Originally Posted by lionsfan
Spoilers are interesting things, some are designed to create downforce and as a by product create drag, some are designed to fill the vacuum immediately behind the car as it moves through the air.
My buddy who is an aerospace engineer and car aficionado calls the ones that produce downforce "wings", and those that create turbulence and fill the low pressure behind the car "spoilers". Not sure if that nomenclature is generally used and accepted, but it seemed like an engineering term of art, at the very least.