Bike rack and rear spoiler

[Calilot]

Hi, we are looking for any way that a bike rack can be fitted to our T5 Cali which came with a rear spoiler, before we give up and go down the tow bar route. I see the last posts about fitting bike racks where spoilers are involved were a few years ago so I thought I would find out if anyone has come up with or seen any new ideas!

Our VW service guy thinks he has seen a bike rack on a van that attaches at the sides rather than the top of the rear door, but I can’t find anything like this.

Could another option be to remove the spoiler? As far as we know it was factory fitted so not sure how easy this would be or how much of a mess it would make...

Many thanks guys

 

[WelshGas]

Hi, we are looking for any way that a bike rack can be fitted to our T5 Cali which came with a rear spoiler, before we give up and go down the tow bar route. I see the last posts about fitting bike racks where spoilers are involved were a few years ago so I thought I would find out if anyone has come up with or seen any new ideas!

Our VW service guy thinks he has seen a bike rack on a van that attaches at the sides rather than the top of the rear door, but I can’t find anything like this.

Could another option be to remove the spoiler? As far as we know it was factory fitted so not sure how easy this would be or how much of a mess it would make...

Many thanks guys

This might help.

VW bike rack, Spoiler, 29er bike plus a dremel.....

Our 2008 T5 Cali arrived last Friday and came with a sport line spoiler fitted. Long story short, we wanted the VW bike rack and not a towbar job. I trawled this and other forums to see if this was possible, but never really came to a conclusion. Chance had it that I managed to pick up a VW...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[Calilot]

Thanks - not sure how I missed that thread... but very helpful.

Might be a bit beyond our capabilities though... and our spoiler seems well and truly bonded so not sure we’ll get it off anyway without potentially ruining the bodywork. Might ask local bodyshop about possibility of removing it.

Thanks very much for help.

 

[Big Ted]

Glad the thread was of use.
I started to remove my spoiler myself, with a fishing line/nylon tape, but gave up after a few hours, as I wasn’t making a huge amount of progress. In fact, I could see I was damaging the plastic spoiler.
I took it to a body shop, who removed it the next day.
The paint work is damaged where the spoiler was bonded, so for now I’ve wrapped the exposed paint work with a blue vinyl wrap. The colour match isn’t so good so I’ll redo it at some point.
If I recall well, the price was £80 to remove it and they chucked in a tube of new bonding material for me to restick the ends back on.

Measure twice and cut once should be heeded for the next bit.

 

[Calilot]

Many thanks Big Ted, that’s useful to know. I now think we will just get the spoiler removed, make good any damage to paintwork and fit a VW bike rack without the spoiler. Cheaper than having tow bar fitted and whilst your van looks great with spoiler and bike rack, I know we wouldn’t achieve the same with our non-skills! We’ve used the VW rack on a previous Cali and know that we would prefer this to a tow bar rack as it holds the bikes very securely. It’s good to know that your spoiler came off without too much damage.

Might have a silver spoiler for sale soon if anyone’s interested... and will be looking for a bike rack if anyone is selling!

Thanks again for help.

 

[Sandyvan]

This has been covered before and I'm not going to open up the debate again but tow bar bike racks hold them securely as well you know, with that said its personal choice. the spoiler will be bonded and if dealer fitted probably bolted on as well. Open the tailgate and look for the bolt heads if not you may be lucky.

If you need a very good body shop I have a friend in Long Eaton (Midlands) who specialises on transporters of all denominations also Porsches. All I can say is if my van were to be damaged he would be the only one I would trust with it.