To park in my garage, I have to pull all the way in, almost to wall. Well I have steps going to a storage room and I have dented my lower air dam. It is actually bent backwards and bent like that probably hurts the mpg more than if I removed it.

What do you think?




Removing it is easy, right?

 

Ford says its needed.

Being bent giving you worse mpg than taking it off? Hardly. If you want to take it off bc it looks like crap with a big crease, then go for it. But its not hurting your MPG in its current state.

Some guys like to buy the 2 wheel drive air dam since its smaller. Don't know the effects on the trucks air movement, but its an option if you plan to replace the one you dinged up.

Removing is easy. Replacing is easy. Having that pink Auto Nation plate frame on that awesome truck...not easy

 

The pink was from the dealership for cancer awareness, my dad died of cancer so I am ok with it.

 

My apologies. Didn't know that was the case. Keep it and good on the dealership

 

No worries at all.

Wasn't being hateful, just letting you know no worries on my end.

 

I'd replace the air dam, Get one of those half circle ladders you find at an old children's playground, and let people scramble over the hood of the truck to get from either side of it.

Sorry to hear about your pops, cancer is a super ******* and has been hitting folks in my family yearly it seems like (Uncles and aunts hitting those ages..). I might let my wife keep her pink .45 in the center console safe...

 

Mine will be removed as soon as
I get home. I have removed them on my last two SD's. If you want mine, its yours. My truck due 9-16.

 

Looks like you either have to ditch that front air dam or perhaps install a two wheel drive version that will probably not be so low to the ground.

 

Id like to know why they are required, Cooling issues?

 

reduces drag because it directs air toward the ground and away from the truck’s "rough underbody"

 

The air dam can also reduce noise issues.

 

I took the air dam off my F-150 and while nearly as big as the one on the '17 SD trucks, it makes the truck feel a bit loose in the front as I approach a higher speed. I like the looks of it off but it feels better on the road with it on, so I'm putting it back on.

 

Ok here's the plan, take Rain's that he offered above and then use your backup cam to back into the garage. So the rear bumper will clear your steps. 😎

 

Gotta love a problem solver!

 

So I got to thinking what is the real purpose of the air dam and talked to my friend google and what I understand, it is to direct the air to the ground for highway driving. It supposely increases mpg and reduces noise.

A guy did a test with it on and off and 3 tank fulls for each. Using at older F350 and recorded .66 mpg decrease with it off.

If what he states is true, then looking at going 10,000 miles, figuring 15mpg (for the sake of an example) at 15 mpg you would use 666 gallons of fuel. For this example figure $2.40 per gallon of fuel, it would cost $1598.40 for fuel.
Take the air dam off and lose .66 mph or get 14.34 mpg over the same 10,000 miles and you would use 697 gallons of fuel. At $2.40 it would cost $1672.80.
So the cost of taking it off for 10,000 miles would be $74.40. This if the mans calculations were correct and it does seem reasnonable.
Okay, you can see I have way to much time on my hands this morning, but I really wanted to know.
Like everything else in this country, it gets down to money.