ive got the aero wing on my car now, but its black. i want to paint it red to match the rest of the car. what paint do i use? i painted it black to cover up some scratches and what not and i used some plastikote stuff from pep boys. it adhered well, but it didn't build up, level out, and shine. i want the wing to match the rest of the car. what can i use?

 

Is it the factory wing?? If so take my advice and im sure theres many nore out there that share the same opinion. Get rid of the damn thing. If its the foam one used from I think 85 to 90 then its just going to cause problems. They warp all the time.....and the paint ....WILL!! crack. Plus it weighs about 60 pounds. Get the fiberglass replacement. Its better for your hatch and it will be simple to paint and outlast the car.

 

or, do what i'm doing, take the wing off, and buy a flat spoiler, the one i'm getting is like the ones on old mustang fastbacks, photoshopped it, looks good

 

Mind posting the pic, slickz...?? I'm curious as to how it looks.

 

Does anyone have any tips for painting the bad spoilers or filling the holes that mysteriously appear in them?

 

I ditched mine for an 88 RS spoiler.

 

Well, Personally I love the looks of the "Aero Spoiler" from 85-90, it looks better than anything else for our cars stock or aftermarket.

Unfortunately once it begins to warp and buldge, and split there is little hope.

Unless the splits are only surface. When I bought my car it had a crap load of surface cracks in the paint. I took a D/A sander and sanded EVERYTHING off. Thru the primer right down to the rubber...

I sprayed the Primer with flex agent, sprayed the color then Sprayed the clear with the Flex agent. Been since 98 and have had noooo problems.

Personally even though the spoiler still looks good, I am still going with a fiberglass ones for BOTH my cars when I get around to it.

John

 

I figure I'll go to a fiberglass spoiler eventually too. Till then I'm covering up the holes and hiding the paint cracks with a homemade colored filler compound. It's working so far, you can't tell there's anything wrong till you get close.

 

The problem with the 85-90 aero wing is how it was constructed. If you ever take one apart, you will see that there is a metal frame which is used to hold the shape, and the rubber is formed around it in a mold. What happens to it is where it clips onto the hatch water starts seeping in, and over time it rots the frame out, which is what causes it to crack and fall apart. Without the metal frame, think of it like one big twizzler. The rust forming inside distorts the frame which is what splits the rubber. The trick is to find one that is not rotted out. I have found 1 that is good that I will be using on my car soon, and another that one side is near perfect and the other looks like it is starting to rot up inside. Tell tale signs are the amount of flexibility in the arms of the wing. The less metal that is left, the more it will bend. When I put mine together I am going to try to seal around the clips and hopefully that will help it out. I -really- like this wing, IMO better than the rest that were offered on the 3rd gen cars. Too bad the design was a little off. Anyways, as for painting it, make sure you strip -everything- off of it first. I also used a D/A sander on mine. I will be using flex primer and toss in flex additive with the paint when I get to that stage. Hopefully this car will be done by the end of the month!

 

As stated above, the metal is the culperate... The metal rusts, since they used steel, and when as it rusts, it expands, thus the buldges on the speers, and usually the buldge just before it splits...

John

 

well mine isnt rusted at all. there is nothing wrong with it except i want it red. i like the aero wing better than the fiberglass, and i dont have enough $$$ for a fiberglass one either. even if i did, i dont think i would pay that much for one. is there a way to paint the rubber one so it looks good?

 

Just had a buddy redo mine for 50.00 bucks. The wing was still in really great shape. paint chips and some deep scratches. He sanded it all the way down and used primer to fill in the scratches and stuff.
The worst area was on the middle of the wing where most people use thier hands to shut the deck lid. I shut it from underneath the deck lid now.

 

so what kind of paint did he use and how does it look??

 

The same color as my car (Bright Red). He did add a flex agent to it as well. For 50.00 I am extremely happy. Infact I just waxed it today. That was actually the only bad finish area on the car. I can"t believe it made that much of a difference.

 

OMG that actually looks good on there! Maybe i should keep the one leaning on my porch for my T/A that i want someday...

My hatch busted and i got a new hatch with the standard 3 peice, i like that much better, running with just the center peice for now, i got the side peices in my closet... One day i'll tackle that project...

 

The best way to get the old paint off is a sander? Like what grit paper? Or do need to use something like a wizz wheel?
Would a wire brush work? I really just want to get the old paint off my wing with out removing the rubber.

 

i REALLY like the look of that. kewl.