Mexico front spoiler just sold

[gwtaylor22]

Mexico front spoiler just sold on the bay for 360 quid it said original rubber type thought they were all plastic?

[mk2 mike]

Original ones were rubber, repro ones are fibreglass iirc. You can tell the original ones as they have different screw holes at either end. Repro ones don't have them.

[gwtaylor22]

Wonder what mine is then as mine is a SA spec which came with the spoilers as standard

 

Best go and check the shed

[mk2 mike]

Genuine: <br /><br />Reproduction:<br />

[warrenk]

Gary, only our 1600 Sport this side had the front spoiler, and they were all unpainted black rubber.

[Rally Pack 2000]

Mexico front spoiler just sold on the bay for 360 quid it said original rubber type thought they were all plastic?

 

 

Original ones were rubber, repro ones are fibreglass iirc. You can tell the original ones as they have different screw holes at either end. Repro ones don't have them.

 

 

Gary, only our 1600 Sport this side had the front spoiler, and they were all unpainted black rubber.

 

Our Rally Pack spoilers are Mexico spoilers like that pictured on the yellow car. Now every review I have read, including Australian ones reference the original spoiler being rubber. My car has been in my family for 30 years and has its original factory spoiler and I have acquired spares over the years that you know are genuine because of a stripe that was added for the Rally Pack model. In no sense of the word have I ever consider it rubber (until recently). Yes its definitely flexible and even wobbles if you held it at one end given its length and back in the 70's I just suspected that a flexible and deformable plastic was  referred to as rubber. Certainly on our models they were all black like the colour of rubber and hence where I think people referred to them as that as the rear ones were black and rubber. The rear ones yes definitely are rubber and you can squeeze them even. But for all intents and purposes the original Mexico/Rally Pack/Sport front spoilers appeared to be hard like plastic. So for years I just assumed they were incorrectly named. Then in the past year I was able to see this material being used to manufacture parts. I live close to the guy that makes reproduction Mk2 spoilers and alot of rubber grommets and RS steering wheel centre caps. I have seen that there is actually a fine line between the rubber items he makes and plastic ones. He mixes up chemicals and pours them in moulds and if all goes well it come out a flexible rubber grommet or whatever. However there is often batch variation when he gets new drums of chemicals in and sometimes the pieces come out hard as rocks more like shiny plastic. (They get tossed out) but my point is that what is the same material with slight adjustments can be made soft and squishy like rubber or hard and shiny as plastic. This is where the confusion is. Some people see that very hard rubber material and call it plastic just like I did for decades but now I know that rubber can be altered in many forms. Certainly if it was rubber as we all would call rubber like the rear spoiler then those that paint them would have a disaster in a week but we know the front spoilers are painted with great success. So in answer to the question, technically it is a synthetic rubber but its hard with the consistency of plastic.

[gwtaylor22]

Well mines an original just checked

[mk2lew]

It's made of polycarbonate. Same as rs2000 nose cone