Update April 2nd 2015
I removed the inner trim panels from the hatch and looked for traces of leakage from the past two years and found none. I looked and felt inside the hatch interior, I did not remove the spoiler or the spoiler mounting late, I figuered why mess with it and possibly cause a leak.

My first post in this section. A newbie.


Unloading the trunk from the journey to pick up the car from Florida I noticed a few drips in the trunk under the latch and under the trunk mat on the sound insulation. A little prevention being better than a major cure I decided to investigate the cause.

I found the seals around the spoiler mounting panel to be leaking in the top left and right corners. The photos show the leaking areas. You can see where the OEM seal ran along the top side of the pocket and then transitions around the corner to the bottom face of the pocket, the seal did a good job on the side of the pocket but failed in the transition and the flat area. The seal on the top side of the pocket is to prevent the area where water can stand by letting gravity take the water to the sides. I think the leaks occur in the transition areas.

I replaced the caulking shown in the following photos with 1/8" x 3/8" closed cell adhesive backed tape that is used as a draft stopper in the home. I split this down the middle to make it 3/16" wide. I laid this in the same manner as the photos below.

There are various makes of the seal and some have larger bubbles in the rubber (Neoprene) you want the type with the very small hard to see bubbles in it as these are not so prone to get water in them. I tried one with large bubbles and although they said it was closed cell it filled with water anyway. This new one worked well when tested with water.

You can see that to get the slope from the top center of the seal to each side that the seal transitions from the top edge to the bottom of the panel. the slope leads the water to the sides of the panel. There is an indentation on the panel bottom and sides that the seal sits on.



This is Grip Grips hatch. Far worse than mine. You can see where the seal is and how water has got past it, this water will end up in the trunk or inside the hatch and cause rust. The two seals were laid out in different patterns as you can see.


Here is a photo where the seal has failed (not my car), it shows the leaks and the different pattern in which the seal was originally installed. This allows for a nice dip in the center at the top for water to sit and debris and dust to collect, that could easily lead to rust and the seal to fail early.


This picture shows the bead of sealant applied to stop the leak (not my car), It may do that but the part will be extremely hard to remove if it leaks again or needs repair. Notice the dip in he top where dirt and debris will collect and hold moisture against the panel. The gap around where the seal sits is not consistently the same size.




This area is hard to seal as the seal area is not flat, the OEM seal is called a rope seal and obviously does not work too good as it moves and leaves the sticky film attached to it where it was placed while the seal itself extrudes itself slowly to an area with lesser clamping forces. I also want to have a seal that does not allow the deep pockets that form reservoirs of standing water.

Here is some rope type caulking that I used to gage the thickness of the gap.


I will also tackle the pockets where the spoiler sits, the O-Rings did not leak but the steel that is part of the spoiler supports sits in damp pockets and made rust stains on the paint of the panel at the bottom of the pockets. I intend to prevent water sitting in these pockets. Possibly I'll use a permanently flexible putty type of compound around the spoiler supports and the pockets, this will not be seen due to the step in the spoiler supports. The O-rings are 5/16" inside diameter x 7/16" outside diameter x 1/16" (#011).

 

Reserved for future use.

 

Ah gee Dave now you've gone and done it! I gotta take my wing off!!!!!!!...............does it ever end?????

 

Sorry, you may be lucky and have no leak. Mine has a small leak, just a few drops in the trunk but as you can see a lot of water has been through those seals over time and taken the dust with it. I think a little rain drains out the bottom gaps.

Jake80 said he had no problem and I believe him. I think that the freezing rain we got the first night I was home sealed the bottom gaps and as it thawed the water had nowhere to go but inside the trunk. This makes sense to me as there was no indication water had ever been in the trunk before, no water spots visible at all and the things in the trunk coming home never got wet even though we were in some heavy showers. I'm sure water went past the seals during this time but drained out the poor seals at the bottom.

I can see that if there was poor sealing at the top and good sealing at the bottom the water would back up into the trunk.

My thoughts are to put seals all around on the bottom and have other seals at the top and bottom that will prevent water getting to the these seals along the top and bottom edges.

