On my 2013 Prius, I noticed that the spoiler had a bit of "wobble" when closing and opening the hatch, I never really put much thought to it but I had a random suspicion that there may be some drop of water leaking if it is wobbling. Sure enough, I decided today to do a quick tear down and I saw tiny bits of water around a couple of the screws that are supposed to hold the spoiler. However, upon my notice, I saw that the screws literally just spin freely in the holes they are screwed onto that are supposed to hold the spoiler. I then removed the Spoiler and saw that the holes that are drilled so that the screws can hold in place are absolutely worn out (it's like a white plastic tab that has the cut-out of a screw hole with threads). I went to my junk-yard to see if they had scrap spoilers instead of playing around with this more but the dude is asking for $500 (pretty sure a new OEM one is cheaper? LOL). Anywho, I was wondering if people have suggestions on what I can do here? I was thinking of initially using some sort of filler like Bondo and covering up the hole (where the screws are supposed to go) and then re-screw it back in, but I am not sure how reliable it is as if when the car goes on bump or the motion of closing/opening the hatch will loosen the bondo filling. Any ideas on what I can do here? It definitely looks like I may have to get hacky here...
I'm a bit confused. I thought the underside of the spoiler has several 'square' shaped recesses where square headed bolts lock into place. Then the threaded portion of the bolts pass through the car body sheet metal and then nuts are threaded onto them, fastening the spoiler in place. Usually there is a small circular rubber/silicone type seal around each bolt penetration. I've seen several Gen 2 spoilers where the nuts have fallen off, causing a very loose fit. The spoiler doesn't fall off because there is also a plastic stud 'interlock' on each side of it that clicks into place when the spoiler is attached prior to installing the nuts.
If you look at this video, the screws on both the very right, left and the middle ones were the ones that were loose. The one on the very right had a couple of drops of water (note, the spoiler wasn't super loose or anything, just a bit wobbly when the hatch opens or closes). The stud lock thing (there are two blue ones, one on each end) are fine and seem to do the job of holding the spoiler. However, my question is revolving around the screws as pointed out in the video.
