Best Choice for replacement Spoiler?

[LotusS4]

Hello Everyone,
Been following the board for some time now waiting to finally own a tta. Well, I finally have a car on its way. Leather/T-Top car. It does have to commonly known spoiler cracks and it seems the top of the spoiler in one spot is sinking a bit?? I see that most members recommend switching it out for a fiberglass replacement. Can anyone recommend a spoiler they used and are satisfied with? And also, Can anyone let me know how hard it was to take off the old one and attach the new one?

Thanks

 

[72firebird]

I just bought a fiberglass spoiler from www.hawksthirdgenparts.com I just dropped the spoiler off to be painted and fitted today. I have mixed feelings about the spoiler.

Overall the spoiler appears to be fairly good quality. The fitment on the rear looks good. However the arms are made a little closer together at the ends. The reason they did this is for their way of mounting. They supply you with a C clip type thing that just wraps around the outside of the window trim. It comes with some self tapping screws to attach it to the spoiler. In my opinion this is a HORRIBLE way of mounting it. First off, you're suppose to stretch the arms out to clip it around the trim. I don't see the fiberglass bending too well without hurting it's intergrity. Second, 1 clip at almost the very tip that is only held on by a self tapping screw into fiberglass doesn't seem very sturdy, especially when it'll always have a little tension on it. My friend who is working on it is going to try and find a way to use the stock mounting for the arms instead. I will post up pictures and what he figure out to do once it's done hopefully later this week. The mounting as far as the rear of the spoiler is fine. It has steel threads inside the fiberglass and uses 4 bolts in the stock locations to hold it on.

On to your other question, taking the original off. Don't expect to be able to get it off without damaging it further. I was hoping to be able to save mine and was as careful as I could be and still cracked the paint more than it already was. To get it off you will need to unbolt the trim piece inside the hatch and disconnect the wiring for the light. Pop out the black pieces on the bottom of the hatch and remove the bolts. There are 4 total bolts that hold the read of the spoiler on. Then slide the spoiler backwards to unhook the 3 mounting points on each side. You may need to use a wide screw driver or prybar type device to pop them up. This is actually fairly difficult and kind of a pain in the ass to get them undone Just keep playing with them and you'll eventually get it. I would suggest having atleast one other person while doing this job (goes smoother with 2 extra people). You're going to need to lift the spoiler and feed the wiring out of the hatch. Remember to lift with your legs :biggrin: because the spoiler is very decieving and is much heavier than it looks.

Look around on www.thirdgen.org and you'll be able to find others opinions. If you have any additional questions feel free to ask since it's still fairly fresh in my mind.

 

[Quiky One]

Was it already prepped and ready for paint, or did it come in bare fiberglass? Did it come with all the mounting hardware needed and did it fit flush against the hatch? I'm ready to buy and need some opinions.

Thanks

 

[72firebird]

Was it already prepped and ready for paint, or did it come in bare fiberglass? Did it come with all the mounting hardware needed and did it fit flush against the hatch? I'm ready to buy and need some opinions.

Thanks

it comes primered but I wouldn't suggest just painting it. It has a kind of rough texture and could use a block sanding and a reprimering. It comes with all the mounting hardware, but like I said I didn't like how they had the front of it mounted. It seemed to fit fairly flush in the back and I didn't notice any real fitment issues besides for the front where the arms are closer together to put tension on the clips that go around the window trim. I will post the instructions for installation in a couple days once mine is done. I'll also show pictures of how we ended up mounting it and the final result.

 

[Quiky One]

Alright sounds good. Approximetly how many hours did your body guy spend doing prep work?

Jason

 

[1BADDAM]

I've got about 8 hrs into mine. Still not done. I don't know where mine came from, I got it for free, so I'm not complaining. Lookes like they made the mold in someone's backyard using a old wing. The glass was even "swelled" were the window mounting brackets are, like an original when they rust and swell the rubber. Hope the one from hawks or the other place aren't like that.

 

[72firebird]

I've got about 8 hrs into mine. Still not done. I don't know where mine came from, I got it for free, so I'm not complaining. Lookes like they made the mold in someone's backyard using a old wing. The glass was even "swelled" were the window mounting brackets are, like an original when they rust and swell the rubber. Hope the one from hawks or the other place aren't like that.

No the quality of the glass is very good on the Hawks spoiler. From those who have had them mounted I have heard a lot of good reviews about them. The only problem is actually finding a good way to mount it. I mean there really isn't a very good way to mount it, even the stock style of mounting sucks (it holds it down but it's a pain when it comes to removing it again).

 

[1BADDAM]

I used flat head self tappers, worked just fine. The don't think the original plastic clips would work to well with the stiffer glass unit.

 

[Jan Larsson]

I had no finishing issues with mine, just had it painted and looks and fits great. Did not use the clips provided for the ends instead also used 2 flat headed screws from the underside and slid theminto the metal fram on the glass light the original plastic clips. You will have to try to see how far in you srew the screws to make sure it fits tight put this works much better and looks much better then using the clips provided with the spoiler.

 

[72firebird]

I had no finishing issues with mine, just had it painted and looks and fits great. Did not use the clips provided for the ends instead also used 2 flat headed screws from the underside and slid theminto the metal fram on the glass light the original plastic clips. You will have to try to see how far in you srew the screws to make sure it fits tight put this works much better and looks much better then using the clips provided with the spoiler.

