what are front pods

2002auxr6 · 22-03-2006, 02:26 PM

hi guys i was on the awc site and are just wondering what are front pods are?

Lightning Strike GT · 22-03-2006, 02:53 PM

They re the pieces of body kit under the front bar at either end as per these photos

XR6-VCT-2000 · 22-03-2006, 02:58 PM

lol , good excuse to post a pic of ya car ;) .

Casper · 22-03-2006, 03:04 PM

also very effective of reminding you of every driveway and speehump with that wonderful "griiiiiiind" sound

XR6-VCT-2000 · 22-03-2006, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Casper

also very effective of reminding you of every driveway and speehump with that wonderful "griiiiiiind" sound

ooohh yeah , it's amazing how scratched up the bottom of my front spoiler is

, lucky its not visible without getting on ya knees and looking under it ! , gee i got some really nice thick deep scrapes out the bottom of mine , no cracks though.

FPV8U · 22-03-2006, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AU XR8

I know it's off topic but how did you do the tickford logo down the bottom?

Dauphin · 22-03-2006, 03:19 PM

My air deflector guard underneath the engine gets a bit of abuse. Has anyone cut off the vertical part of it before?

Lightning Strike GT · 22-03-2006, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dauphin

My air deflector guard underneath the engine gets a bit of abuse. Has anyone cut off the vertical part of it before?

No but I lost it doing about 150kmh at QR one day

Quote:

Originally Posted by FPV8U

I know it's off topic but how did you do the tickford logo down the bottom?

A guy from the XR Club made it up last year it is a lower grill with the logo on it

Quote:

Originally Posted by Casper

also very effective of reminding you of every driveway and speehump with that wonderful "griiiiiiind" sound

That is why I have not dropped it

XR6-VCT-2000 · 22-03-2006, 05:11 PM

Nice color silver , suits the XR nicelly, doesn't show the stone chips as bad either , providing they don't go deeper than the undercoat .

cArSiK · 22-03-2006, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Casper

also very effective of reminding you of every driveway and speehump with that wonderful "griiiiiiind" sound

Too true , I am starting to miss that sound however :sm_drool:

richo77 · 22-03-2006, 08:53 PM

The fibreglass aftermarket ones are not worth the hassle imo. They will break off real quick unless you are a very careful driver. You only need to see how easily the genuine plastic ones break/crack to know what i mean.

Dark Horse · 22-03-2006, 09:15 PM

Front pods? I like to think of them as "sacrificial anodes" on a boat.

cArSiK · 22-03-2006, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richo77

The fibreglass aftermarket ones are not worth the hassle imo. They will break off real quick unless you are a very careful driver. You only need to see how easily the genuine plastic ones break/crack to know what i mean.

mine were fibreglass and didnt break off , they copped a beating aswell....

FalKeen · 22-03-2006, 09:19 PM

and youd still be in front even if you went through a few glass ones aswell, but as carsik has said - if your not a lunatic and take it slowly you can still hit them and not rip them apart

chief · 22-03-2006, 09:51 PM

I have broke my front bar. Cant notice it unless you get under the car. My rear bar cracked when it het a bright yellow pole doing 5km/h. They are both as strong as each other. IF and thats a big if, fiberglass ones to break easily, money wise you would still be ahead than if you bought genuwine.

XR6-VCT-2000 · 22-03-2006, 10:29 PM

An advantage to the fibreglass spoilers is that cracks and stuff are easier to fix yourself , alot easier and cheaper than plastic welding ! .. not that i want fibreglass ones though - they weigh more too :( .

richo77 · 23-03-2006, 03:32 PM

The point of my post was not to start argument on the benefits of fibreglass v plastic or vice versa, merely my opinion that when the factory ones break off, you might want to consider not replacing them at all and spending your money elsewhere on your car as you may likely just break them off again.

As for replacing them more than twice i dont think this is possible, last time i looked underneath there are something like 10 screws on each pod holding them on, you would have little space left to attach the new ones.

cheers
Nathan

Dauphin · 23-03-2006, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AU XR8

No but I lost it doing about 150kmh at QR one day

Regarding the air deflector guard under the engine, mine came off at 100 km/h once on the freeway after a panel place didn't screw it in. It was hanging by its rear screws only and scraping. I thought it was a box that got under the car or something.

Anyway, my exact question was if anyone has cut off the little vertical component of this part and what kind of effect it has removing it? Reason being that it is usually the part that gets caught by things and tears the rest of it down.

Dark Horse · 23-03-2006, 07:04 PM

It's designed to create an area of low pressure in underneath the car whilst at speed. Not exactly sure why, but that's what it's there for.

Lightning Strike GT · 23-03-2006, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dauphin

Regarding the air deflector guard under the engine, mine came off at 100 km/h once on the freeway after a panel place didn't screw it in. It was hanging by its rear screws only and scraping. I thought it was a box that got under the car or something.

Anyway, my exact question was if anyone has cut off the little vertical component of this part and what kind of effect it has removing it? Reason being that it is usually the part that gets caught by things and tears the rest of it down.

I use to always catch mine on speed humps, drive ways etc and it broke 3 out of the 4 mounting holes being the high strength plastic they are I was going to cut the plastic bit off the afternoon of the sprint rounds but could not be bothered then going down the front straight one hell of a vibration then bang the plastic surf board came a flying off and I actually found out these things do help with the buffering of the air under the car to the extent I bought another one to refit so in reality I would not remove the vertical plastic piece (air dam) it unsettles the car too much and it is very wind noisy without the air dam these little pieces of plastic actually perform a function so IMHO leave it there.

Group C · 23-03-2006, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark Horse

It's designed to create an area of low pressure in underneath the car whilst at speed. Not exactly sure why, but that's what it's there for.

A low pressure area under the front bar will create a vacuum under the bar, giving 'suction' (aka: another type of downforce) to keep the front on the road.
if you look at a race car's front air dam (a properly designed one, like V8 supercar ones), they have a curve going upwards at the back of them. this does the same thing, creating a low pressure vacuum to 'suck' it onto the road. This suction is actually better than the 'true' downforce created by the front of the bar (the spoiler area), as the same amount of downforce can be generated with less air-drag.

hope this helps

Dauphin · 24-03-2006, 03:33 PM

OKay then, that all makes sense. It stays. Thanks! (Sorry to hijack the thread.)

Dark Horse · 24-03-2006, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Group C

A low pressure area under the front bar will create a vacuum under the bar, giving 'suction' (aka: another type of downforce) to keep the front on the road.
if you look at a race car's front air dam (a properly designed one, like V8 supercar ones), they have a curve going upwards at the back of them. this does the same thing, creating a low pressure vacuum to 'suck' it onto the road. This suction is actually better than the 'true' downforce created by the front of the bar (the spoiler area), as the same amount of downforce can be generated with less air-drag.

hope this helps

I completely missed the obvious! Yeap, understand it totally.