****Wiper Arm Spoiler DIY****

[originalcyn]

Yeah, i think i'm going to get the arms powder coated and then rivet in the spoilers. Are you thinking one or two spoilers?

[SWRT]

I dont think powder coating will work on plastic like that, right?

[kimokalihi]

He's powdercoating the wiper arms, not the plastic spoilers.

[SWRT]

Ooops. Just noticed. I was in a hurry this morning haha

I just used grill paint on mine. Been holding up for a little over 8 months without any fading or issues. No clearcoat necessary

[originalcyn]

I painted mine once, didn't last long. But that's probably because i did a bad job. But i figure if i powder coat them i'll never have to worry about them again. I was trying to read up on it, and most of what i read indicated that i have to use self etching primer and then paint. so powder coating seemed like a better idea.

[Danny-G]

Planning on getting two tomorrow!

[SWRT]

Well, see how much powder coating them will be and then weigh that against the $6
you'll spend in grill paint and have some left over. Saving money in a bad economy is
first priority. The grill paint's even holding up on the spoiler on the arm too by the way.
And it's not flat if you let it dry and then wipe it down with a rag to take all the flat off.

[kimokalihi]

Interesting. I had my friend with a paint gun primer mine and paint them gloss black with 2 or 3 coats of clear and they look fantastic. Been a few months now and they still look new.

[Legacy777]

I painted mine several years back with some semi-flat black rattle can and they still look great.

[originalcyn]

hmm, well i can get them powder coated for approximately 20 bucks. there's a guy down the street from my work who does large batches and usually just throws them in as a favor. My paint came off immediately, but it was crappy paint and i probably did a poor job. But everywhere else i read said that without the self etching primer it would come off within two years. Though, this was on arms in general, not specifically on subaru or legacy arms. but i figure the cost of a can of decent paint at 6 bucks or so, and then the primer (if that's correct) already exceeds the cost of the guy powder coating. But we'll see.

[SWRT]

Hey, that's really cheap And I dont think that self etching primer is necessary for something like that. From what I remember it eats gently through the very top later of metal and pretty much becomes part of the metal. It's mainly used on intake manifolds that are going to be sprayed with wrinkle paint and see wear and tear, but heck man...if it's that cheap I'd say go for it.

[Danny-G]

I painted my wiper arms before the big nw meet. Didn't prime them, just sprayed a few coats of gloss black(from wal mart) and after those dried I sprayed two coats of clear. They still look fine even with dirt on them.

[kimokalihi]

hmm, well i can get them powder coated for approximately 20 bucks. there's a guy down the street from my work who does large batches and usually just throws them in as a favor. My paint came off immediately, but it was crappy paint and i probably did a poor job. But everywhere else i read said that without the self etching primer it would come off within two years. Though, this was on arms in general, not specifically on subaru or legacy arms. but i figure the cost of a can of decent paint at 6 bucks or so, and then the primer (if that's correct) already exceeds the cost of the guy powder coating. But we'll see.

I painted mine flat black before and they rusted in a year. This time I sandblasted them thoroughly beforehand and then painted them with actual car paint and used a clear coat as well so I'm thinking they'll hold up for a long time. Kind of nervous about drilling holes in them though.

[originalcyn]

Wiper arms are something like 4 bucks an arm kimo, if push comes to shove i'll find another set for you. i think i have two sets currently, one on my car and one that i can experiment with.

[kimokalihi]

Oh it's not the arms I'm worried about. Sand blasting paint off takes FOREVER. The stupid window in the sandblaster gets covered in dust so fast you either have to constantly open it and wipe it off and just deal with not being able to see which is what you end up doing since it's a PITA and takes too long to stop every minute and wipe it off. The paint is hard to get off. The rust comes off extremely easy but paint does not. I spent 3 straight hours doing 3 sets of wiper blades and I looked like a chimney sweeper after I was done. That dust gets into your pores and made my skin darker for a couple days.

It sucks. Don't want to do it again.

[Danny-G]

Guess who has four wiper arm spoilers??

[originalcyn]

Ugh, i didn't even thing about that part of it. I sanded off a bunch of the paint with a palm sander, then got frustrated and switched to an angle grinder.

Danny, I want to see you put all four on!

[Danny-G]

If I really wanted too, I could use all four haha. How many people have actually done this, four? If so, I'm bc wiper arm spoiler club member five! Haven't tested it yet but I just finished installing it and it looks sweet. The reason I got four, well now three, is that someone has to be looking for one and can't find one. I might get more just to have a small stock of them if others are looking for one or two.

[SWRT]

^^

There's not enough room for four on there. The problem is the mounting
area becomes too thin further up the wiper, which I why I initially wanted
the cantilevered one from the RS.

As for my wiper arms, I think I sanded them for about 10 seconds per
wiper and hit them with grill paint once I removed the dust. Grill paint
adheres to anything, can stand the weather without a clear coat and
if someone set my wiper arms on fire they'd still look good

[originalcyn]

Yeah, i was only joking about putting on all four, i think that might be over kill. I'm still trying to decide between putting one on each arm or just going with one on the driver's side.

[SWRT]

Go with both. You have more than one.

[Danny-G]

I've been thinking about putting one on the passengers arm. Myself, even if I'm a passenger, I still like to see out the windows clearly. So I think I'll put one on the passengers arm tomorrow, and if I don't like it then I'll get an arm from the junkyard.

[SWRT]

Yep. That's the easiest way. Or you can always just leave the holes.
As long as you paint around the edges of it it wont matter if you have
two little holes in it. I'm pretty jealous that you have Legacy's in your
junk yards around there. If you happen to find an AWD automatic one
from 1990 I could use the ECU if it's a good price. I think I messed mine
up and I dont think anyone on here has one. I'm not sure what ECU's are
interchangeable though.

[Danny-G]

There's not enough room for four on there.

Not enough room for two per arm eh?


I could pop rivet them down like that too but I don't intend on it.
99% of the Legacys I've come across are auto, probably 85% of those are pre lift cars too. So I should be able to find a '90 auto ecu and get a price for it.

[SWRT]

I thought there was something behind the thin part. I guess it'd be possible if you can
find some smaller rivets.