That's what we were thinking about doing. He has some rivet style things that have threads on the insides. We were gunna drill the holes and then put the rivets in and then put screws into them to slide in the stock mounting rails. And once we got it set good and nice and tight we'd go back and loctite the screws into the spoiler.

How long have you had yours mounted? Did you just screw it into the fiberglass? Any problems?+

 

[Who Needs 8]

So how much are the Freight charges you guys had to pay? (Jan, no need to reply I don't even want to imagine what you had to pay).

 

[LotusS4]

Hawks seems to be the choice

ok, so hawks seems to be the best choice. I found one or two other companies from old searches but would rather use someone who recently purchased one.

Does anyone think it changes the value of a completely stock vehicle by using the aftermarket spoiler??

Thanks

 

[72firebird]

I had to pay about $100 for freight and that's going from like NC to IN.

For the value of the car, in my opinion it increases the value. If the car has over like 10k miles the spoiler is almost garunteed to be ruined. Heck I've seen cars with 1k miles on them and the spoiler was cracked. Overall it helps the appearance of the car but still looks original. If you do a clean job with the mounting and painting most people can't even tell it's not the original (except for those of us that know and original could never really look that good). I think that it would add to the value about what you pay for the spoiler (around $400). Most people would rather have the fiberglass one already installed so they don't have to deal with the hassle of changing it and they don't have to look at the cracks everytime the wash the car.

 

[Jan Larsson]

All I did was to drill a small hole in the spoiler and then I just put the screw in there as deep as I thought it would have to sit, tried it on and had to tight it a bit (half turn at the time) to make sure it would not rattle.

Have had it on the car for 2 years now and had no problems what so ever, no cracks, no rattle. Done about 3000 miles with it.

As for shipping, one of my friends in Sweden (Uffe) bouhgt a 4th gen ram air hood for his TTA and a spoiler for his as well as for mine, we had it all shipped to some friends he got shipping parts from the US to Sweden so we simply shipped all the stuff to them in the US to put in a container and then when I were in Sweden I picked up my spoiler checked it in as luggage on a plane from Sweden to the UK and had no problems. Turned out to be cheaper than shipping in the US in the end as we got a discount buying 2 spoilers + his hood. To ship it directly from the manufacturer in the US to the UK would cost probabrly as much as you pay for the spoiler on it's own ...

 

[ozpont]

Rear spoilers

.. I'm with Jan and the positive others.. have one on the back of my TTA and about to do the same on another 87 we have coming thru.. We have also imported and sold maybe 10 so far.. without ONE issue. The hatch springs up faster.. but thats about it.. We send on onto Japan late last year for around A$230 / US$160. They are light can can be well packaged but still solid if your shipper wants to take a bit of effort on your behalf.. which most don't unfortunately!
Also for those wanting the small genuine "T" type retainers for holding the rear spoiler to the rear glass frame.. use GM #20556524.

 

[SlowTTA]

I received mine yesterday...looks like a quality piece...much better than the original cracked to hell POS

 

[Fordlitenin]

Spoiler

I guess I am lucky with my spoiler. It is still the factory original with ~15,000 on the car and no cracks anywhere. But it does weigh a ton seems like on the hatchback.

 

[72firebird]

All I did was to drill a small hole in the spoiler and then I just put the screw in there as deep as I thought it would have to sit, tried it on and had to tight it a bit (half turn at the time) to make sure it would not rattle.

Have had it on the car for 2 years now and had no problems what so ever, no cracks, no rattle. Done about 3000 miles with it.

As for shipping, one of my friends in Sweden (Uffe) bouhgt a 4th gen ram air hood for his TTA and a spoiler for his as well as for mine, we had it all shipped to some friends he got shipping parts from the US to Sweden so we simply shipped all the stuff to them in the US to put in a container and then when I were in Sweden I picked up my spoiler checked it in as luggage on a plane from Sweden to the UK and had no problems. Turned out to be cheaper than shipping in the US in the end as we got a discount buying 2 spoilers + his hood. To ship it directly from the manufacturer in the US to the UK would cost probabrly as much as you pay for the spoiler on it's own ...

I followed what Jan said and it was very easy. Just me and a friend took and put masking tape down the side of the rails and marked it where the screw would be about 75% back. We then set the spoiler down on it and mounted the back f it and got it lined up where we wanted it at the used masking tape to mark where the line on the tape on the rail was at. We then removed the spoiler drilled some pilot holes and screwed the screws in. Slid it on the first time and it fit awesome, all we had to do was pull it off and screw a couple of them in about 1/4-1/2 turn and then test it again. It fit awesome. So it should be getting primered, sanded, and then painted today. The gelcoat that was on mine sucked, there was a run almost all the way down the arm thing on the passenger side I believe.

I'll have pictures of it once it's all painted and before I install it.

 

[joejakegrace]

Jan - how'd you go about remounting the third brake light??

 

[Jan Larsson]

Third break light mounts in place exactly like on the stock spoiler, holes were predrilled in my spoiler so just a matter of removing from OEM spoiler and screw in place on the new glasfiber one