All,

I am new to the Crossfire forum, and to be honest, I do not own a Crossfire yet. That said, I am looking to purchase a gently used SRT-6. My only reservation is that I hate the fixed rear spoiler. I feel that the fixed spoiler overwhelms the rear end and draws attention away from the powerful haunches of the car. Once I purchase the SRT-6 would anyone be interested in swapping the trunk lid with one from a base/limited? Is it possible? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Kevin Murphy
Rockledge, FL

 

i'm not sure you would have the electronics to make the spoiler work. it may require some more work than just swapping trunk lids -- good luck though.

 

CROSS POST: https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ead.php?t=9417

 

Great point, and more than likely correct. I also agree with the original poster, the whale tail is butt ugly... I'm sure it was designed to separate the look of the SRT6 from the Limited as well as the assumption that someone who bought the SRT would need the additional down force, because they would be driving faster... Makes no sense to me. Both cars have an electronically limited 150 mph and will both reach that speed eventually, so why the larger wing ?

I think some knucklehead designer thought it would look more aggressive, WRONG AGAIN ! Unlike the lower chin lip with the extra ducting for the intercooler, the wing was a bad idea...

 

HDDP,

If i remember correctly, the SRT-6 has a governed top speed of 158 mph whereas the limited/base have a drag limited of 151 mph.

Also the fact that the SRT6 can pick up speed much quicker than the regular 3.2 is probably why the fixed wing is there. If you stomp on the gas at 55 mph on an SRT6 you'll hit 100 before the wing is fully deployed making it a possible hazard since it take about 4 seconds or so to deploy. Also the fixed wing creates more downforce due to the larger area it covers (over the rear fenders) whereas the deployable wing is only the width of the rear hatch glass.

But this is all possible speculation since i just think chrysler wants the SRT models to stand out from the regular models and look heavily modded. Look at the SRT8 from 300 and the Charger and then look at the regular car. Alot of the body work is just there for show nothing more. Also the SRT4 i personally don't think needed the wing but if you get the idea of the point im trying to make. I just think they added the fixed wing thinking it would make it stand out more from the regular XFire also look at how they added the extra front lip on the spoiler. Again for stand out purposes nothing more. The car already has what it needs to handle the extra power, reinforced engine piston walls and head, reinforced transmission with 35% faster upshifts, larger front and rear brakes with larger calipers up front, stiffer suspension, etc.

 

So basically what you're saying is that the limited is an unsafe car at speed between 151 and 158 mph. I'm sounding like a lawyer. If both cars can reach the same ultimate speed, 150 +/- during some given time and they need X amount of down force to keep them stable, then the smaller deployable wing is a hazard, because it doesn't provide the same amount of down force of the SRT6 to keep the car on the road ?

Still doesn't make sense to me... If that were the case, then DC would have engineered the deployable wing to activate at 30 mph instead of 60 +/-. I can see where the car would be completely unstable at 130 mph + without any down force on the rear, I can attest to the fact that the rear end FLOATS at 140 mph... But your logic doesn't make sense.

I'm still sure that it was an aesthetic thing, which looks like crap IMO. Otherwise, if it was a safety or aerodynamic issue, the ALL Crossfires would have the WHALE TAIL !!!

Nuff said...

 

OK with all that said... just everyone should remember you cannot drive your Crossfire over 60+ miles per hour if the spoiler does not deploy. So AF Col I do not think it would be a good idea to swap out the third door with one from a Limited.

The spoiler is why i did not purchase an SRT6, kinda brings to mind the old "Duster", cheap.

 

Just where did you get that???

 

What I wrote is probably what DC would tell us if we ask them why they chose the fixed wing over the deployable one for the SRT6. I never said that i believed that the fixed wing was needed. Read again what i wrote. And yes the top speeds are those that i gave you 158 for the SRT6 and 151 for the regular limited.

If you read what i wrote it states that I think that it was just all a distinguishable, set it apart look, from the regular XFire. I even wrote look at what they did for the 300 in the SRT8 and in the Charger.

