|
INTRO. |
CHECK THE FIT. |
Here are a few
pics showing why the Euro front spoiler won't
fit w/o mods, and what
to do about it.
VW TECH taken from the The VR6 Mailing List. |

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 photo 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.) |
|
TEMPLATE ON THE EURO SPOILER. |
HOW TO MAKE IT FIT. |

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 zigzagging 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.) |
|
AVOID CRACKS. |
MAKING CORRECTIONS. |

One issue with
cutting the notches as in the photo 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
photo at below left. A small drill bit, or a
red-hot nail, will do the job. |
|
CUTTING SMALL EDGE. |
COMPARING OEM VS. EURO. |

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 spoiler is deeper
by only about 1 1/2". |