33K miles, 6 winters and seven years later... I still have this roof wing, mounted on the car since Spring 2013.

I've always been suspect of the corner fitment on the passenger side. It's always bugged me because it was less than perfect, and I allowed for that grudge because the drivers side has been 100%. Anyway, today I noticed that it was actually loose, where I could pull it away from the glass for 5 inches, give or take.

So I cleaned the underside as best I could, including alcohol and swabs, then I cut a 4" x 5/8" strip of indoor outdoor mounting tape, adhered it between the two strips of OEM tape that weren't holding anymore, and am hoping or expecting this will fix it. Seems to be holding nicely... which is huge, because I really don't want to take it off and turn this into a whole freaking project.

So anyway, checking in.

 

Still got mine 3-4 yrs later. Paint is still great however on the left side I have some shrinkage.

 

That doesn't look right at all. What's with the gap at the roof?

I'll take some pics later today to show how mine is holding up.

Shrinkage? I wonder how or why that happened.

 

Gap to the outside C-pillar.

 

I was eyeballing the area on my car just now, and discovered the gap between the roof trim and the roof proper is noticeably more pronounced on the drivers side than on the passenger side. I can't believe I never noticed that before.



More so, I just realized what I'm looking at in your picture. The reason why that collection of stuff looked odd was because of the vinyl wrap on your roof. There's a tear in the wrap within the channel. And of course, your wing doesn't go to the edge of the window, and you've got three strips of double-sided tape saying hey. You should probably cut those off. It's just glass, so a quick razor blade, a little goo-be-gone, and you're done.

In comparison, my wing goes edge-2-edge on the glass. But it's not OEM perfect.

You're absolutely right about the paint. Mine is also Black Obsidian like yours, and it looks fantastic all these years later. No marks, swirls, nicks or orange peel. They did a really excellent job painting these things.

 

It's been 10 years since I installed this roof wing. A few years ago both ends started lifting up, so I added some outdoor mounting tape each time, and that fixed the problem for a while. However in doing so, it always looked somehow wrong, because at the right angle you could tell there was added tape.

So this weekend I took the wing off, and am getting all new mounting tape to replace the original double-strips. It was easy enough to do, just blast it with a hair dryer and gently work it off the glass.

Anyway, 10 years later. Not too shabby for something like this. I'll take some current pics after it goes back on.

 

I recently did the same thing after 10 years as the wing had come loose on the passenger side about 1/2 inch from the edge and the temporary fixes only lasted a few months before needing to be reapplied. I spent about two hours pulling it off, removing all the old adhesive then reapplying new. Feels like it could go another 10 years. I am disappointed that I missed the alignment of the gap with the roof by a couple of mm on one side, but I’m already used to it and don’t want to tear it off an start over. I believe the unit I have was recommended by yourself or Black Betty 11 years ago when I joined the community.

 

That's an interesting parallel, socket. There was a time where it felt like everyone on the forum was getting this piece. I wonder how many are still around.

I still like it a lot. Looks like it came with the car. And the painted finish on this thing... IDK how they did it, being so flexible and all, but its still perfect.

 

Fully agree that this is a core piece of the OEM+ appearance package: *OEM Trunk Spoiler, Roof Spoiler, Front lip and *midnight grill (*together were an option package in 2013, name escapes me)

 

I made this comment several years ago when mine went flying off on the interstate. I liked it but not enough to replace it.

Check that tape... it doesn't last forever.

 

I wonder why these don't get mounted with RTV instead of the tape? The tape is easy, not the most secure though, even the purpose-built 3M stuff.

Had issues with the deck wing on my RX8 every few years until I stripped off the tape and used white RTV (was a white car). Still holding tight when I sold it years later.

I've got a carbon decklid spoiler for the G that I still need to get painted, or at least clear coated, and will install the same way.

 

I bought the 3M indoor/outdoor VHB mounting tape, 10ft long by .39" wide. Should be totally fine.

Actually, it arrived this afternoon, so I should be reapplying the roof wing soon enough.

 

Put the wing back on this morning. Cleaned the glass thoroughly, applied alcohol and buffed dry. Putting the wing on by yourself is somewhat difficult, so I duct-taped the wing in place to the roof, acting like a "hinge" of sorts so that I could flip it up and back again, insuring that there was equidistant spacing on each end, and that the piece was tucked up against the roof. That duct-tape technique worked out really well, actually. Totally MacGyver'd this project, LOL.

Supposed to take 24 hours for the mounting tape to be fully effective, which is why I put a day between applying the tape to the wing before applying the wing to the car. But right away it seems seriously locked in place. Really strong, too. I don't think this is going anywhere.

I'll take some 10-years-later pics, but there's not much different to see. Looks exactly as it did 10 years ago.