All i know is that downforce is not needed at 65 on our car or not even 80, over 100 mph yes, but then since no one technically will be driving at 100 on the highway everyday you wont see the cool wing that deploys, so therefore, they make it deploy at everyday speeds of 64 mph so everyone can see the XFire has a cool little trick device.

All i'm saying is that its there to help create downforce that the design needs when traveling at speeds over 100 mph. Thats all the wing is there for. And i don't recall exactly but i know that the wing created very little downforce at high speeds when deployed. Anyone know exactly what percentage of downforce it creates?

 

Bullfrog: I wasn't picking at you... Relax... Perhaps you misunderstood... I don't want to start another ***-for-tat on the forum again... I always end-up sticking my foot in my mouth... LOL

I believe the deployable wing creates 40 lbs at 150 kph. Not sure what the fixed wing does, obviously it's more... I wish I still had the video from the DC wind tunnel test of the original Crossfire... They actually shot footage of the car with and without the wing deployed...

I think FirebaseD mistyped something... We'll wait till he explains...

 

As I posted back in Sept. I read somewhere, that you get about 40 lbs. of down force at 65 mph from the limited spoiler. I'm sure it will increase the faster you go, but I have no idea how much.
I agree with HDDP, I think the Whale tail is more for "looks", to distinguish it from the Limited. Because of its obvious size difference, I'm sure it offers more down force (at any speed) than the Limited spoiler does also. But I don't think it takes any "more" down force to keep an SRT stable at say 150 mph, than it does to keep a Limited stable at the same speed.
On the other hand, if HDDP says that his Limited likes to "Float" at 140mph, maybe he could benefit by trying out a SRT-6s rear spoiler.

 

Call me Shamu, cause I like the look of the "whale tail" over the pop up spoiler. But it is fun sometimes when your driving and see a car or bus of kids, and you hit the auto deploy button, jaws drop and kids smile. Or driving on a on-ramp, and you fly by getting on the highway with the spoiler popping up behind. Perks of having such a beautiful car, just adds to the "gotta have" factor. And OMG did you see that? But if you own the whale tail, you get to have beauty and the beast (power/speed).

 

Yeah, but I rarely get to that speed on ANY track, the straights just aren't long enough for my poor little underpowered Crossfire to reach it... The last time I saw 140 mph was on the drive from LA to Pahrump NV on hwy 127. Had a great 56 mile straight road through the desert with nearly zero traffic... We were on our way to Sandia Motor Speedway for a weekend of FUN...

Back on the subject, you can really feel the car get "light" in the rear at those speeds, especially when the road is kind of rolling whoop de doo's... Come over the crest of a little hill at that speed and the rear feels like it's flying...

Not advisable... LOL

 

Yes, just gimme a manual transmission and I'll take my limited to the dump...

 

HDDP...I kind of thought that could be the reason that you never tried the whale tail before. You go to so many different tracks, I just thought it might be of use to you somewhere along the line.

 

Yeah, unfortunately SCCA does not allow auto transmissions for club or pro racing, otherwise I would have bought the STR6 and kept my Limited as a daily driver...

Don't hold it against me, but I'm looking at the new version of the Pontiac Solstice that will be SC'd with 254 hp and a 6 speed gear box. The new version is supposed to come out in late 2006 and Pontiac is making a push to turn it into something like the Spec. Miata class for SCCA. I'm also still on the (long) waiting list for the Lotus Exige with a substantial deposit, which is supposed to be delivered to the US in early spring...

 

No, I just meant the Whale tail spoiler on your current XF.
I bet one of those new Solstice roadsters would be fun on the track. But how are we going to tell it's you, with out a program? LOL At least in your Crossfire, we could identify you anywhere on the track.

 

I'll paint it neon orange ! LOL

 

Just an offhand thought, but the reason for the whale tail (and extra downforce) on the SRT-6 might be to pre-compress those stiffer springs so the car handles better at speed. I dunno...

It would be really nice if DC allowed a "Mystery Engineer" to post to this site and answer these burning questions though.

 

that's a really good point; the springs are some 40 or 50% stiffer than the Limited --