2022 taco air dam

Hello... I know this topic has been covered many times! I was thinking of removing the air dam on my Tacoma. But does the air dam protect the radiator in any way from debri flying up from the road?

 

No.

 

Air dam does nothing but give you ~2 mpgs. It doesn’t provide any protective attributes to the engine bay.

 

??? ....negative - 2 mpg...???

 

A tild or “~” means give or take. Not a minus sign.

 

Ok.... So to put this in plain English if I take the air dam off I should see an increase in my MPGs

 

No, you lose 1-2 mpg.

 

You're saying I might lose 1-2 mpg???
Isn't that still negative...in mpgs

 

People say this, but there isn't really any evidence for it. The trd sport (with air dam) and the trd offroad(without air dam) have the same rated mpg.

 

That's the exact reason why I asked if it protects anything like the radiator!!
Not to mention i like the trd skid plate look.

 

you are OVER THINKING this

 

People say what you say because they don’t understand how the EPA and Totota’s own mpg numbers lump like vehicles together. The EPA certainly doesn’t test every iteration of a truck every year, and often the EPA works with or utilizes numbers supplied by Toyota.

@Discokiller : take a picture at air dam height, unbolt it, and take exactly the same picture. See what is uncovered; see the lower control arms, the tie rods, and the edge of the brush guard (it’s not really a skid plate until you get the TRD or aftermarket). Is that protection? Only from wind noise and slightly improved fuel economy and feeling uncool; depends on how you define protection and whether you’re hitting air, grass, sticks, snow, or, in spicier moments, dirt or rocks as you bottom out the suspension or drop your truck in a technical section.

 

Definitely not 2 MPGs, not even close

 

The front air dam on your truck (if you have it) is solely for LOOKS only. It does not protect anything and will not affect your MPG's in a positive or negative way.

 

Maybe like + .5 mpg on the highway.

 

this!
It is not even included with some trim levels (OR and Pro) if that further puts your mind at ease.
Lastly- if you did decide your particular truck was going to wither away and die due to removal, you could quickly and easily reattach it.

 

Take it off if you don’t like it.

 

Early press on the Tacoma Trail Edition stated they were going to remove them for a better approach angle. It seems that some have them and some don't. I just bought my 2022 and it does have it attached. I suspect it will be off within a couple weeks one way or another.

 

Guys im a simple gal learning things and asking thing that might be very clear to you but not me! A gentleman sayed take it off and see what it was covering? The oem brush plate is not the same as skid plate?
But with that sayed even with the skid plate! You still see alot of things not covered 100% just asking....

 

Incorrect; there was a video posted here last spring or so which was made either by a Toyota engineer, or in consultation with one which discussed both the air dam and the vortex generators below the mirrors; per the engineering source, the air dam is there for noise reduction inside the cab and to provide a marginal improvement in fuel economy when driven at speed. If you spend most of your time south of 50mph, there will never be any benefit from the air dam, either from the noise or the fuel economy perspective.

With the above said, in the video they did confirm at least the noise reduction aspect when on a test track.