[DocWheezer]

I have no evidence to support this, but it is possible that air dam is there to do more than just help aerodynamics. It might also divert rain and road water spray down and away from important components under the car: battery and battery connections being a couple possibilities.

Mike

That very well may be one of the functions of the air dam. Luckily here in southern Nevada we get less than 4" of rain a year.
Come Spring I will most likely install the shorter air dam.

Take Care

 

[DocWheezer]

Thanks for the tips. I did remove the dam. I left it off for about a year and eventually installed the shorter dam. I like the short dam since it drags a lot less and looks a lot better than the original. I created a lot of work space by taking advantage of a hump in my driveway and also pulling the front wheels onto a low stack of boards for an extra 3 inches of lift.

I did not notice any change in efficiency for any of those 3 configurations. However the differences are probably smaller than 5% which is hard to measure among the other noise, but still may be worthwhile.

Another consideration is that the dam influences how air moves through the cooling system. I would not want to negatively affect that. The engineers may have that optimized and I would not want to find out on a really hot day that I have inadequate cooling.

Thank You for replying
Here in Las Vegas heat is a REAL concern. But we're heading into fall and winter now. I'm going to wait.
As I told Mike above, come this Spring I'll probably install the short version air dam.

Take Care

 

[billnoroville]

I took a different route...

My new to me 2016 had a drooping air dam where you could actually see light between the bottom of the bumper and the rubber air dam. I could tell there are two different materials, Hard plastic bumper and softer rubber air dam.


When I pulled back on the air dam, I could see that the gap between the body and air dam got larger. After putting the car on ramps I could get under it and see why. The air dam is only held in place at a few points. After several strikes, the rubber is stretched somewhat around the bolts in some area allowing it to pull out and droop down and not return to the original snug to the bodywork place.

I gathered some fender washers (large washers with small holes). I removed the air dam and cleaned the bottom of the plastic bumper and then used acetone and cleaned the rubber air dam. I re-installed the air dam using the large fender washers under the factory screws (I found 2 different lengths so pay attention if you do this) and used them where needed (mostly on the outer side sections). When done the air dam was back to making full contact with the plastic bumper.


Next, what I did that is unique (I think), I took some black silicone adhesive and pulled down on the air dam and applied a good bead of adhesive in the crack between the air dam and bumper on the front side. I let it set overnight to cure.

Why do this....... Why I did this was to add strength to the mounting of the air dam. Now when stuck by a parking barrier it will fold as designed and not deform around the bolt holes and sag due to larger mounting surface. Much stronger than original.

If it needs to be removed, I can simply remove all bolts, take a piece of fishing line between both hands and drag it between the bumper and the air dam cutting the adhesive and the air dam will fall off.