Old Library

>>   To those of you who have added the Euro chin spoiler to their car, How
     much did it cost, where is the best place to order it from, is it easy
     to put on, do you need to do any painting, how is the fit, etc., etc.
     My stock one has taken a beating with my 60mm SPAX springs and I think
     it is time for a new one.


Hi Andy,

If your stock front spoiler took a beating with the Spax kit, the Euro
spoiler will get knocked off. It's about twice the depth of the stock
spoiler.

Here's a big hint with the Euro spoiler...

Get it from the dealer!

It is a dealer part (both halves cost like 50 bucks each, if I remember
correctly) and some even have it in stock. It's way cheaper than the others
found out there on the market.

It is a pain in the ass to install correctly, because part of the front lip
on the front bumper, where the spoiler mounts, must be slightly trimmed off
(about 3/16"). I have pretty good skills with an X-acto knife, but I
wouldn't recommend this to anyone else. A Dremel tool with a sanding drum
makes a mess, but it works.

If the bumper does not get trimmed, the spoiler cannot mount completely
through the clips that it needs to stay on securely. I've seen it done both
ways, and they both work, but without cutting the bumper, it does have a
tendency to come loose.

Doug


http://www.vwvortex.com/

Wait, which part are we talking about? I asked at the dealer last night
and the part # he gave me for the A3 Chin Spoiler was ZVW114002. Cost:
$270.90. That's U.S. dollars, but still..... And he said it's a
one-piece unit. I checked the picture in his book and it is definitely
not the stock spoiler on my VR6. The picture had a spoiler with three
intake areas.  I missed a lot of this thread, but there was one note
that said this was a two part piece and cost about $50 bucks a piece or
so...? What's what fellas?

Thanks-
Richard
'97 GTI VR6

[...] 20 lines deleted

that's not the euro spoiler. if it's the spoiler in the VW Accesories
catalog, it's not the right one.
[...] 37 lines deleted

>      To those of you who have added the Euro chin spoiler to their car, How
>      much did it cost, where is the best place to order it from, is it easy
>      to put on, do you need to do any painting, how is the fit, etc., etc.
>      My stock one has taken a beating with my 60mm SPAX springs and I think
>      it is time for a new one.
>
>      TIA,
>      andy

	Dude, if your stock one is taking a beating, the euro spoiler is going
to get torn to sheards in the first four miles! :-)  The euro chin
spoiler cost $175 when I bought mine but I have heard that prices have
dropped to about $135 a pop due to a certain somebody who brought a
whole bunch of 'em into the country.  Try giving Jason at t.h motorsport
a ring at (606)881-9009.  He should be able to help you out.  Tell him
Abe said "I want my red city light bulbs damnit!"... :-)

Abe

--
-----------------------------------------
Abe L. Getchell
E-Mail:  &#97;be&#64;wasting-bandwidth<img src=/i/dn.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>
Webpage: http://www.wasting-bandwidth.net/
-----------------------------------------

Here are
a few pics showing why the Euro front spoiler won't fit w/o mods, and what
to do about it.

	To check the fit of the stock spoiler vs. the Euro spoiler, I removed the stock spoiler, and made a cardboard template of the bottom edge of the front bumper. As can be expected, the template of the bumper's bottom edge matches the stock spoiler's top edge almost exactly. This pic shows top view of the template laying atop the driver's side piece of the stock spoiler; the Euro spoiler is below & to the right. (The center front of the spoiler pieces are at the left.)
	Here is the template atop the Euro spoiler. The curvature of the Euro spoiler's corner is shallower than that of the stock spoiler. As a result, the rear (trailing) edge of the Euro spoiler sticks out about 2-3".
	In order to make the Euro spoiler fit correctly, you have to "notch" the inner corner of the spoiler i.e. cut wedges out. (See the thin red zig-zagging line.) Doing so will allow the corner to bend more sharply without putting any strain on other parts of the spoiler. The mounting tab at the corner will be sacrificed, but the surrounding tabs are more than enough to keep the spoiler anchored firmly in place. (The blue portions are what I had hacked off in a previous attempt to fit the Euro spoiler, before I figured out the corner notching trick. You do not need to do this kind of hacking to get the Euro spoiler to fit.)
	One issue with cutting the notches as in the pic at above left, is that as the spoiler gets older, plastic fatigue will cause the spoiler to tear/crack at the point of the notch, where the cut lines intersect. To avoid having intersecting cut lines (and hence the eventual tearing/cracking) is to make a round hole at the apex of the notch then cutting to it, as in the pic at below left. A small drill bit, or a red-hot nail, will do the job.
	You will also need to trim about 1/4" - 3/8" off of the front edge of the lower bumper's lip, to allow the spoiler to sit closer to the bumper. The trimming will allow the tabs to snap in more securely, as well as allow the side tabs to be seated further back.
	An illustration of the profile of the Euro spoiler (left) versus that of the stock spoiler (right). As you can see, the Euro spoiler is a. deeper, and b. less "raked" back, both of which cause the Euro spoiler to appear much deeper than the stock spoiler, even though the Euro spoielr is deeper by only about 1 1/2".

nah..i have the euro splash guards..even though my euro spoiler was
stolen..they worked a treat with the spoiler..added strength..cleaned up the
install..worth the extra bucks

## DAN ##
Sequoia Green GLX
http://members.aol.com/ventodan/index.html

the euro splash guards come down lower. all the way from the wheelwell area
up to the mounting points on the spoiler..the existing spalsh guards will not
work..the proper ones must be used for a clean install

## DAN ##
Sequoia Green GLX
http://members.aol.com/ventodan/index.html

Although I'm probably the last person on Earth to install the Euro Spoiler
on my A3, I found one tip that greatly speeds up the install in addition to
the great advice provided here:

http://www.gti-vr6.net/library/body_exterior/Euro_GTI_fr_spoiler.html

When cutting the excess plastic off of the bottom of the bumper, pull the
plastic "tail" (excess plastic) AWAY from the knife blade as you cut and the
knife will cut "like butter!"  (I'm assuming there is a lot less friction on
the blade, hence it cuts easier.)  Of course, I didn't discover this myself
until I had already spent well over an hour monkeying with the project, so I
figured I'd just pass this bit 'o information along so the next person has
an easier job!

Sincerely,
Todd M. Taylor
President - V.E.N.O.M. Motorsports
Volkswagen Enthusiast Network Of Milwaukee
www.venommotorsports.com