well i was at my local dealer the other day and was talking to the sales guy i got my car from. we were discussing the srt6, as i might be looking to get out of my coupe and in to one in a few months. anyway, i was saying how i was not a huge fan on the fixed wing, but could live with it on that car. there happened to be a guy there that said, he was from srt division looking at a problem they were having with a newly delivered srt8. so he tells me that the srt6 has a fixed wing, because the car accelerates too quickly for the automatic wing. meaning that if you were cruising at 60 and punched it the car would be at a speed high enough where the backend would get loose before the wing would be deployed all the way. so i was just writing to see if anyone has heard of this before, or what your thoughts were on it? seems to make some sense.

 

The automatic wing raises at about 57 mph. It seems that it could be programmed to deploy at 35 mph or any speed necessary. So the theory that the fixed wing is needed because of acceleration after 60 mph doesn't hold water. It could be the fixed is larger than the automatic wing; or maybe Chrysler just wanted to make the srt 6 different looking than the previous model (cheaper to change the wing than any other part of the car).

 

actually the wing comes up at 65. as far as i know, and have researched the wing is unable to be programmed to different speeds.

 

I have a 2004 Crossfire and the wing deploys at about 57 mph and retracts at about 35 mph. I don't know if the 05's are different. What I meant was that Chrysler could have the wing programmed to deploy at whatever speed they want. This of course, at the time of production, not afterwards by the dealer or the buyer. If yours deploys at 65 mph then it proves that not all are programmed consistently.

 

57 mph was the original speed at which the wing deployed; early build numbers have this. later on, they decided to raise the threshold to 65 mph. mine must be a later one (#7170); it activates at 65 and retracts around 40 mph.

 

The owners manual says 62 and 39... go figure.

 

Mine, 2005 Coupe, deploys at 62 and retracts at 39.

 

mine deploys at 60 and retracts at 35.

 

Mine starts to deploy around 67 mph and I can get to around 85 mph before it is fully deployed. I would guess the SRT-6 would be close to 100 mph before the spoiler was fully deployed, so there is some credence to what the DC dealer was saying.

Shame though, I would probably have gone for the SRT-6 if it had a retractable spoiler.

 

62 mph = 99.78 kph =100 kmph nice round metric number (27.78 m/s)
39 mph = 62.75 kph = not a round number or 17.36 m/s also not a nice number

Given the computer controls to wing and the computer has wheel sensor inputs? might relate to x many revolutions of the wheel in a time period or a revolution of the wheel in xxx milliseconds or less?

If the computer controls the wing of course it is programmable just not by the user.

If the wing size is adequate for the SRT-6 then it could be set up to rise earlier, or the time it rises could be variable perhaps depending of throttle position - pops up at 20 mph on full throttle.

 

Mine is an '05. Up at 65 and down at 39

 

Actually it is 100kmh and 60kmh, that is why the numbers seems arbitrary. And my guess on the srt6 wing is 2 fold. Part to differentiate from normal Crossfire, partly that the srt6 can easily overcome the contours drag of larger fixed wing and more likely to take advantage of it on a track.

 

Wow, last post was almost 10 years ago...

 

I saw this thread and wondered what had triggered the resurrection of it.

Amazing how people think that a European car would be programmed in mph.

 

I like the big wing, although my n/a roadster is feeling a little jealous. Must be "little wing" syndrome.

 

According to the engineers, they have thew same downforce, so I assume it is just to differentiate the SRT6.

 

I'll buy this theory...

I've been behind a semi going 50MPH on a two lane, hit the happy button and was doing 80 by the time I got to the front bumper of the truck. The retractable spoiler would have never been fully deployed by 80MPH.

 

Actually got some info straight from the horse's mouth at Woodward. When we met Eric Stoddard, he told us that they originally were going to put the large fixed wing on all Crossfires, due to the aerodynamics at speed (I assume that is because the rear of the car is basically an airfoil and generates lift?). I think the retractable one was a compromise for function and aesthetics.

 

Although the UK has been metric for some 40+ years they still use MPH on the roads

 

I think you missed my point.
I'm originally from the UK, so I know of what you say.
The U.S is the big holdout in the metrication of the world, Canada is metric which complicate exports to our biggest trading partner, the US.