How does the rear wing on 996 work?

How does the rear wing on 996 work? Thank you. Regards,

??????

In terms of downforce or raising and lowering.

The rear wing raises at 75mph (indicated) in order to reduce lift at the rear of the car. I don't believe it will create downforce at any speed.

Breyes this is the 2nd post that is not very descriptive ..... first a whooooo sound and now How does the rear wing work?? Do you mean how does it go up and down or what is the function??

Also, a more accurate term for the unit on a base Carrera would be "spoiler" rather than "wing". A wing actually creates lift, and when deployed upside down, I suppose that could be considered "downforce". The articulating unit simply "spoils" the airflow over the rear of the car, reducing existing lift.

There's a poseur button in the footwell on the left. Push it and the wing will raise on demand.

Now we are getting some where.

It comes up once I press the button, now I need to see if it comes up automatically while driving. I haven't heard the mechanism rise nor seen it while driving. I checked it(there was an opportunity with the angle of the suns rays as I looked back) around 70mph.

The spoiler should automatically rise at about 75 MPH and then lower automatically at about 37 MPH.

It deploys at 75 (and goes back down at 37). You should be able to see it in your rear view mirror if you look carefully. It should be silent.

So spoiler in the up possition means "hey cops, I am, or have been going way over the speed limit"!

Not sure about the 996 autos but Porsche fixed that problem on the 997s with a switch on the console so that I can put it up anytime I want. If the authorities think they know of a correlation between speed and spoiler position they will soon be sadly mistaken.

In the 996 cars there is a switch to manually raise and lower the spoiler. The switch is located on the fuse cover on the left side of the driver�s foot well. Some of us have tapped into that switch and run some wires to the upper center console (horseshoe) and bought a Turbo switch and installed it on the horseshoe. Sorry for the crappy pic. BTW - a select few of us have also added a couple of "Side-winder" Missile switches (see second pic) but that's a whole different story.

A couple months ago, there was a thread about a spoiler indicator light kit . I bought the kit, but won't be able to install until good weather. The poster, "carbonfiber," seems to like it. Spoiler indicator thread here.

Many, the OEM price of the missiles has me really bummed out these days. :-)

I just want a couple of paintball canons to deal with the left lane bandits.

Yes, make 'em spill their coffee!

I have a 99 cab originally delivered in Canada. The spoiler goes up at 50 mph and back down at 19 mph. Not sure why this is different than the others I have read about here. Kris

.....well...I don't think they fixed it. My 964 do that since 1992...

Just fine, thanks.

Really??!! Sorry to hijack the thread, but being of Canadian origins myself, I'm dying to know why there is a disrepancy. To that end, is it the same in Europe?

not to my knowledge...mine's a '99 C2 Cabrio bought in the UK

Is there a way to lock the spoiler in the up position so that it does not retract if you set the high and low speed triggers?

Learn something about my P-car everyday, thanks to this forum. Yep, I found the button and w/ a single push it raises the rear spoiler. Do drop it back down, however, I need to hold the down button until it's fully lowered. I always wondered about that!

I could see the spoiler go up on my C4 but the C4S cab it's just impossible to see.

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Does it have anything to do with the kilometers instead of MPH I wonder? Like is there possibly a setting that would do that?

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The full detail from the Tecknik Book: "The spoiler stabilizes the air-flow at the rear-end of the vehicle by means of a defined burbling of the air-flow while simultaneously increasing the pressure around the front of the rear spoiler. This reduces both drag and rear-axle lift. An additional side-effect of this increase in pressure is an increase in the volume of air drawn in by the engine as well as in the flow of air through the engine compartment ventilation system whose inlets are located at the rear lid. At low speeds, aerodynamics play only a minor role in the composition of road resistance values. For this reason, the spoiler is only extended at approx. 75 mph and is retracted again at approx. 37 mph. As a result of detailed and intensive work on the aerodynamics, it has been possible to reduce the size of the spoiler on the new 911 Carrera compared to that of the old 911 Carrera." Also (as far as cooling and ventilation) ... "The engine compartment is ventilated by an opening in the rear cover positioned beneath the spoiler. An additional opening beneath the spoiler grille is used to draw in the required combustion air. The extended rear spoiler, by increasing the pressure around the spoiler, improves the air-flow in the engine compartment and thus the cooling process itself. The engine compartment scavenging air is blown into the engine compartment (assisted by the fan) if the switching temperature is exceeded."

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No, in fact, in equivalent kph, the numbers make more sense: Up at 120kph, down at 60kph. The one from Canada mentioned earlier in the thread was defective or modified at some point.

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Wings can create negative lift, i.e. suck the car to the road. Spoilers can negate lift by not allowing air to accelerate over a surface and create downforce. Negative lift is far better than downforce as downforce is created by increasing aerodynamic drag. Lift (positive or negative) is created by accelerating air over a surface, i.e. Bernouli's law.

Uh.................... mine just sits there..... OK............... just being a smarta$$.............. It's late.... and yes...I've been drinkin' Sorry all....... I couldn't resist...

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Nice explaination. The term "positive down force" should be used, and not only for cars.

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I installed one of those spoiler indicator light kits today on my 1999 C2 cab. I was stunned to see the spoiler going up at 50 MPH and down at 20 MPH. So I've been searching for info on this subject. So far I have found this post about a 99 cab in Canada doing the same thing and in a post on RennTech, Eric the Bumperplug Guy, reported that the 99 C2 cab that he used to own deployed the spoiler at 45 MPH. So what's up with this? The 99 owners manual states up at 75 MPH, down at 37 MPH -- no conditional info for a cabriolet.

Like the missile switch. Where would one get these? Thanks.

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Might try a Google search for a quicker response.

Thanks, tried that. But my search terms must need something to be desired as no luck.

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What exactly are you looking for? Did you read the link posted in #15?

Yes sir, however that is the spoiler switch. I was looking for the "missile" switch as depicted in 2nd photo on # 14.

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Got it, lol!

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PM the poster

Is the lift mechanism hydraulic like the Turbo? Or is electric? I've been through the full process servicing my Turbo, which is notorious for hydraulic failure. Curious if I should look for a similar issue with my C2?

Have your GF take a front-facing photo of the spoiler deployed at 75 MPH! /X3 75+ MPH, San Marco Rd. & US 41 near Goodland, FL

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My C2 is electric, drives plastic gears/tooth actuator.

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When I raise the spoiler using the button in the footwell it will remain up until I turn off the car (and remain up until the next drive). When I am driving on a track, I typically raise the spoiler with the button before I grid the car. I'm not sure if there are any tracks where my speed drops below the low-speed threshold, but I figure I don't need the spoiler going up/down during a track session. When I return to my spot in the paddock, the spoiler will still be up. If I turn the car back on, and just start driving, it will stay up until the first time my speed drops back below the threshold, then it goes down. For my next session at the track, after I fire up the car, I cycle the spoiler back down and then up again, using the footwell button. So, if you raise the spoiler with the button, it should stay up for the drive.

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You just answered a question asked 13 years ago... But here we are. I would think keeping it up on the track would be of benefit since it's running cooler air when up?

Just FYI for the forum. My 1999 (996) Cabriolet had the spoiler stuck problem. After replacing the battery I had the "spoiler alert" warning light on, but it was in the down position. I manually raised it, but then it would not manually go down. I was going to hit the interstate and go 76mph, but I first when to the store and upon coming out I decided to lower the top. That made the spoiler go down. Something to try if you have a convertible. Good luck.