Before and After chin spoiler MPG

Its kind of crazy because I got used to the windy feel of the steering while it was off to where it wasn't a huge deal but as soon as I put it back on to test the mpg for the 1500 miles with it on, I immediately noticed my daily drive was just more relaxing. It's very ironic that a test I done just for mpg purposes to have real data over an extended amount of miles turned into learning that a chin spoiler does alot more for the truck than I would of thought. Honestly, if the mpg results were reversed and it got worse with chin spoiler, I'd still keep it on just because I enjoy the way it drives better with it. Thankfully, thats not the case so its a win win situation for me.

 

I concur on the chin spoiler and highway speed stability. While the Taco doesn't handle as well, the straight line tracking and stability feels a lot like my '88 911, which has its own very functional chin spoiler providing measurable downforce, which may be in part why the Tacoma chin spoiler is effective as well. And yes, as was demonstrated in earlier comments, it takes less than ten minutes with a Dremel cutoff disc to trim the spoiler for a perfect, factory looking fit with the TRD skid plate. For those who primarily drive on the highway with only moderate off road, this configuration makes a lot of sense, and it looks great too.

 

My truck is a home owner truck. Live on the edge a small rural town, like population 47.

I have a TTSE FJ for those times I want to ride trails or fire roads. My 4 wheeling stupid days are behind me.

 

This whole discussion on stability reminds me of a few months back when I drove my TRD Sport (with chin spoiler) from New Hampshire to the DC area, making a stop in Connecticut to drop off a rather heavy piece of furniture, and because the furniture was coming out of the bed first, it went in last and had the bulk of its weight just in front of the tailgate. During the 200 miles I drove with the furniture in the bed, I kept thinking, "Wow, the Tacoma feels squirrelly, I wonder what's wrong." When I arrived in Connecticut I noticed the front of my truck was riding a tad higher than normal, a condition which was resolved when we got the furniture out of the bed. From there to DC and back to New Hampshire, the truck drove normally again. I'm wondering if the issue was simply the chin spoiler didn't hang low enough to prevent lots of under vehicle turbulence, similar to what some of y'all are experiencing when you remove the chin spoiler.

 

I think you are on the right track there. Toyota publishes precious little in the way of specs for many of their products but Porsche does, and while I'd have to go digging through my 911 book, their chin spoilers are hugely effective at helping to control the front end, providing sufficient downforce to really stabilize. I don't remember the exact numbers off the top of my head but it was at least a couple hundred pounds at 90mph. While we don't know the exact numbers of our Tacoma chin spoilers, I don't think it's out of line to assume that, since they are somewhat similar in design, that there is some effective downforce that is created as part of the air deflection effect that has a positive effect on high speed stability, which in turn is why we feel the effect more at high speed and gradually backing off as we slow down. There may also be an optimum height for the front end of these trucks where the spoiler is most effective as well and like you experienced, get above that they lose efficacy.

Porsche also publishes the downforce numbers for their rear spoilers as well, and how much lift the vehicles generate at both ends with or without spoilers at various speeds, which fully explains why the front spoiler is necessary up to about 90mph and above that if you don't have a rear spoiler, things get really squirrelly really fast do to the rear end (even with the weight of the engine in the back) starting to lift above that speed. Kinda the reason I've never gone over about a hundred mph in that car even though it'll do a hundred and a half.

 

Too much weight behind the rear axle could unweight the front steering. My guess would be it’s the weight distribution more than the chin spoiler being raised — in your case.

 

Well, it was heavy, but it wasn't that heavy; maybe 100(ish) pounds right in front of the tailgate. Yeah, I understand weight and balance (need to do it every time I fly), so the further behind the rear axle, the more impact the weight had, but still, I don't think weight distribution was the major factor.

 

Hey, I can remember back in high school when my old man sent me over to the quarry in Pebble Beach to pick up a yard of decomposed granite in his old piece of crap '66 Ford F100. They'd just drop that bucket into the bed of that truck and all the way home the front wheels would be literally bouncing off the ground at every tiny bump in the road. Probably overloaded just a tad.

 

Makes for a fun drive…

 

I did read once, from "toyota engineers", that the number ONE thing that would improve Tacoma fuel consumption figures would be to LOWER the vehicle.

A front dam effectively does that. I get 21.5+ mpg consistantly at interstate speeds (70s). When I back off to the low 60's the number goes up to around 23+. all based on gallons consumed vs miles traveled.

My Sport 6MT "sports" a front receiver hitch, and the spoiler does a great job of blending that bit of steel with the rest of the front end lines.

 

I have a TRD Sport 6MT as well and just this week I made my third "one-tank" trip from the Aberdeen, Maryland area to the Manchester, New Hampshire area in the last several months, a distance of over 400 miles. This trip featured heavy weather which required the A/C to be blasting the entire time, six or more hours of 75(ish) cruising, two to three hours of heavy traffic, especially in the NYC metro area which we happened to hit at the tail end of rush hour, and more heavy construction related traffic in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Even still the tank fuel economy was 22.3, not too shabby.

 

Buy an OR and you don’t even have to worry about it!

 

Kind of silly to buy an Off Road when one never takes the vehicle off road.

 

I have a 2023 Sport. I removed mine, I saw no difference in mileage. I did reinstall as I felt handling and air noise was less with it installed.

 

Great looking truck.

 

Thanks……initially want the Lunar, glad I got the Silver