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

[Big Ted]

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 rack for a good price and so I was duty bound to have a go.

Spoiler was removed and paint work a bit tatty underneath.

Plan A
Cut the underside of the spoiler way and mount over the top of the rack.
Pro’s - would look great.
Cons - would seal bike rack onto van and cause a headache later should I need to remove the rack.
Over the last few evenings I’ve been tweaking and cutting and tweaking some more to see if I could mount it over the rack and the answer is NO.

Plan B.
Now I’ve a spoiler with large chunks taken out of it, I may as well chop it into 3 pieces.

One for each end and the bit in the middle.

The end pieces fit a treat. You can clearly see why the spoiler won’t fit over the rack, as it stand quite proud of the spoiler.

The middle part came next and here is where things are now too tight for me.
As a 6’8” chap I ride the largest bike I could find, with 29er wheels/tyres. Due to the weight of it, I want/need it to be closest to the rear window. With the frames geometry I can only clamp onto the vertical seat tube, which requires this arm to be slid a far way off centre. The net result of this sees the mechanism obstructing the placement of the middle piece of the now butchered spoiler.


I tried it in the central position, but here too all 3 arms are fouling the spoiler.

You can see a good air gap here...maybe a thick layer of sealant could raise it high enough?
I may think about heating it all up and applying some force, but to be honest, I think it’s only going to be me who sees it anyhow.

Next steps.
I’m thinking of filling the ends with expanding foam, then sealing them somehow. Maybe with an off cut from the middle part of the spoiler. Then I’ll bolt and bond these two into place.
Next, I’ll clean up paint work in the middle portion and find a suitable 3M wrap to cover this section.

Pictures to follow with the end result in a few weeks, as I’m away for a bit.

Summary.
Would I spec a replacement California with a spoiler and go through all this again? No.
Would I buy a bike rack and a new spoiler with the view to fit them both? No.
Am I pleased with the result I’ve ended up with? Yes, but I’ll only be happy once the job is finished.

 

[Big Ted]

Hmmmm. I tried to place all the images in the correct place, but they’ve all ended up at the end? Is there a better way of adding images?

 

[westfalia]

I know its too late for you. But do you think it would be
possible to adapt the top brackets of the rack so that they fit over
the spoiler and grip the tailgate.

 

[Big Ted]

I know its too late for you. But do you think it would be
possible to adapt the top brackets of the rack so that they fit over
the spoiler and grip the tailgate.

Not a chance.
My 4 bikes will be close to the weight limit of the rack which iirc is 60kg.
The spoiler is hollow plastic and there is no way it would take this weight in two places.
It was briefly considered.

I find the rack an amazing design, I love the simplicity of it and the convenience it brings. Well engineered product.

 

[westfalia]

Yes, i like the rack, i like the spoiler too....

Looks like you're gonna have both.
Instead of foam i would use some kind of sikaflex, jam a bit of plastic
or hardboard in about 10mm back from the edge and then fill it up.

If you get the wrong sikaflex the paint won't dry on it, maybe ask a
bodyshop chap.
Good luck.

 

[Perfectos]

Foam fill with fire proof expanding foam, let it cure fully , cut back the foam sub flush about 5mm, use fibreglass cut to size to reinforce the foam filled ends then fill with fibreglass resin flush with the cut ends, (or body filler)

If you don’t reinforce the ends the resin / filler will fall out

You can then final shape with fine wet and dry, fill any imperfections with general purpose body filler and respray

 

[Big Ted]

Update.

Weathers been better.
Both sides filled and cured.
Not refitted and glued/bonded on this eve and left to dry.

Need to re-wrap centre piece as wrong colour was ordered and I plan to wrap the ends of the cut spoiler too for added sealing.




Pleased with the overall look. Now just need to tidy up some of the loose ends such as the wrap.
Will post final pictures when happy with the result.

 

[Jay20cali]

I have seen this done the same way cut into 3 I had this dilemma a few years ago but not a chance was the spoiler coming off the van so you were lucky
And that center bit will be a easy job with some fibre glass and body fillers then a repaint nice to see people that try and overcome problems

 

[Perfectos]

Looks Good BT, what did you use for filling / capping the ends ?

 

[j2a2y]

oooks good bud got same problem at moment so had couple questions please.
How did you remove the spoiler ?
was it bolted from factory?
what was state of paintwork underneath?

 

[Big Ted]

oooks good bud got same problem at moment so had couple questions please.
How did you remove the spoiler ?
was it bolted from factory?
what was state of paintwork underneath?

I tried a few methods to remove the spoiler, as it was both bolted and bonded.
I gave up trying fishing line to cut the bond/glue as I found it was cutting the spoiler. So in the end I took it to a body shop where they applied heat and removed it with their ‘better’ fishing line.

The paint work was marred underneath, with a few marks an the clear coat was but I had this section wrapped with 3M wrap and you can’t tell unless you know.

Good luck if you go ahead with it!