Front splitter or not?

[beanbag]

I've got my hands on a front splitter for my F31 for next to nothing. I thought the part just clipped on but it needs drilling and gluing. In other words once it's on, it's on!

I'm in two minds about it and if I should add install it or not Opinions?



This is the car now:



I'd also like to get the dark line gloss black grill but that's for another day.

[McSam]

I actually think it might look better if you painted the upper parts white, as they are on the car now, and only left the tray black. Perhaps not as aggressive, but more appealing to my eye, stealth aero rather than obvious modification.

[Tuvra]

I wouldn't to be honest, I'd just wrap the side trays matte black if I wanted that look, simply unwrap when it comes to selling then if its not to everyone's taste.

[beanbag]

McSam said:

I actually think it might look better if you painted the upper parts white, as they are on the car now, and only left the tray black. Perhaps not as aggressive, but more appealing to my eye, stealth aero rather than obvious modification.

Yeah, I see what you mean. I'm not 100% sure about the splitter, but I have see some slimmer carbon ones which are very pricey!

The only reason I have the M Performance one is because i managed to get hold of it for a bargain deal.

[Crusoe]

Serves very little aero purpose, not close enough to the ground but means it will probably hit kerbs, speed bumps etc. not something I'd want on one of my cars unless it was a low track special.

[LordGrover]

Is that a splitter or a dam?
I'm often confused as to which is which.

[DanielSan]

Fit it, it looks good. But personally I'd colour code the top corner pieces so it's just the lower part that's black.

[rsox87]

LordGrover said:

Is that a splitter or a dam?
I'm often confused as to which is which.

It's a splitter, it's effectively a blade that splits (natch) the air going under the car away from the air going over the car in a clean way. A dam is a smooth verticalish surface that replaces the lumpy lower bumper that the stylists insisted on with a surface that sends the air cleanly over the front and over the rest of the car.

[rsox87]

Looks good to me OP - just remember where it is and how far it sticks out when you come to park it nose in to a kerb - I'm forever snagging the splitter on my RX8, which fortunately is made of unpainted ABS and is able to take the abuse where a carbon, GRP or painted one wouldn't.

[beanbag]

In fairness I'm still undecided. I like the idea of painting the top parts to make it blend in better but that just seems like a lot of hassle.

On top of that i'm worried that once I add it, I won't be able to remove it.

Might be best to sleep on this one....

[McSam]

I think that carbon one looks overly glitzy and more like a showpiece than a functional item. It also doesn't work well on a white car, IMO.

If you kept all the existing bumper design in the body colour and only had the splitter in matt or gloss black, I reckon you'd struggle to offend anyone with it or harm resale value (so no worries about removal) but it would help make the car look a little more purposeful.

Looking at the photo of your car, the lower bumper design really is begging to have the gap "bridged" by something..

[W00DY]

I reckon that's a big improvement on standard (and I definitely wouldn't paint the upper part), but it would need large wheels to look right and I think the black mirrors help it.