[dan]

Hello. I'm new here, but I've found your website informative & helpful. We love our new car and thanks to your help we are "learning to drive."
When we picked up our new car we got a meticulously filled out dealer prep checklist. One item on it (not checked as done) was "Install strakes (Insight, S2000)". When I asked the salesman about it he said "Oh, those are mud flaps." "Sales" sent me to "Parts". "Parts" had no picture, they sent me back to "Sales". They all agreed this is an accessory.
The Honda website was no help (They told me to ask a dealer).
From your site I have learned that they are an air dam, and can be dammaged from towing.

My questions are:

What are strakes?
Where do they go?
Are they aftermarket or standard?
Does anyone have (use) them?
Do the help with gas milage?
How much do they cut down road clearence?
What is the meaning of life?

Answers to any of the above questions are appreciated (don't feel like you have to address them all.)
Thanks, Dan

 

[Sparky5501]

Hi Dan,

Welcome.

My questions are:

What are strakes?
Where do they go?
Are they aftermarket or standard?
Does anyone have (use) them?
Do the help with gas milage?
How much do they cut down road clearence?
What is the meaning of life?

Well, strakes are at the front of the wheels under the bumper area, unlike "mud flaps" which are at the rear of the wheels. The Strake helps deflect the air flow around the tire. They are standard from the factory, but might be installed after the dealer gets the car, to prevent injury while on the transport, cos they hang low. They are not an accessory. My Insight has them under the front bumper at the wheel opening. Yes they help with the under car aerodynamics. Clearance... Well, you can't go driving over curbs, and most automotive lifts will scrape the snot out of them, other than that you don't notice they are there. And, the meaning of life is "42."

http://www.plugitin.co.uk/images/insight_bodypanels.gif
In this image the strake is the pointy bit under the front bumper. Bottom left of the diagram. It is made of rubbery black plastic.

BTW: The insight doesn't have any options for "mud flaps" that I am aware of. So, the salesman pulled that out of his, as...k me later. :lol:

 

[Rick]

I think they throw them in the storage bin in the back of the car. If not try pulling the box away and see if they are packed in with the spare tire. If they aren't there and they aren't on the car they owe you a pair. If you find them installation should be relatively easy as I think a screw or two and some double sided sticky tape holds them on.

 

[dan]

Thanks Sparky5501 and Rick,
It turns out that my strakes are installed, but not checked off (maybe they ship installed now), and that all the helpful folks I spoke to in sales, service and parts at my local Honda dealer are just marking time at their day jobs until they can move on into politics or fiction writing.


Of course! 42! It all comes clear now!

 

[boogetyboogety]

Meaning of life..?

42?

???!? :?:

My 42nd lover?

Bill Clinton?

My 42nd car?

42nd step on the Stairway to Heaven?

Age when my last face pimple disappeared?

"door?" (the 42nd word in "The Raven"...)

% reduction in aero drag with the strakes on?

I thought the meaning of life was (per "Moulin Rouge" script) "to love, and be loved in return..." and (if I may add) to drive an Insight :wink:

 

[b1shmu63]

Sparky 5501, "The meaning of life is 42" is from the radio techno drama "A Hich Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy", but to understand the answer you must understand the queston, right?

 

[slideways]

Mine were installed by the dealer. There is double sided tape on the strakes that is intended to adhere them to the car. The tech who installed mine must have been gettin' into the corn squeezings that day and didn't pull the backing tape off to expose the sticky stuff. Check yours.

 

[boogetyboogety]

Oh.

Thanks, b1shmu63, for enlightening me. I'll have to fill that little hole in my intellectual development... :lol:

If I had a million dollars... I could buy 42 Insights for my friends! And buy them enough gas to go at least 100,000 miles each! And throw in oil changes! Then they wouldn't have to hitch hike the universe :roll:

 

[Sparky5501]

"The meaning of life is 42" is from the radio techno drama "A Hich Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

Douglas Adams "A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" is also out on paperback from Ballantine Books. It's a funny and insightful read.

8)

 

[dan]

Thanks everyone! There aren't many places that can help one minimize the aerodynamic drag coefficient of one’s car AND the psychic drag coefficient of one’s karma.

Dan