A stray traffic cone hit at high speed ripped the airdam off my 1990 740. Should I bother replacing it? It looks like the holes in the driver's side of the bumper cover are ripped out, too, so those would need to be repaired, if that's even possible. Is it worth it? Can I just drive without it? Does it serve any purpose beyond cosmetic? MR
Yes, for some reason it helps gas mileage considerably. The year they adopted air dams, the gas mileage improved almost 2 mpg. In the Edmunds article: http://www.edmunds.com/advice/specialreports/articles/106954/article.html it explains how the front fascia and air dam to reduce drag under the vehicle and improve fuel economy. Also, technically it helps down force at high speeds, but that is of very little practical use.
The hell it isn't. Speaking as someone who's driven 240s with and without air dams at highway speeds it helps a lot at keeping the front end from being flighty. I would assume the same applies to the 7x0s. Bill
Most people had 240s with flighty front ends and never complained. In fact I can't remember any problem with my 240's flighty front end. I thought the car drove rather well. Other than being tall and leaning over from cross winds and a lot of lean when turning, I never noticed any problems. And that was driving on the Autobahn and Autostrada as well as on the road to Hanna.
That would be my plan, but the holes in the bumper cover are ripped out. How can those be repaired (don't really feel like R&R'ing the bumper cover)? Is it possible to just drill new holes in the airdam and the bumper cover and move the fasteners there?
I didn't say the 240s didn't drive well, but having owned 240s with and without air dams, I'll take one with for highway driving, no contest. The front end is just much better planted. I was expressing the contrary opinion to "They don't do anything." Volvo didn't put them on the GTs, Turbos, and later all of them just for kicks, and given that it required the switch to front vented rotors to make up for lost airflow it obviously wasn't a minor styling frivolity. Bill
use large flat washers, sometimes called fender washers, or drill new holes.....not much to lose by trying.
