Has anyone removed the rear spoiler?
 

Has anyone removed the rear spoiler from their car?

I'm old-school (and just plain old). I prefer the looks of most cars unadorned without useless frippery like spoilers that serve no purpose at real-world street speeds. I love the lines of the BRZ, and think the airplane-wing boy-racer rear spoiler mars the otherwise clean, elegant, and (dare I say) to my eyes, beautiful, looks.

It (obviously) didn't stop me from buying the car, though I'd much prefer the looks without it (I once bought a new Miata and convinced the dealer to swap trunk lids with a non-spoiler car so I could be rid of the unsightly goiter back there).

Has anyone removed the rear spoiler? If you have, how did you do it?

I'm definitely not willing to fill the holes and paint the trunk lid. I like keeping the paint original, and have never had repaints match. Are there any other creative options? It looks to be attached with two bolts on each side. How big are they? Are there any body paint colored plastic caps that might fill the holes?

I don't relish the looks of 4 little plastic caps on the trunk lid either. But to my eye, that would be less offensive than the small ironing board back there now. If they were just big enough to fill the bolt holes, and matched the body paint...

Thanks!

There are 4 bolts accessible from inside the trunk. It will leave exposed holes, on my car a 13', the paint around was a bit bubbled. I covered the holes with clear vinyl, and then wrapped my trunk. It is good from afar, but far from good. Not real noticeable until you get within 5 feet and know it's there.

The wing is easily removed. As far as the holes not so easy to deal with if you are unwilling to repaint the trunk. One option is the Verus duck tail spoiler. It actually does function.

Thank you!

Regarding the ducktail rear spoiler, I think I dislike a ducktail even more than the wing.

Wrapping the trunk sounds like a reasonable idea. But, with the car being only 3 years old and with less than 6,000 miles, I'm not excited about wrapping.

Has anyone tried bumper plugs, the little plastic plugs used to fill holes in bumpers from license plate frames. Like these:

https://www.licenseplateplugs.com/shop/p/gloss-red

https://bumperplugs.com/bumperplugs

Does anyone know the size of the bolt holes? I don't know if these plugs would be the right size to attach to the bolt hole, and to adequately cover the hole itself (and might need some kind of sealant to keep rain from leaking into the trunk).

I personally don't think they would seal well enough. I used clear silicone on my APR wing bases, and rubber washers on the holes through the trunk and still get a bit of leakage. Some of the holes are also square where the plastic snaps hold it in place.

I'm happy to see someone else declare this opinion. Like my FR-S before it, my 86 looks so well designed from any angle that seeing that silly affectation stuck on the trunk is just irritating. I've thought some about pulling it off and about how to reliably plug the holes. Doing that certainly should be possible.

:thumbup:

We may be in the minority on this one (maybe it's a Massachusetts thing, or in my case simply because I'm old and prefer 'classic' unadorned styling, especially when the car is beautiful on its own).

After scouring the internet and seeing a lot of pics of people attempting this on other cars, with various plugs, small discs of vinyl tape, etc., I think it's a hopeless cause. Every pic I saw looked 'ghetto.' From 10 feet away they looked fine. Great even, to finally be rid of the useless appendage on the back. But close enough to see how it was done, not so much. It's doable, small discs of colored vinyl tape seem to be the least obtrusive. But none of the options look good.

I thought about trying to find someone with a spoiler-less trunk lid and swapping (like I did with a Miata years ago). But it seems most BRZs/GT86s came with some kind of rear spoiler in recent years. I'd have to reach back to an older car, don't know if the paint codes were the same, and even if they were, it would likely have faded to a noticeably different shade than my 6k mile garage-kept car.

Oh well, I guess I have to live with it. At least I can't see it in the rear view mirror when I'm driving (that would cross the line). I only have to see it when I walk up to the car to get in or when I get out.

All subjective really. I rather like the spoiler on the Hakone but would not have liked it on the Lava. It just adds some interest to the rear. I did prefer the Scion lip spoiler on the FRS though. Just gave it some length.
An option you do have is to see if you can find somebody with a wingless lid in the same colour to trade with and just swap the locks over.

I have to admit that I hated the naked look of mine until I installed the OEM aluminum spoiler with the Drambeenie risors. I think it looks rather slick now.

Attachment 214167

Attachment 214166

Sure wish you would have said something about this a year ago. We could have swapped trunk lids and saved me a whole mess of work.

lol, yes, timing is everything!