Can't say i personally like it.

Looks like a stegarsaurus!

 

and its supposed to do what???

 

wow rice

 

For a sec, I thought it was a photoshop.

Whatever makes you happy, dude.

 

interesting... Kinda looks like the shark fin antenna idea 9x.

Got any more pics from different angles?

 

Did you put that on on purpose?

 

Yeah I'm lost on what this does..... well other than generate vortices......... :thinking:

 

Mitsubishi said something about it smoothing the airflow over the rear wing, increasing downforce. That, however doesn't apply tothis car as it wasn't designed and tunnel-tested for a 3.

 

WAIT so this thing fit with ABSOLUTELY NO modifications to it or the roof?

 

wtf?

 

That's awesome... but you're a sick man.

 

I am thinking how this piece would fare in the wind tunnel....it seems to wreck the flow and lined of the car, but that's just my 2 cents.

 

it supposedly allows more air to flow down the back glass rather than just flowing straight directing more air over the rear wing (which we don't have, except if you got the factory wing, which isn't functional. . .) worthless mod for a 3, kinda worthless mod for the evo really, although you could argue that at least the evo can reach speeds where this stuff would matter, not to mention actually has a functional wing, most aerodynamic forces depend on velocity SQUARED

 

Excellent post Ruby...good point about the EVO too. I think this mod can ruin the looks of any car, I could also see this thing comming loose on an evo roof after many high speed highway runs or time attacks under full boost lol.

 

I've spent time on the EVO forums, and there are threads about the vortex generator... Some hate it, some like it. Some pay $300 for a woven graphite one, others pay $100 for an ebay knock off. The OEM Mitsubishi one goes for $200.

A lot of people don't think it's worth the $200... I don't think it's worth $200 either... For some reason, the sharp edges just look better on an EVO than it does on our car.

BTW, I'm a graphic designer and what you see is about a half hour's worth of photoshop. I used the paint brush, color pallete, warp, and patch tool. Then I color matched it to look titanium since the original was mitsubishi silver.

Anyways, I thought it's always fun to use photoshop skills to see what external mods look like on the cars... Ain't nothing wrong with that!

From the feedback, it looks like I'm not going to attempt the modification to do it... hehe. I still think it looks pretty interesting... It's sort of like going shark fin, only to the extreme.

 

That's cool, photoshop is a cool thing in this day and age. I'm glad that the thing isn't planted on the roof lol. I commend you for making it look as realistic as it does, it looks real.

 

I'm glad that was photoshopped. good work there. Thanks for not actually going through with the mod... that would not have been a good move.

 

looks like a cheese grater.

 

The only thing missing is 8 more antennas.

 

[quote author=rubyred3 link=topic=42848.msg631466#msg631466 date=1143213544]
it supposedly allows more air to flow down the back glass rather than just flowing straight directing more air over the rear wing (which we don't have, except if you got the factory wing, which isn't functional. . .) worthless mod for a 3, kinda worthless mod for the evo really, although you could argue that at least the evo can reach speeds where this stuff would matter, not to mention actually has a functional wing, most aerodynamic forces depend on velocity SQUARED
[/quote]

Actually, it is the opposite: the vortex generator causes flow separation, which PREVENTS the air from following the rear window (coanda effect, fluid adhears to curved surfaces) and instead separates off the roofline and hits the high spoiler on the EVO, rather than passing below it. I would actually be worried about REDUCING downforce on the Mazda, since the airflow across the shape of the rear deck is the only thing that gives any downforce to a sedan (I highly doubt the factory "wing spoiler" adds anything other than aesthetics, but the lip spoiler might do a little something).

Either way, I think it looks gross, but to each their own...

 

...

 

hmm, I guess you're right about that (it induces flow seperation), I can't imagine that it would be all that helpful overall though, seems like it would creat a lot of drag by seperating the flow, I guess its all for downforce though. With no high wing behind it though like on a 3, it would just be something to crap up your gas mileage and make your car fugly. Thanks for correcting me DmcD.

 

Dood. That seriously has to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen on a Mazda3. Your car is NOT an EVO. Leave it up to the EVOs to look ricey. Please don't do that to your car...

 

Actually, I am pretty sure that turbulent flow induces less drag than laminar (smooth) flow due to less adhesion to the surface that it is flowing across. So if properly designed and wind-tunnel tested, and properly placed, the vortex generators could reduce drag. But if you just stick some weird looking fins on the top of your car, they will probably induce more drag due to the greater frontal area.

Actually, if you look out the window in an airplane you will see little metal tabs sticking up at certain places along the wing, and they are also vortex generators used to control the airflow over the wing.

So I agre, they just make your car fugly, but then again, who else can say that their Mazda 3 has vortex generators? So I say go for it if it makes you happy... :sarc:

 

Lol man. I'd for real laugh at anyone that said that ^^ Unless you're gonna race the car and you need something like this, this is quite retarded and 'fugly' as you so simply put it