Max Downforce, Minimal Drag: The E36 Aero Kit Deep Dive
We’ve been running some deep CFD testing on the BMW E36 platform, and the results are honestly kind of wild. If you’re running a stock-bodied E36 and wondering how much your car is fighting you at speed, buckle up.
The Problem: The Roof Is Lifting
First off—your roof is making lift. A lot of it. That’s not exactly helping when you’re trying to keep the car planted at high speeds. Luckily, we’ve got solutions.
Enter the Nine Lives E36 Downforce Kit
We ran our medium downforce kit, which includes our signature Big Wang and a splitter designed for balanced, usable aero. Here’s what the data told us:
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Center of Pressure (COP): Nailed it at 56%
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Big Wang Angle of Attack: 0° (no extra drag, full efficiency)
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Drag (stock body): 409 lbs
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Drag (with downforce kit): 407 lbs
→ That’s a slight reduction in drag — a 0.4% improvement -
Downforce (stock body): -222 lbs
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Downforce (with kit): -629 lbs
→ That’s a 193% increase in total downforce
Yeah, you read that right. Nearly triple the downforce, and we actually shaved off a little drag in the process.
The Splitter Ramp Test
We didn’t stop there. We ran another CFD test—this time comparing splitters with and without ramps.
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Test Setup: Splitter, ramps, and Big Wang set to 5° AoA
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Result: The car gained 500 lbs of downforce
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Aero Balance: Perfectly split 50/50 front to rear
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Drag Increase: Only +9 lbs over the stock body
That’s an insanely good tradeoff. A few pounds of drag for 500 pounds of grip? Yes, please.
Final Thoughts
These tests show just how much performance is being left on the table with the stock E36 setup—and how effective a properly designed aero package can be. With our medium downforce kit, you’re looking at:
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Massive downforce gains
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Virtually no drag penalty
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Ideal aero balance for high-speed stability
We’ll keep testing, tweaking, and pushing for more performance. Stay tuned for more data drops—and if you’re serious about making your E36 stick to the ground, you know where to find us.
—Team Nine Lives Racing 🐾
To purchase click this link -here