Aftermarket Lip/Splitter WARNING

[DarkstarZero]

The previous owner installed a MBs CF-J carbon fiber front splitter/lip.



After taking the car to the track I noticed unusually high oil temps. After talking with several e92 experts and racers it became clear that the style of this front lip causes air to shoot up and over the oil cooler, and therefor half of the radiator, at speed. It's fine at highway speeds but at 120mph and 7k RPM, the oil cooler is literally sitting there with no airflow due to the design of the splitter. This can cause all kinds of cascading failures with the car beyond the engine itself as individual components overheat due to improper airflow.

Unfortunately the previous owner bonded the lip on and I can't remove it so I had to buy a whole new front bumper just to get it off.

So be careful what you buy if you're in the market for a front splitter. Get something like the OEM M3 GTS splitter which tucks up under the bottom of the bumper and directs air to the sides, allowing air to hit the radiators like normal. Or just don't do a splitter.

[DRLane]

How confident are you in this assumption? Have you touched the radiator or taken any temp measurements? This airflow theory seems dubious.

[omgzirra_exe]

that was a reach of an assumption.. like a deep reach.

who ever told you that at the track, don't take advice from them ever again. LOL.

at least tell us what you consider high temp... cause i swear if you say

"my car has never gone above the 3rd dot"

im going to just forget this thread exist.

[amrazM]

the oil cooler is directly in the path of air coming through the lower bumper opening, unless you measured temps on the flow and return sides this theory cant possibly hold valid.