I've read numerous replies to a question I had about spoilers on Yahoo Answers (before I found this site) that spoilers are just for show on all cars that have anything but a V8.

Then thisone guyrecommended getting a diffuser. And then there was of course someone who debunked diffusers too and said they will only create drag for front wheel drive cars and/or cars that don't have V8 engines just like spoilers.

They also said if you're trying to keep relatively decent gas mileage, a spoiler will just screw that up if you have front wheel drive cuz of the drag. What's the skinny on all of this?

What does a diffuser do anyway?

And is there any difference between spoilers and wings and do they create drag on front wheel drive cars?

ORIGINAL: civicexracer

not ture. plenty of fwd, awd, and rwdcars, 4-12 cylinder, 100hp-1000hp, can benefit from it on the track. on the streets, it dosnt matter what car, how much power, or anything because u just wont be reaching speeds high enough to make it beneficial(assuming ur driving within resonable speeds).

again, uesless on the streets no matter what car/power.

it can affect all cars, fwd, awd, rwd...and only possibly true depending on the spoiler. if its like small oem style,the decrease in mpg would be extremely small if at all any.if its some huge silly APC wing tilted so its practicallyvertical, then yes it'll create unwanted drag but even still, the mpg lost wouldnt be very noticable.

improves aerodynamics and creates downforce.

most wont create very much drag, what ur lookingfor with a spoiler is downforce. at higher speeds, u need downforce for the tires to grip the pavement. in a straight line and fwd cars, a rear spoiler isnt really needed. in road racing circumstances, its usefull since they take turns at 70+mph and need to keep those rear tires down to prevent the tail from swinging out and losing control. again, it dosnt matter fwd, rwd, awd, a huge wing tilted vertical will creat unwanted drag.

spoilers and diffusers, unless reaching speeds access of 100mph and taking hard/fast turns, are useless. they arnt going to make u faster on the streets if thats what ur getting at. i wouldnt waste money on it unless it was a show car or actual track car.