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.
I'm going to try this repair option after I look into if this can be covered under warranty at all. I'm not sure of the warranty exceptions at this point. I have not had an issue at this point. We will see what the Porsche service manager has to say.
Thanks for the pat on the back guys. With other's interest in trying this, I'm going to add some more detail in case it might help anyone.
On the backside of the tears, I wanted there to be plenty of new material to either side of the tear, so that the attachment of new material would be beefier and not just depending on adhering to the inside edges of the tears. But I also wanted something to back-stop the new material as I formed it into the gap. (sorry my meaning may be unclear, but best I can think of how to describe).
So to accomplish both those goals, first I glopped new goo onto the backside of the spoiler with no backstop. Then I rather loosely placed some blue tape on the backside of the spoiler, against the just-placed back-side goo, and across the gap to form the backstop. I knew that the tape would stick to the backside goo, but decided that was OK since it is out of view.
This pic is taken right after placing the backside blue tape on top of the back side goo, to make a backstop for next firmly pushing the goo into the gap. The pic also shows how the goopy sticky texture was hard to work with. I used a few sets of latex gloves during the job.
Next step was to try to smooth out the goop while it was still wet. I used a putty knife with some rubbing alcohol on it, hoping the alcohol would reduce the tendency for the goo to stick to the knife. Hard to say if it helped, I wonder if trying to use silicone spray instead of alcohol might have worked better. This next pic shows the status after the first and main application of goo and doing my best to smooth it out. Note that you can still see where the gaps of the tears are, there are little dips outlining the edges of the tear where the goo isn't quite deep enough. I let it dry like this for a few hours, then added a much lesser second application to build up the low spots. I actually did a total of 3 applications to fill in low spots as best I could. Also in this next pic, I have peeled down the front side of the blue tape before the goo is dry so the tape doesn't get bonded into the dried goo in a visible area.
I was concerned that if I pulled the blue tape from the back side while it was wet, that it would risk pulling apart the repair, so from the time of the picture above, I did the two additional lighter fill-in depth applications on the front side, then left the tape just as pictured to dry overnight. Once all dry, I used a razor to trim the tape and goo straight along the bottom edge of the spoiler, and some 400 sandpaper to smooth out the edge and surface a little bit. Lastly I gently picked and peeled the tape off the backside. Almost all of it came off, but some tape was stuck in the dried goo enough that I couldn't risk getting too aggressive with it. I don't care that one could find a little bit of blue tape on the backside if you looked with a mirror.
Mercuriell mentioned maybe one could press something onto the surface of the goo to get a more even but stippled texture. At first I was going to say only that the product is way too sticky for that, it would just cling to whatever you touched with it and get out of control uneven as you pulled back whatever you used to press.. But maybe if you waited say an hour or so, you could find a point in time where the goo was partly dry and wouldn't cling so bad to some surface pressing against it, while it was sort of still malleable from being not completely dry. Maybe some silicone spray at this point too. This would be the one thing I'd want to try different, if I was doing it over again.
Thanks for the pat on the back guys. With other's interest in trying this, I'm going to add some more detail in case it might help anyone...
Good additional detail, and amazing how 'clean' the finished product looks considering it was a bit messy mid-process.
A couple of armchair thoughts...
1) Perhaps a small piece of black duct tape or better yet gorilla tape on the backside to 'backstop' the goop, and just leave it there forever. Gorilla tape sticks like mad and the black finish wouldn't show.
2) Silicon caulk spreader tools do a nice job of NOT sticking to sticky caulk when gloves and most other stuff just globs on. Might be worth trying for spreading the gasket material, it is likely similar.
Again, great job! Porsche dealerships everywhere are crying about not selling $2,000 spoiler replacements.
Nice write up Béez 👌 - I think pvc elecrtcal insulating tape might peel off ok and as noted above if it’s black, small remnants would go un noted. I think acetone might work for cleanup, I’d keep silicone spray away as it would be death to adhesion.
It will be very interesting to see how long term durability goes, having repaired this way I think there’s less chance of future splits as tension within the spoiler is reduced
Even though my Turbo S is still under warranty the service manager at Checkered Flag Porsche said the spoiler would not be covered. I disagree as there are no scrapes or other visible damage.
Has anyone been successful having the spoiler replaced under warranty?
Even though my Turbo S is still under warranty the service manager at Checkered Flag Porsche said the spoiler would not be covered. I disagree as there are no scrapes or other visible damage.
Has anyone been successful having the spoiler replaced under warranty?
I managed to get my dealer to pay half and me the other as the car was CPO under warranty. I'm quite sure this is material failure rather than trauma as OnfireTTS speculated
Last edited by Mercuriell; 07-09-2021 at 03:39 AM.
I'm confident the slight tear in my Turbo S front spoiler is not from trauma. It appears to me to be a basic design flaw that obviously can be aggravated by all those curbs, dips in the road, parking lot stoppers etc. Is there a process with Porsche for owners to submit systemic issues like this?
I just looked today at a 2017 for sale with this exact same issue. It's a CPO car so I asked about it being warrantied. The response from the salesman was a non-assuring "I think that is wear, so probably not, but I'll check."
07-05-2021, 10:18 PM
