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Front Wheel Air Directors

Lucken said:
Did you get them by calling the main customer service number or by calling your local service center?
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I was at the Riviera Beach Service Center for something else and asked if I could buy a spare pair of the airfoils. Since I didn't need them right then, they asked if they could mail me a pair instead of selling me a pair from their local inventory. They arrived about a week later.
 
Unless you are an automotive engineer, there was obviously a study done into the effect of these on drag and down force produced, I find it hard to believe that they need to change the design. A quick Google produced this article and testing which seems to indicate that these devices have quite a profound effect on the vehicle.

 
hydbob said:
Unless you are an automotive engineer, there was obviously a study done into the effect of these on drag and down force produced, I find it hard to believe that they need to change the design. A quick Google produced this article and testing which seems to indicate that these devices have quite a profound effect on the vehicle.

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Very interesting. It does appear these airfoils may provide significant benefits. Honestly, though, I didn't realize I had lost them both until the Service Center pointed it out to me. My guess is that the effect on range, while there, is within the normal variance one might see from variations in temperature and terrain and therefore be largely unnoticed except in controlled testing. Whatever effect it might also have on lift and downforce are also probably likely subtle until very high speeds are reached.

It's important to remember that the Air does not have an air suspension that allows ride height adjustment, and that was done for various ride and handling advantages. (Given how much better our Lucid rides and handles than our Model S Plaid with air suspension, I applaud Lucid's decision to go with coil springs.) Given a fixed ride height and the range goals, Lucid needed to keep the car low to the ground for aerodynamic purposes. This resulted in airfoils being very close to the ground where they would inevitably be more susceptible to damage.

Given all the constraints under which they were working, I really do not see that Lucid had any choice other than to use the kind of airfoils they did: pliable units that could break away without damage to the undercarriage and be easily and inexpensively replaced. (I paid $11.00 for the spare pair.). Fortunately, the surround view camera makes it easy to avoid damage to them when parking. There is a slightly fuzzy rectangle on the surround view just ahead of the front bumper in an area the front camera doesn't capture. I have learned that stopping the car when an obstacle touches the top of that fuzzy rectangle will leave the lower bumper at an optimal distance from something such as a parking bump stop.
 
hmp10 said:
There is a slightly fuzzy rectangle on the surround view just ahead of the front bumper in an area the front camera doesn't capture. I have learned that stopping the car when an obstacle touches the top of that fuzzy rectangle will leave the lower bumper at an optimal distance from something such as a parking bump stop.
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This is a really good technique.
 
just noticed mine is falling off. i gues i'll have to make a call.
 
I don’t live near a service center. Does anyone know what size fastener? My rubber piece is still attached, so I just need to resecure it.
 
hmp10 said:
I was at the Riviera Beach Service Center for something else and asked if I could buy a spare pair of the airfoils. Since I didn't need them right then, they asked if they could mail me a pair instead of selling me a pair from their local inventory. They arrived about a week later.
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Lucky. I asked for a pair and they ignored me. They won't even call me back.
 
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Only 600 miles on my car. It seems this should be something they tell you about in the owner's manual.
 
I have a service appointment 25 March. Going to get a case of wedges and fastners ! Currently I'm using this:
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Lucid engineers have chosen to have a "breakaway" air dam. Good for them! although ... they should have included a bag of fasteners with the car. I've tried several sizes at the auto parts store, but since all four fasteners are gone, and I never saw what they look like, I have no idea what size to get. Hoping Lucid Service knows what size they are. PS Got my recall notice today...something about no defroster for the windscreen. No worries mate, I learned to drive on a VW Beetle, which had no front defrosters at all, and my first car was a $90 Chevy Corvair, which coated the windscreen with a 30 weight oil film, and filled the cabin with blue smoke. Yes I've had poor defroster performance this winter, but I don't care. The car is awesome.
 
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Peter Rollinson is an avowed environmentalist. Everything on this car is designed to make it efficient. The breakaway design of the wedges just shows more brilliant engineering. If we only knew what fasteners they are using .... I bought every size in the auto parts store....none of them work as well as the Duck tape.
 
Just checked mine, they're fine. No class action lawsuit needed.
 
Just before my airfoils were knocked loose, I had bought some plastic cleats to anchor the front carpet on the driver's side of the car, as it kept coming loose. While I was waiting for a new pair of airfoils to arrive, I found the extra plastic screws that came with the carpet anchors fit the bill.

If your carpet is also slipping, you can kill two birds with one stone.
 
SCOOTERSD said:
View attachment 12051View attachment 12050Small question. I’m having my car ceramic coated today. During that process we noted that the small front rubber ”air dams“ (which I believe are to direct the air downward in front of the tires) on both sides of the car were just dangling by the front rubber tabs but the side tabs weren’t in their slots and there was no fastener through the holes at the back of the rubber dams to attach them to the metal bracket (see photos- first photo shows holes aligning with the back metal bracket. Second photo show the dams after I put the side tabs back into place). It appeared like they could have easily detached at any time. Does anyone know whether there is supposed to be a fastener plug through those rear holes to keep them in place?
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True…the placement parts are inexpensive but I was shocked when told a $200 labor charge to replace the two small deflectors . Just to put the car on a liftand take 5-10 minutes total to replace ?
 
I had my left (driver side) one replaced recently. Technician suggested backing in to park when there are curbs or parking bumpers.
 
markbuick said:
True…the placement parts are inexpensive but I was shocked when told a $200 labor charge to replace the two small deflectors . Just to put the car on a liftand take 5-10 minutes total to replace ?
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What? Our mobile tech replaced one with the car on the floor in our garage. Two tabs slide into the front slots, and the rear is secured with a single screw. Takes all of 1-2 minutes.
 
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