Tailgate Bike Rack Disaster

[AlanM]

• I fitted the Thule 973 rack with the '18' fitting kit back in 2017 - for those not familiar with this (now unavailable) rack, it attaches to the top of the tailgate by two hooks on metal straps.
• Most of the weight of the rack/load goes down through the bottom fixing points, also hooks under the bottom lip of the tailgate although some of the load bears down on the rear spoiler through the supplied support arm pads (lots of info on this rack HERE).
• I leave the rack permanently attached and it’s been a trouble -free way of transport my bikes around - trouble free until 2 weeks ago that is!

The Story

• Bikes loaded (two e-bike conversions 45Kg ish in total) and just getting to the campsite down a narrow unadopted lane with really grim speed bumps.
• In the dappled sunlight I failed to spot one of them and went over it at maybe 15-20mph? The weight of the bikes was of course bounced upwards and this caused the upper hooks to disengage from the tailgate and the whole kit and caboodle feel backwards onto the road (the bottom tailgate hooks remained attached).
• Fortunately no following traffic and after a brief 'oh sh1te' moment, I disentangled everything, re-hooked the bike rack and completed the journey.

And to Repairs?

• As can be seen by the pics below, the downward pressure of the 'bounce' has dislodged the rear spoiler. It being MOT day tomorrow, I've left all in place as the rear wiper and high level brake light still work, but post MOT it'll be a repair of some sort.
• Hoping that the spoiler will recover its shape somewhat, my initial thoughts are to clear off the old sealant, remove the broken clips and reposition the spoiler and fix it in place with something like Sikaflex 512/522 or the like and even go as far as screwing through the spoiler into the underlying metal of the tailgate.
• This won't be the prettiest of fixes but I'm not overly fussed about that on my 2002 E51 (which I'll likely keep until either of us dies ). Obviously using Sikaflex as the sealant would make subsequent removal of the spoiler difficult, but having a sound and firm fix is uppermost in my thinking.
• And on that point, I'll also put a screw through each of the metal straps to stop them jumping out again.

Anyway, those are my initial thoughts and I'd welcome any suggestions on how to fix the spoiler etc.

 

[LeStempy]

I recently removed my spoiler for repairs following a reversing incident which required a new rear glass. There are a couple of captive bolts that are released by removing the interior upper trim and unscrewing the nuts, but looking at your picture I suspect they have ripped out of the plastic retainers on the underside of the spoiler. After that there are several plastic clips of varying types which on mine had detached rather than snapped so I reglued them back in place.

When I refitted the spoiler one of the captive bolts dislodged but the spoiler was fully back in position before I noticed so I decided to leave it as it is as it's a right royal PITA to remove and refit. I'd suggest using a bit of flexible silicone sealer to keep them in place. The adhesive strips are also hard to remove even with acetone, I replaced them with a less sticky type but you may want something stronger given the extra loading. Picture below gives you an idea of what you are up against.

 

[AlanM]

Just a follow-up on my post:
> On removing the bike rack the spoiler just hung loose, held in place by the wiper mech and cabling.
> All the small retaining clips had broken and clearly the spoiler had only only stayed in place because the two large clips (one of them indicated by the green arrow in the pic below) either side had held their position by virtue of the bike rack itself.
> The spoiler did however recover its original shape immediately

The Fix
> I removed all the broken small clips and scrapped away the sealing strips along and under the top edge of the spoiler followed by a rigorous clean
> Then followed a good application of Sikaflex 522 sealant to the top underside edge of the spoiler to in effect substitute for the small clips - note; I masked off surrounding areas to prevent the Sikaflex going anywhere other than intended.
> The spoiler was then eased back into position ensuring the two large clips either side of the spoiler engaged(the green arrowed one) and whilst held in position I drilled pilot holes for self tapping screws to firm fix the spoiler in place
> I allowed 24hrs drying time for the sealant and then remounted the bike rack but crucially this time I screwed the upper hooked straps to the spoiler to prevent them accidently unhooking again.
> I load tested the rack by sitting on it and given that I'm about 3-4 e-bikes heavy and there was no movement or flex in the spoiler,I'm happy

Not the prettiest fix I know, but we're off to France in a few days time and my confidence in the rack and how it attaches to the vehicle has been restored.

 

[LeStempy]

Still plenty of hot sunny weather to come here so you'll be able to make best use of the bikes.