The Aero on a Yaris
 

:thumbup: :thumbdown: ? I'd like to improve on gas but I'm also curious about the aerodynamics of the Yaris. Since I drive one, I'd like to improve it to be as close to the Honda Insight as possible. Isn't it so that the Insight has excellent aero for a street car? So how can I improve the aerodynamics of the Yaris? Anybody?

Keep it polished and slippery on the finish. You are not going to be able to make it as aero as an Insite because the Insite is a smaller car to start with. Next thing is to break the engine in and then look into adding some lubrication additives to improve engine efficiency and reduce friction. A friend of mine got one but he is leasing it so I can't do too much to it otherwise we would be switching him over to Synlube so that he could forget about changing the oil in the engine and at the same time reduce friction.

A slightly roughened surface (like sharkskin) has lower drag than a slick smooth surface. As far as aero drag reduction improvements, there are a lot of them you can do to your car and the effects of them are accumulative. You could add any of the following. Grill block, wheel well skirts, underbody panelling, wheel spoilers, rear wheel boattails, side skirts, smooth hub caps, windshield wiper air deflector, gap sealing, internal side mirrors, internal antenna, and boattail. Check out my car, it has gone well beyond the Insight in drag reduction and has an unconventional, but extremely low drag, appearance somewhat like the Aptera.

Here's a rough pic of what I was thinkin' for modifying aerodynamics. What do you all think?

What is a "wheel spoiler?"

I have some ideas, but was wondering if you have links or pics to "good" versions of these...?

That looks cool!

Make it a fish car!!!

A wheel spoiler is that air deflector that sits in front of the wheel well to deflect wind that would normally hit the front of the tire. Also called a "wheel spat" or "air splitter". You can see small versions of them ahead of the front wheels on the Insight, Prius, Civic, Odyssey,and some other Japanese cars.

If you google "aerocivic" and "photobucket", you will find my photobucket site where I have photos of the aero mods on my car as well as photos of vehicles that I used as sources for inspiration.

That's a start. You could also install smooth underbody panelling to clean up the bottom of the car, and add wheel spoilers, double side skirts, and rear wheel boattails to clean up the air flow around the wheels.

Understood, thanks.

Got it. Good stuff.

Would the wheel spoiler still be beneficial if you had, for instance, an entire front spoiler that covered the lower portion of the front bumper? It would, in effect, cover up any "wheel spoiler" that was there.

I've seen the wheel spoilers on MANY new smaller cars. Toyota, GM, and some Fords. I don't see them on the Hondas, though. I wonder how effective those rear wheel spoilers are? It looks to just be about a 1/4" thick piece of plastic that is 4-5" wide and extends downwards maybe 3" from the bottom of the car.

Obviously they work in some positive way, or the manufactures wouldn't bother to put them there.

I wonder how much science goes into the placement? I've often thought about just sticking a piece of plastic there.