What do FRONT LIPS do???????????????????????????????? - Honda-Tech - Honda Forum Discussion

Well, I know that some body stuff is pointless and some body kits can actually hurt the cars performance. But I always see the fastest cars or cars owned by people who look like they know what they were doing with every aspect of the car, who have front lips mounted on the bumper. I guess, my question is:

WHAT DOES A FRONT LIP DO PERFORMANCE WISE?

I'm guessing that because so many people are jumping into these, there must be some reason. I am not an outsider to the lip either. I owned an ej1 and threw a ctr style front lip on it and yes it kicked *** appearance wise, but I always wondered, what it actually does to improve the car itself. I my eyes, it seems like the lip not only adds weight to your front bumper, but makes your front bumper a lot larger therefore more wind resistance while your driving. If I'm making sense and not forgetting something, that means it does two negatives for you car and no help. Am I totally clueless?

Well, right now, I own a 96 civic dx hatch and have the following lip options:

A: 96-98 JDM "CTR" Style Front Bumper Lip
B: 96-98 Civic "Mugen" Style Front Bumper Lip
C: 96-98 Civic "Type R" Style Front Bumper Lip

(go here if you want to see pictures of them: http://www.jdmshit.com/parts/exterior/index.html)

It my eyes, C seems to be the worse performing lip, B is the middle worse, and A is the best out of the three lips as far as aerodynamics. But judging by the way the oem front bumper is, it seems like no front lip would be the best performance mod for aerodynamics. Does this sound off to anybody?

Well, please help me see the light