bobbigham

I am new to this watery shark world, but I was wondering why no one seems to paint the stock black spoiler.

I know some of the owners probably want to keep the car original, but wouldn't it look better painted and glossy the same color as the car?

Can you paint the plastic (is it plastic) or would the paint crack? is their a reasonable alternative? What do fiberglas spoilers run, if that is an option?

Just a new owner to be (or should be by early next week) wondering about this.

(not a big issue as the car I am buying is black).

ROG100

The spoiler changed from a rubber type finish to a gloss finish on the GTS's in 1992.
You may be better off buying a GTS one and having it painted.
Talk to 928Int.

Airflite40

which spoiler are you referring to? The S4+ spoiler or the S mini whale tail spoiler?
If the S4, you can get a fiberglass replica to be painted no problem.
The S spoiler is made of rubber and it flexes, so you would need to treat it so that the paint wont crack.

cfc928gt

My hinged spoiler from an '87 is painted. IMHO they look much better that way.

morganabowen

DITTO

aircooler

Link below...

Painting S4 spoiler - From 928 INTL

I'd go F/glass

Repro F/glass rear wing - From Vertex

Cheers,
Michael

bobbigham

Thanks to all that responded. The information was very helpful.

Michael that spoiler looks great on your car...the whole car looks fantastic.

Based on what I've seen, I think I like the painted look best. The fiberglass spoiler is not very expensive so it may be worth trying that route and save the original as is, just in case.

Voytek

Hi Bob,

Be careful about fiberglass. I had one painted and installed. I sanded the top surface and the edges to be more even, but one can only go so deep. One fiberglass spoiler was damaged by the shop when they tried to make edges really even. So, unless you will finish the fiberglass surface, like with microbaloons or so, to make top surface really even, it will be full of small ripples and will have uneven edges, clearly visible when looking at the shallow angles. Especially when high gloss finish amplifies all surface imperfections. I took my fiberglass spoiler off (I still have it painted in guards red) and had my original one cleaned, baked (to get rid of any deep deposits of cleaning products collected over the years), primed many times, sanded , painted and clear coated. After that, orange peel was removed through careful sanding. Even though it doe show minor imperfections of the surface which was not seen on the vinyl, it is much better final product and it will crack or brake when hatchback is open or slammed closed too hard.

I can take few pictures of both to show the difference, so let me know if you need that.

Roger

Voytek,

I've heard that the mounting points on the fiberglass reproduction wing are slightly different than that of the original s4 type spoilers. Is this true?

Do you think a thin coat of body filler be used to cover the imperfections prior to priming / painting?

Regards,
Roger

Malibu310

I've painted all my later 928 spoilers.... this is the latest....

Voytek

Hi Roger,

It is true that the bolts are off, outboard, by about 1/8" on each side. They had to enlarge original holes, but OEM spoiler can be easily re-installed.

I was told that if you know what you are doing with fiberglass, you should be able to improve the top surface. Since the top surface is like shallow sine wave, it is not easy to make that curvy surface ideal. Also, the edge where the top cover meats the bottom shell is NOT even. That edge line is rippling along the spoiler's edge. This cannot be fixed. Another difficulty rests with inspecting a flat, non-gloss surface which appears to be reasonably good. It is only after that glossy paint clear coat is applied one can see all that ripples.

bobbigham

Okay....is the feedback saying that it might be best to do the heavy primer process with the existing stock spoiler as it should come out better than the fiberglass one? More work but better result?

And, if you do go with the paint the "stock" spoiler, be very careful with it to avoid cracking the paint?

Thanks for the warnings on the fiberglass one.

Chris

Mine is painted and has held up fine, there are imperfections in the stock spoiler but with some prep work it comes out OK.

Chris

aircooler

Bob, thanks for the complement.

I think that most would agree that the 87+ rear spoiler defiantly looks better painted in body color.

Personally I would go F/G over stock re-paint. There is a lot of work to getting the stock spoiler painted, and it has to be “just so”. Far more work then painting the F/G repro. I know some have had great luck with their stock units painted, and they look great, but I would always be leery of small paint cracks, and adhesion issues. You can also sell your stock spoiler for more then the F/G repro will cost delivered. Particularly if it is a folding 87 unit. The F/G prep + paint will also be half what the stock spoiler operation will be.

F/G mounting is not always perfect, but any good B-shop can correct your mounting location in no time (if required).

Just think… all that weight savings from stock to F/G. That’s got to be at least 1-1.5 MPH

Cheers,
Michael

Voytek

Mike is right about the cost. It was $600 (baking to get rid of contaminants, priming, sanding and priming -many times - then painting and clear coating, with later sanding to eliminate orange peel) but at the top quality shop (does mostly Porsche and Mercedes dealer work). F/G will be $200 primed + paint shop sanding, painting and clear coating - probably another $200. It is all in what one wants. If you want best quality and durability then re-paint is the way to go. With the flex paints they use there should be no cracking, but all that prep work I described earlier is necessary. However, if small imperfections (see attached pictures of F/G spoiler) are not a problem, and one will handle the hatch with great care (they can crack along the joint over time due to vibration and handling) - then F/G should be enough.