While car aerodynamics has been known as all about style and downforce, having your ride lowered and modified will, in fact, improve your vehicle’s efficiency while helping lower the fuel intake – resulting to greater velocity, cleaner combustion, and less drag in driving.

We are in a period of expensive fuel, inefficient vehicles, and compelling styles, and so it really makes sense to tune up your car’s aerodynamics.

Here are some helpful tips to improve your car’s aerodynamics: (by Warren Bauchamp, Passenger Car Aerodynamics)

Lower the car. Lowering the car reduces the effective frontal area, increasing efficiency. Note that this only works up to a certain point. There will be an ideal ride height for each car. According to this article, 2.7" ground clearance is a good number to shoot for. According to Mercedes, "Lowering the ride height at speed results in a 3-percent improvement in drag."

Remove that wing. Many "sports" cars have a non-functional wing on the back. Removing it will improve the fuel economy. The exceptions are the small rear fairings that are designed to detach the airflow from a rounded trunk.

Clean up the underside of the car. Installation of a "body pan", while a labor intensive operation, will provide a significant improvement in mileage.

Fair the wheel wells. Yeah, this looks funny, but completely covering the rear wheel well will help improve efficiency. While the front wheel can not easily be completely faired due to clearances needed for turning, a partial fairing can be made.

Clean up the front of the car. Basically the smoother the better. If the car has a large air intake under the bumper, it may not need that opening above the bumper (they are often just styling cues). An aerodynamic plastic or composite panel can be built to cover the opening.

Remove the side view mirrors and instead use a remote camera system. Replace large whip antennas with smaller powered antennas. Vehicles with steep windshields can benefit from a hood fairing to help smooth the transition of air between the hood and windshield. A small "tail cone" can be affixed the the rear bumper to help transition the air from under the car.

Sexy women and hot cars fit together very nicely.

I’m pretty sure a lot of eyebrows have been raised because of this kind of comment. But, in reality, pimping cars has been coupled with “pimpable” women. With ultra-”lowered” ground clearance comes shorter skirts. More provocative design, greater skin exposure. Better engine grunts, louder moans.

I may not agree with this stereotypes, but the insatiable advertisers made the combination just too irresistible for the market. Backed by experience, I have to admit: As I added more horsepower to my ride, the more women I got to lay with.

Aided by the film industry and an influx of aggressive-looking Japanese cars, body kits and ground effects have accelerated their way to popularity since the start of the decade. 

In 2001, the aerodynamic movie “The Fast and the Furious” was released. People took notice as the film demonstrated how style, flair, and performance can be imbued into their rides. Obviously, the sequel "2 Fast 2 Furious" kept the body kit scene alive and running at high gear, as it moved enthusiasts to “pimp” their cars. In an era of street racers, the lower a coupe, the hotter it looks. The greater the decals, the filthier it gets.

The body kit market, though, has not just been influenced by the trends set by the two films.

Armed with meaner faces and designs built for speed, Asian automobiles have invaded the local market scene. Stylish and a lot cheaper than most American household names, the Japanese lines of Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Mazda, and Honda seem to live up to the current trends in the body kit scene. This international car market has expounded on the body kit enthusiasts even more so, as now they have a car that seems like it is made to be perfected.

No wonder why I see more fully dressed up S2000s, MR2s, and Celicas today.

I have been fiddling with the thoughts of sharing my insights and views on dressing up automobiles. So, I decided to set this blog up to express my insatiable lust for car aesthetics. To start with, let me drive back to some historical briefs.

Body kits and other aesthetics have long been regarded and popularly used to add muscle and looks to the vain auto enthusiast’s ride. It is also through this procedure that an owner could inject filthiness and personal style to his boring sedan, shy hatchback, or timid SUV.

But do you know that body kits started from a fairly simple goal of improving race time using Mechanical Engineering 101’s aerodynamics? Regarded as the pioneer in applying this science to cars was aerodynamicist Jim Hall. Earlier, the technology had been used exclusively for planes.

The project started in 1961, but it wasn’t until 1970 that Hill was able to take his concepts and develop a car that could actually provide a formidable competition, especially in many Formula One races. By employing ground effects — now popularly known and used "lowering" the springs — Hall had put as little room between the pavement and his car as possible. By forcing the car downward, the air is forced to go up and over the car in a more efficient manner.

Despite the obvious advantage of the newly-recognized technology, Hall met numerous humps along the way. Formula One organizers initially banned such cars because of the inherent advantage that it could have in the future. There were also too many complaints about Hall’s car.

Aside from Hall, there were several other designers (Peter Wright, Tony Rudd, Gordon Murry, among others) who took on the challenge of completing a car that could make its opponents eat the dust. After the death of prominent racer Gilles Villeneuve from an accident in a similar car, the "lowering" of race cars was banned. But even though the ban has been held to keep drivers at a reasonable speed on the track, it has not discouraged street racers from tinkering with their own “race cars.”

Since the time of Jim Hall, street racers and enthusiasts have worked to build their cars from the bottom all the way to the roof with aerodynamic designs to give them an edge. Whether that edge means winning a street race or getting just the looks and admiring stares, it seems to have worked wonders.