Scott Drake Wicker Bill Spoiler. 3M tape is not holding up in our mild 95°F summer.

[Jay1661]

I'm not a handy man at all. Anytime I have work done to my car I take it in and pay to have it done. I bought the Scott Drake Wicker Bill Spoiler. It comes with 3m tape already applied to the spoiler on the front lip. Because I'm not very handy I did about 2 months of research, techniques, on how to put this spoiler on and 3m adhesion. While waiting for my spoiler to arrive. I'm pretty sure I did everything right. Got the spoiler on first try, measured my holes multiple times and only had to drill into the trunk once. Didn't even use the template that was provided to me from LMR. I know people are going to try to find some way to say that the 3m tape wasn't applied correctly so i'll say this. I first started by washing the car top to bottom. Two bucket method. Followed by hand drying with a micro fiber towels. Used goo gone on the trunk to make sure to remove any stickyness/gunk from last springs annual tree spluge. Followed by a bath in isopropyl alcohol and wiped down with a microfiber towel that would not leave any residue behind. After that I used a 3m adhesion promoter that I had to purchase at my local auto part store. Weights were then placed on the lip of the spoiler and it was stored in a climate controlled garage for two days at a nice cool 70°F. After two days the weights were taken off and the car became my daily again. Not even two days later I walk outside and the lip of my spoiler and the trunk look like when you cut a hot grilled cheese sandwich in half and quickly pull it a part.

Long story short. Wtf did I do wrong, are their any alternatives to 3m? I put on my louvers the same exact way and they are holding up just find and also using 3m tape.

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[MaskedRacerX]

Personally, there's no way I'd install a spoiler - especially that size - with just 3M. Does it have fastener mounting points on it?

 

[Jay1661]

Personally, there's no way I'd install a spoiler - especially that size - with just 3M. Does it have fastener mounting points on it?

Its not being held on with just 3m. Its being held on by 4 bolts in the 'factory' holes. The 3m is placed along the very front lip to keep it flush with the trunk as much as it can be.

 

[MaskedRacerX]

Its not being held on with just 3m. Its being held on by 4 bolts in the 'factory' holes. The 3m is placed along the very front lip to keep it flush with the trunk as much as it can be.

Ahh, OK, that makes more sense. My BMC GT350 wing had like a soft rubber seal all the way around, it wasn't adhesive or anything, just a way to kind of seal and cushion it (the fitment was very exact, so not much space).

Maybe some weather stripping? You know, just stuck to the wing, and not adhesive on the trunk side.

 

[Jay1661]

Upon further inspection... Looks like Scott Drake could learn a thing or two about attaching 3m to their spoilers.

 

[Sig556]

Sounds to me you did everything the right way in fact you over killed the clean up. Sometimes the applied 3M tape just doesn't do the job other times it's a slam dunk. The tape that was factory applied on my front scoops gave up and started to lift. I then used a hair dryer and removed the scoops and then applied fresh 3M tape and reapplied the scoops. It's been 6 months and they are holding well.
I would remove the spoiler clean off the old tape and reapply new 3M and try it again.

 

[frank s]

Sounds to me you did everything the right way in fact you over killed the clean up. Sometimes the applied 3M tape just doesn't do the job other times it's a slam dunk. The tape that was factory applied on my front scoops gave up and started to lift. I then used a hair dryer and removed the scoops and then applied fresh 3M tape and reapplied the scoops. It's been 6 months and they are holding well.
I would remove the spoiler clean off the old tape and reapply new 3M and try it again.

One of the suppliers I've bought 3M-applied items from changed their recommendation from Alcohol to Naphtha for that final cleaning step. For both applications they specified "a dozen" passes with new liquid on a new rag. Seemed to work.

 

[S550_GTCS]

Mine did the same exact thing as yours. Started lifting on the drivers side once it got above 80 out. Best thing to do, is remove and apply new tape. Second time the tape held fine.

I used a wider 3m tape the second time. 3/4 inch I think.

Good luck!

 

[Drake Muscle Cars]

Mine did the same exact thing as yours. Started lifting on the drivers side once it got above 80 out. Best thing to do, is remove and apply new tape. Second time the tape held fine.

I used a wider 3m tape the second time. 3/4 inch I think.

Good luck!

OP and S550_GTCS - Thanks for bringing this to our attention and for the feedback. I'll take this post to the R&D team as well to hopefully avoid any issues in the future. We use 3M VHB adhesive on these spoilers, but with the warmer summer weather, adhesive like this has a tendency to soften and expand. Once the tape separates slightly, it generally continues to separate as dust and dirt can get stuck to it and it loses its tackiness. It may be best to retape, as S550_GTCS suggested, to make sure you have a good seal.

 

[dn1984]

I've found the 3M body molding tape is stronger than your typical 3M tape you see come on products

 

[FreePenguin]

The molding tape I think is the strongest offered

 

[DRB]

I don't know if this is germane to this discussion or not, but when I was attaching a Ford emblem to the Drake decklid I noticed that the 3M adhesive on the emblem was not foam tape but a very thin transparent film. Doing some looking around online I found that 3M makes an adhesive in sheets called 300LSE that's supposed to be a very high strength bond. It looks the same; I'm wondering if this is what Ford uses on some of the OEM pieces.

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