i'm getting ready to replace the rear spoiler and was wondering if anyone has purchased 1 from hawks 3rd gen. they have a fiberglass for $399 but need to keep it as close to oem as possible. according to the pics it looks the same. classic ind. has 1 that looks the same for $550. any ideas appreciated

 

Hi,
We have these in stock ready to ship also these are OE quality and you will be happy, please let me know if I can help you further.
Thanks,
www.hawksthirdgenparts.com

 

I have a Hawks spoiler on one of my '88 GTAs and the factory urethane on the other. Virtually no difference - other than the fact that the rear hatch with the fiberglass spoiler is so much lighter.

Two aspects to the Hawks spoiler (and I believe between Classic Industries, Hawks, etc. that they all come from the same manufacturer):

1) The packaging for shipping (with all due respect to Hawks and from when I bought my aerowing from them) is not very good. Hawks will recommend that you inspect prior to receipt. If it is damaged, then it happened in transit and that is the responsibility of the trucking company.

2) The installation instructions (again with all due respect to Hawks), suck. I documented my install on gtasourcepage.com and there are even better instructions (i.e more pictures) on turbotransam.com to help you.

Only other option for that total OEM looks is to search the junkyards for a pristine urethane aerowing. I found one on a '87 T/A but am not parting with it.

 

Hi,
Just to clarify the manufacturing of these spoiler are not all the same, HAwks in the very beginning sold spoilers from other manufactures and had mixed results as far as shipping ,quality, and service, about 6 years agao we started to manufacture ALL of our spoilers and most of the hoods we offer to be able to control quality, shipping, and to be able to offer our customers a reduced shipping rate when multiple parts where order so we could pack all together to save the end customer money. Shipping the spoilers has been tried several diff ways and we have stayed with the way that works best, we only get about 5-10 spoilers a YEAR damaged which in the customers case 1 is too many ,but if you consider the # we ship out is a VERY LOW percentage.When any truck frieght is shipped it is the end customers responsibilty to check for damage as when it leaves our hands I cannot see what happens to the product, if a spoiler is recieved damaged the customer has to refuse it and a replacement will be shipped out immediatly and there will be NO EXTRA COST to the customer. I will look into our instructions to see if we can simplify them for better understanding. Also most of all we keep these in stock so the end cusotmer does not have to wait 4-6 weeks for delevery of there new product. Thanks again for all you r busienss and support.
Sincerely,
Bruce Hawkins
www.hawksthirdgenpoarts.com
864-855-2694

 

This is kind of off topic but for what it's worth, I have ordered from both classic industries and Hawks and would definately reccomend going with hawks. The guys at Classic are nice and try to be helpful but it seems like they order most of there parts from other places and don't really know that much about them. From my experience Classic can't tell you anything beyond the catalog description about their products. I recently ordered a set of GTA seat covers from Hawks and they were really helpful on the phone. They let me customize each pannel for no extra charge. Over the phone they were able to answer every question even about small details. Anyway, just thought this might be worth taking into consideration.

 

Bruce,
Quick question, the '85 (and I think '86) Trans Am's had a wraparound rear spoiler that did not have the recepticle for the 3rd brake light, it went straight across the tail and was a very clean design. I saw that you make the spoiler that does integrate the 3rd BL, do you or can you make one that does not have the 3rd BL? Thanks!

Here's a quick pic of what I meant:

 

Hi, the spoilers we make have 2 holes made into them for the 3rd brake light. The body shop can just fill those holes in and it will be just like you want it. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks

 

Got one a couple of years ago, would suggest letting it breathe for a while as i've now got a bit of microblister due to fibreglass not fully cured before it was painted.
Bodyshop had a few problems getting it to fit with 3rd brake light and ended up extending the rear mounts in order to get enough room underneath the spoiler for the brake light housing.

 

Did they sand off all of the gel coat? also the 3rd brake light has to be installed before the spoiler is installed.

 

No, gel coat not sanded off, a friend of mine shipped one in around same time and has same problems.
3rd brake light was installed before fixing but there was a gap of around half an inch on both end posts between panel. Again my friend had same issue with his.

 

Here's the pics from a previous thread https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/afte...iberglass.html

 

The gel coat is the reason for the microblister's, it is essential to sand off the gel coat then prime and paint. As for the 3rd brake light I would have to ask Bruce on that one.

 

Cheers, i'll double check with my bodyshop on the gel coat removal. I assumed they didn't but i'm often wrong, just ask my wife.

 

Thanks!

 

Classic Ind. has GM's blessings for restoration parts and I think their the only one.But you have to be careful ordering their parts,Only the parts with OER or GM Restoration Parts Logo are the real thing.So if it don't have that, it's not the real replacement,their close but not official.

 

I put one of Hawk's spoilers on my car. It was great quality and I was very happy with it. The installation instructions could definitely have been better but overall it is a real nice piece.

 

I put a Hawks spoiler on my car and had no problems... Looks Great