Any other OR owners elect to ADD the air dam?

That's a good point, a chin spoiler on a Camaro bumper 4 inches off the pavement is going to work better than a truck sitting 2 feet above it. It's not a question of trying to prove elemental fluid dynamics but design application effectiveness.

That's not how science works, the hypothesis was proposed and it need to be tested.

Do 10 runs through a slalom with no spoiler just as Toyota delivered the TRD OR (perhaps duplicating existing tests done by Consumer Reports, Car & Driver?) and then do 10 with it and post the improvement. There's already been several people posting about MPG improvements, that seems to support that the air dam does help.

That's why I say it's an interesting hypothetical but that's all it is at this point, subjective "feels" improvements. The theory may be right, I dunno.

"In God we trust. All others must bring data."

 

Given how 90%+ of the forum members here seem to believe Toyota engineers were sent to Earth from a far more technologically advanced planet/galaxy/time/whatever, I'd say there's a good chance Toyota has access to a wind tunnel. They *proooobably* did bring some data to their own tables. I don't think anyone here is claiming the air dam is intended for the same activity as a splitter on a race car. It's not designed to create downforce. It's designed to smooth airflow under the truck and direct some of the air around it, thus creating lower pressure under the truck compared to one without the dam. There's a difference between creating downforce, and preventing lift. I don't know how one would subjectively test the practical difference, but I'm pretty sure a slalom isn't it. How do you test a trucks propensity to wander?

 

Absolutely not. You give them way too much credit.

High octane fuel? Other trucks in sexy lingerie?

 

hook up sensors on the suspension and measure G forces when you go through the slalom course, Myth busters time!

 

Like a butt dyno after an exhaust install..

The butt wants to believe.

 

Just to clarify. The chin did nothing in terms of handling. What I’ve experienced is more strait line stability on the interstate, truck doesn’t wander as much as before. This wasn’t a night and day difference, but a noticeable improvement. Usually I do only one mod at a time and give it some time to get a feel.
The truck still wonders more than I like.
I feel like some of this is due to the GY Kevlar tires.
Will find out after making the switch to Sema wheels and a different tire.

 

Yeah I wasn’t a fan of the OR shocks either. Soft didn’t bother me, the damping was off. Not controlled.
Made the switch to fox pro shocks, that gave me the feel I wanted.
This week I installed the Sport/SR5/Pro 30mm front sway bar. Corners flatter but the ride is stiffer.
Jury is still out what bar I will end up using.

 

The sr5/sport front sway bar is larger than the OR? I did not know that.

 

As far as I know all trucks have a 30mm SB, other than the OR. 28mm SB for that model.

 

I really enjoyed reading all of these comments & comparing lol! I have had mine on & off several times, as I cant really decide, but I think I like it on better lol!

I ALWAYS put it back on when the wife & I are taking long mile road trips, as if anything helps for MPG's on long trips & helps keep road debris from hitting the underside of my truck, I'm all for it lol! (usually road trips that are 500+ miles each way).

We are headed to Ft. Lauderdale FL next week for a trip to Bogota, so I will be putting it back on for this road trip. It's literally 10-10mm screws & takes about 3 minutes.

 

This is correct and has been that way since 2005.

 

No question really, it's sort of an untestable theory short of full on OEM. Toyota of course very likely did model and test. So surely someone, maybe one of you engineering undergrads, has Solidworks, STARCCM+ and access to a wind tunnel. The answers must be found.

 

I’d be willing to swap front sway bars too.

 

0mm off-road performance FTW

 

The air dam directs the airflow around the wheels, and those little aero fins help with stability too. Tacoma’s chief engineer, Mike Sweers, mentioned in an interview how the little aero fins, which are also on the side view mirrors, made a significant difference in stability when they spent days at the track taking them on and off. In other words, the design of the engineered, wind-tunnel and track-tested air dam fits with your experience.

 

My Air Dam Performance Dream.

2016 Tacoma Off Road 4x4

0 - 60 with Air Dam On*





Air Dam Removed*




* = In My mind only

 

They also claimed to fix rust issues for about 10 years. So I'd take that with a grain of salt haha

 

Hahah. My wife said she’ll wash the kids at 6pm tomorrow, but my ex-wife was late to dinner all the time in 2007, so....anything’s possible! (But man, she had bigger...engine displacement in the V6.)

Anyway, people want to know if highway-speed handling and mpg might be affected by the air dam, and TW user experience plus the engineer’s notes point toward an answer that seems reasonable and unsurprising: yep.

 

TW is also the only place that "truck people" are talking about how a truck handles without regard to payload or towing, which makes this whole thing kinda funny.

Everywhere else handing is suspension and brake power. Not the lift produced by ground effect and aerodynamics.

To each their own though