Aftermarket  Rear Bumper Diffuser?

People purchase after market  auto parts for a variety of reasons. Sometimes because a part breaks or wears out and an after market part is less expensive than buying from a dealer. Some people purchase parts because they enhance the look of their car. Others because the part or system improves something about the car, perhaps gas mileage, safety, handling, performance or other areas of the car.

• A rear bumper diffuser is one of those products that may be purchased for both looks and performance at the same time. If you have seen a car with a strange looking rear bumper it may have a built in diffuser.

• As a car moves through the air, there is an air flow over the car as well as underneath. The air flow under the vehicle may be faster, which will produce something called down force. This down force will tend hold the car to the road and improve hi-speed stability and cornering. It is always used on race cars and now more and more street cars are experiencing the same phenomenon. One method of increasing down force is a rear bumper diffuser. Here is how a bumper diffuser works.

• A problem occurs when the air from the under body which is a high-velocity air stream meets the much slower free stream airflow of the ambient atmosphere. This causes turbulence which can be dangerous. The rear bumper diffuser provides a space for so that the boundary between the car's airflow and the external airflow is less turbulent.

• On a typical street car the rear bumper diffuser does very little until high speed are obtained. Many high end cars such as Ferrari, BMW, Corvette, are now coming with a stock rear bumper diffuser or extensions below the bumper which accomplish the same thing. They look good and enhance the handling of the car.

Most after market rear bumper diffuser are either a replacement bumper with a built in diffuser section or a part that must be attached to the car. Usually you must cut holes in your bumper before the diffuser part will fit. If high speed stablility is worth a little installation time, then a rear bumper diffuser may be the answer. Before you buy a bumper diffuser, check out the installation instructions and the pictures of different looking applications using the bumper diffuser. You may want a bumper diffuser just for performance or perhaps becuase it also looks good.