When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Its time to finally junk my oem heavy..badly corroded and flaked paint spoiler. Ive read countless threads comparing hawks to other spoilers and accepted that there will be slight differences and none of them look 100% oem with the curves and the tips of the "wings". Aside from that ive read that some of you had mounted the spoiler with screws instead of the clips. Im wondering if this has gotten better lately for fit/finish. My spoiler should be here soon as I live in canada so shipping does take sometime and expense.Ill take before/after pics.
I recall the oem spoiler to be quite heavy from my last car,my current trunk shocks dont hold open very long so should take a fair bit of weight off them.I bought some dupi-color oem red to spray bomb it with for now.My entire car needs body work so no sense in getting too fancy on painting it till everything hits a booth.
I was in the exact same position as you. My car is spoilerless right now but a Hawks one came with the car. I also just rattle canned it with matching duplicolor paint cuz my car also needs entirely repainted. The Hawks spoiler is pretty light considering its size. Im going to try to use the clips on mine and see how it works. The 3rd brake light is whats holding me up. It doesnt want to fit very well with the hawks, so sone sanding is required on mine atleast. But mine does seem to fit the hatch and glass very well and lines up with the clips on the glass trim.
Also, did you remove your spoiler yet? If you’d be able to take a few pics of the 3rd brake light under the spoiler and the holes that attached it to the trunk lid and wires going through would be awesome. My lid doesnt have any holes for the brake light so i’ll have to make them myself.
So i just received my spoiler.I expected a bit more packing to keep it protected in the box from minor scratches etc being shipped but it was not damaged from what i can tell. it does come primered but its not finish sanded if anyone is going to rattle can it like I am you will need to do so..if you care to. I however choose to just wax/degrease clean it and spray bombed some color on it. I did about 3-4 coats of color and same for clear.
I dont have the car home yet to start taking it apart but Im aware the 3rd brake light will most likely need the plastic shaved down to the new contour of the spoiler in order to sit flush. Reading the instructions with the hardware provided states to only use one clip per side vs the oem spoiler and shimmy it up into position.I assume maybe using some grease..hell maybe anti-seize would be a very good idea for this step both for installation and prevent rust.Im hoping that putting the new one on should be less hassale than getting my original off and the rusty old bolts in there.
Myself i can tell the slight differences in the shape of the spoiler but the hawks seems to be the most accurate appearing with the least amount of complaints Ive researched lol.And they havent done me any wrong from my yrs of shopping experience living in canada.Shipping fees are ridiculous but thats not of their fault. Pics will be coming soon Punzak9!
Ok..so here comes the install.And Im not happy to report the fitment thus far. Here is where the instructions are not clear enough for me in terms of the provided clips you must screw into the tips of the wings. I wish hawks had a picture to show placement and direction said clips should face. I made 3 holes to place the clips on the wings itself. Nothing seems right and the ends sit way too high.Also Im under the impression due to the instructions that I do not have to remove my original tabs from the hatch glass trim.It seems to me that the clips provided are to slide into my existing tabs. I dont know if I have to knock them off as it looks like they are factory welded onto the trim piece.I didnt want to risk damaging something i needed still with no way to go back.
I took pics of my current spoiler and the holes as requested.Pics of how it currently sits,and the 3rd brake light.Which does need some trimming but i didnt bother since I know Ill need to take the whole thing off later for a proper paint job. I havent contacted hawks yet for guidance but I will.i would like to add that so far I think the design of the wing clips are not very secure due to you must drill into the fiberglass which is very easy to strip out with a metal tab trying to hold down the wings in place as your supposed to slide it on with 2 people.I think a threaded insert or integrated tab as 1 solid piece would be better for the price of this thing lol.
So after doing some forum reading and seeing pics from other members of their install I figured roughly where to place the clips on the spoiler and get it mounted securely as per the instructions.I did this by myself and its really not bad to do and I dont think it requires 2 people if your careful enough. But I still dont like the idea of how the clips screw into the wing and can be easily stripped out.Also the metal clips do bend pretty easy. I had to push down on the wings and tap the bottom of the clip to tighten up the driverside close to the hatch. From a distance the wing looks to fit great..but up close you can see slight fitment imperfections. I didnt not shave down the 3rd brake light.Im not 100% sure if it is whats causing the wing to not sit absolutely flush on the hatch or if its the padding thats just a little thick under the base of the spoiler. Here are my completed pics.
That looks great! Really nice for just getting it on your car and doing it yourself. If mine turns out like that I will be very happy. And thank youbfor those pictures. Now I know where to put the holes for the brake light.
Yes, thanks for the detailed photos. Saved those for reference for sure.
Quick question on this step...that gold colors hook...is that sliding under the factory clip from the front, and the two screw heads go into the center of the same factory clip? The other two clips remain unused?
No,I thought thats what was how it should go together but thats the wrong placement of the clip. Slightly below the factory clip on the hatch itself the gold clip gets screwed into the spoiler(sideways).The hook actually grabs onto the hatch frame.Hence why the instructions want 2 people to slowly slide the spoiler as those hooks are gliding upwards along the hatch frame.
I found another thread and someone posted a pic of how you can see the hook when the hatch is open.Thats when I went back and spotte the indentation to screw the hook onto the spoiler.You are not using any of the original clips to mount the new spoiler.The new spoiler just allows you to cover them up nicely. Hope that helps make more sense lol. If not then id have to find the thread and who posted the pic that made sense.
When I get the whole car body work done then Ill have it properly painted.For now it looks miles better than the oem spoiler that was half red and black rubber lol. the rattle can jobber isnt an exact color match either so its slightly brighter than the body.From a distance you cant tell.
07-13-2018, 12:42 AM
