Wind deflector woes -- (1 Viewer)

[erics_bruisers]

I spoke to C-Dan last week for quite a while about a bunch of cruiser-stuff -- it's like talking to McCartney about the Beatles -- this guy knows his stuff!!

One thing we discussed was my rear deflector and that it was a dealer add-on (read, drills in the hatch) and whether to remove it or not -- we agreed that there was nothing wrong with keeping the wing on there and that it couldn't do much more damage than it had already done, except if the plastic gaskets vibrated away to nothing, rubbing the deflector to the clear-coat --

-- upon inspecting the deflector's mount, I noticed there's some signs of RUST where the tech mounted the wing -- granted, this is 9 years later -- but my question is WHAT TO DO -- remove the wing and repaint the hatch (anal, anal), remove the wing and plug the holes with washers and the like (exactly what would you plug them with?) or just keep the wing on??

THANKS ALL for your help on this --- rust SUCKS!!

eric

 

[Shortbus]

You could remove it, cut/polish the surrounding area, cover holes with that trick blue 3M tape, re-drill to size, and plug......

Since I'm a newbie here, I don't know if any of you guys use McMaster-Carr for general materials. It's one of the best sources on the internet for stuff in general. Especially when "Jerry-riggin", "Backyard Billyin", or "Cooterin" something. Or when constructing a product that doesn't exist from scratch. Their site is here... http://www.mcmaster.com/

Go into the Find products box and type in "EPDM rubber plug". Then click on Pull Top Rubber Plugs. They make plugs and just about everything else on the planet in a variety of sizes. The ones shown at the top of the page would do the trick if installed with some good water tight silicone. You could find something like this at your local Ace Hardware, unless your in Ketchican or something.

 

[Jim_Chow]

I added a wind deflector to my old 1st gen runner (using a 2nd gen deflector) and attached it w/ #12 stainless sheet metal screws (screwed into fiberglass) and sealed the holes/mounts w/ blue silicone rtv. It's plenty strong (wing sticks up about 1.5" above the roofline). Someone who had done something similar insisted that I use #12 screws, as anything smaller will just pull out. You might also try cutting a thin sheet of rubber (like from a mountain bike inner tube) to work as the gasket, and seal that w/ silicone rtv.

 

[erics_bruisers]

Thanks for this advice, all -- I'm still on the fence as to leave it alone or to try and re-mount it...

eric