[dberns]

I was giving a lift to a (former...) friend of mine (ok, he's still a friend) who tried lifting the hatchback - by grabbing and pulling at the spoiler instead of the latch. He succeded in snapping some of the internal connectors before I yelled it him to stop.

I didn't see any obvious way of unscreweing it and putting in/gluing/doing something... to replace them.

A couple of days later the last connector snapped, leaving the spoiler hanging by the LED power cable.

I managed to wedge it back into place before anything further happened and now it's locked in courtesy of adhesive tape. (Should be ok for a modest period, but I'd like to do it right)

Anyone have experience with getting a new spoiler (price?)/fixing the old one/removing and replacing/any hints?

thanks muchly

 

[b1shmu63]

Yes, I had the rear spoiler off. How good are you at machining PVC and do you have any aluminum loaded epoxy? (I do prototyping work with plastic and it was still rather a pain to repair.) If you have all the tiny bits it will help but there is NO way you will be able to glue them back together reliably. I made replacement parts out of solid machined PVC, drilled and tapped them and glued them in with industrial epoxy. They won't break again! Unless you enjoy a challenge, I'd recommend getting a salvaged piece. The LED strip is detachable from the black spoiler so it will not have to be replaced.

You have to remove the inside cover off the rear wiper motor to get at the fastening hardware. This piece is held on with metal spring clips that bite into the aluminum and plastic.

 

[Guest]

Not too much fun

The following is some other peoples opinion on it.

http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/vie ... highlight=

My post midway thru may discourage you from doing this work by yourself. In short... it's god awful annoying to get that spoiler off. In fact, I never did get it all the way off. I think I wasted an hour just to get 1/2 of the way there... got stymied and just put it back together. Sounds like you did more damage than just a single side bracket though so you might have to 'get serious'.

Good Luck

 

[dberns]

rear spoiler replacement - thanks

thanks to all for the replies. looks like, although I cringe
to say it... that I may be better off just spot-silicon'ing it
into place. Uggh.

 

[b1shmu63]

Well the glass IS glued to the body of the car with a moisture cured flexible urethane glue. (Available at a car glass place locally for about 20 dollars a tube. If you put it on with that you'd have to use a jack hammer to get it off. Flextra might be a cheaper alternative. The trouble with silicone products is that they will probably fail after a couple of years.

If you did decide to replace the part, the key to getting a proper removal is removing (prying off) the inner plastic cover over the rear wiper motor. Removing the cover exposes the bolt heads on the inside. The metal clips, holding it on, bite into the plastic and also into the body aluminum.

 

[dberns]

anyone got a spare rear spoiler? mine finally tore off...

About a year ago I posted that the rear "spoiler" that
sits over the hatchback.. had been torn a bit and I
was taping it on, pending a proper repair.

I finally picked up a hot glue gun and some epoxy,
etc., and was waiting for good weather.

Alas, last night it apparently fell off completely while
I was driving, so now I've got to get a replacement.

Anyone have one to spare? Know a source
of second hand ones? Or... know offhand roughly
what a dealer replacement would cost?

Thanks

 

[MisterO23]

Do you know how to easily access the rear wiper motor? I need to replace it...