Rear Spoiler Rusting Underneath

[VR4-Quest]

Thought I would share this with everyone, maybe its already been discussed, but while waxing my VX this weekend, I noticed a small rust spot around the front edge of one of the mounts to the rear spoiler, right where it meets the roof rack rails. It basically looked like the plastic post for the wing was just rubbing the paint off. Mind you the truck has the original paint, has gone through a couple Ohio winters, has lived about half its life inside a garage, the other half outside, but I always wash and wax it. It appears thats its just a poor mounting design. After removing the wing, you can see foam at the base of the supports, however its in the center and doesnt overlap the edges, thus allowing them to touch and rub the paint. I do a lot of highway/high speed driving, so I guess the wing rocks and moves, rubbing the paint. I found more rust under the mounts, from more rubbing, plus around where the holes where drilled for mounting it. The center post was the only one that showed no rust or damage from rubbing. I used home door weatherstriping foam, and ran it around the whole bottom of the outside wing posts, so the there will be a thick cushion between it and the roof. had to do some grinding with the dremel to remove the rust, treat it, primer it, and paint it. Fortunately you dont see it since its mostly under the wing mounts. Also, found around the back door, where the seems are at the top and side (body side) there was some hint of rust. Plus, the rear window felt gasket is actually rubbing off the paint around the rear opening, down to the primer.
Though everyone might want to check theirs before it gets too bad. Removing the rear wing is east, just pop off the upper trim, and remove the 5 bolts, unclip the third brake light, and see what you got!

[Joe_Black]

I had the rear spoiler off the IronMan when putting the satellite radio antenna inside it and notice some corrosion on the mounting bolts. It wasn't into the roof sheet metal, so I just cleaned the bolts with a wire brush and lubed with some Mobil-1 synthetic grease to coat the threads real well before re-assembly.

If the fasteners corrode enough it will spread to adjacent material susceptible to corrosion. That's likely how it starts, as the quality control on bolts and such can sometimes be poor as they come from a vendor and aren't an Isuzu product.

[rowhard]

Joe, just read your reference to the sat ant into the rear spoiler. Have been thinking of doing the same. I have the XM sys with the 1.5x1 inch bug, same you? Did you just drill thru the center post and then glue the bug to the top? Did you feed the connector thru or cut it off and splice it after routing it thru to keep the hole small? Thanks in advance

[Joe_Black]

I have Sirius and took one of their mini antennas apart to put the element inside the spoiler, running the cable alongside the existing wiring for the 3rd brake light into the VX. Totally hidden and works great!

The new Dot antenna would likely fit without disassembly, and I know XM has some pretty small micro antennas that would also fit through the opening for the 3rd brake light.