So I wasn’t watching where I was going and ripped half the air dam under my front bumper off. I was just going to take the whole thing off and toss it but thought I’d ask if it serves any purpose? I’m going to mount a bull bar up front so it might have to come off anyhow.

 

It's all about aerodynamics. The vehicle gets put in a wind tunnel and engineers spend a great deal of time directing the air where they want it to go in order to:
- reduce wind noise
- reduce drag/increase fuel economy
- direct air flow to parts that need cooling (radiator, brakes etc.)
- reduce pressure differentials that will cause water ingress
etc ...

 

the earlier ones were about 2/3 across , but the newer models are longer ,

Does it hurt to put the longer one on a 2005 model ?

 

I didn't design the thing

 

So it’s cheap enough I’ll just replace the whole thing. Thanks for the thoughts.