, including mine)
there was a buggy in WA a few years ago which had aerofoil shaped side-pods with end plates, (basically 1 foot wide wings on the sides). I havent seen it about for years so I guess it wasn't worth the drag. Bear in mind a useful offroad spring rate with an effective wing at high speed will compress the rear suspension a lot, this would cause a nose-up pitch and you'd be trying to compress a big wedge of air between the belly plate and the ground. I think it would be counter productive but I'm far from any sort of expert.
If the guys with a 7 figure budget aren't doing it then it's probably not worth doing, then again the fairing on the leading edge of a modern Jimco roof looks interesting.
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I'll check my rear allignment. I wouldn't be suprised if it is setup wrong. Should I run slight toe-in?
I have also noticed that my rear suspension is almost sitting on the lower rear bump stops. I might have to get softer springs and lower the ride height a bit. My rear end does feel pretty stiff compared to my old buggy
zero toe is ideal at the rear, but buggy's have long arms on bushes that all move around, so slight toe-in is a good way to make sure you avoid any toe-out.
Although I run zero toe on my Jimco. However I've heard of high powered offroaders running a little toe out. When power is applied the rear tyres are attempting to drive the car forward and naturally pull the rear arms into a 0 toe (or slightly toe in) position. I've also been on the other end of the scale where the car was constructed up with 0 toe, run it on an alignment machine a season later and found 5 degrees toe out. Didn't believe it as I couldn't see where on earth anything had shifted/bent and found it horrible to drive. The rear end would step out every time I breathed in the direction of the throttle.
It turns out i'm running slight toe out. Ill set it with a very slight toe-in and see what difference it makes. I'm also looking at getting softer springs as the car was setup for a heavy V6 but now has a 4age