I am going to add a photo of the seals applied to the bottom face in the first post. The other seals will be stuck to the hatch itself at least at the top as the glass overlaps the recess for the spoiler mounting panel by about 3/32".

The big test will be done with a hose and then a good inspection.

This is a work in progress.

 

Dave, I fixed the same leak on the Aero about a year ago.... I used the black RTV gasket stuff to do mine.... I also took the wing off and cleaned the bolts and re-did the seals around them while I was in there... no more leaks since then....

 

Hopefully this is isolated as an Aero Blue problem only.

 

Welcome to the srt6 world blue aero is nice hope you get the leak sorted.

 

When I installed the wing on my coupe, I used clear silicon window sealant. Ran a thick bead all around the perimeter before seating on the studs and tightening. Not one drip!

 

I thought of that, and it would work of course.

Why one would want to take that panel off again I cannot imagine. Unless you were another Fubu and wanted an NA spoiler on an SRT or wanted to put the NA spoiler back on an NA, too late for you now but ....

 

I'm subscribed, as mine is leaking in the same spot as yours and I don't have time to repair it for a while.

 

Bring it over and I'll do the repair for ya. Also, it pays to replace the four o-rings where the wing studs mount to the base plate...

Just say the word!

 

I'm going with seals so the panel can be removed if it ever has to come off for a paint job as you never know.

 

Update
I washed the car yesterday and removed the wing and then the panel. As I knew it would be, water was evident in the pockets where the wing sits, no water went past the new O-rings (5/16" inside diameter x 1/16" #011) this is not good over time as the wing has a steel plate in the bottom mounting face and rusts a little staining the paint. In a worst case scenario this stain could overflow down the panel itself and stain the exterior paint.

The closed cell foam I used to seal the panel did not work too well as it absorbed moisture and would hold water against the paint. I am now looking for a better seal, the original seal was probably a roundish seal with a sticky back on it. The original seal moved away from the sticky backing and caused the leaks, that's assuming it did not leak anyway.

RTV and silicone are not being considered as I want to remove the parts for inspection at a later date. Although I have thought of using the RTV or silicone and having a sticky tape on one or even two faces, the sealant will form to the correct shape but not be stuck to the paint. The panel would be lightly screwed down, the RTV allowed to set and then screwed down tight after the tape has been removed.

The search for a good seal goes on.

 

Dave, attach a small diameter rubber tubing to the panel with silicone sealant

 

A one piece seamless modification solved my problem.

SRT6_Rear_Hatch.jpg

SRT6_Rear_End.jpg

 

That could work.

 

That looks real neat and as long as there is a good seal at the top a perfect solution.
The OEM sealing is rubbish.
I also want to solve the problem of water sitting under the mounting feet as water sits between the two faces where the O-rings sit.

 

I have tried a new approach to the leak problem; as I was not sure as to the thickness of the gap that the seal had to close up, I thought that a caulking cord that comes in strips that you tear off a roll would indicate the gap thickness all around when crushed.
The panel has an indentation all around that the OEM seal followed originally so I applied this seal in that area and bolted it all up again. I shall wait for warmer weather to run a hose over it and see if it leaks. I shall then replace it with a better seal.

I also intend to stop water getting into the top and bottom by using seals just below the surface of the panel.

Update
I replaced the caulking shown in the following photos with 1/8" x 3/8" closed cell adhesive backed tape that is used as a draught stopper in the home. I split this down the middle to make it 3/16" wide. I layed this in the same manner as the photos below.

There are various makes of the seal and some have larger bubbles in the rubber (Neoprene) you want the type with the very small hard to see bubbles in it as these are not so prone to get water in them. I tried one with large bubbles and allthough they said it was closed cell it filled with water anyway. This worked well when tested with water.

You can see that to get the slope from the top center of the seal to each side that the seal transitions from the top edge to the bottom of the panel. the slope leads the water to the sides of the panel. There is an indentation on the panel bottom and sides that the seal sits on.

I am going to put a seal along the top edge of the panel that is trapped between the glass, the hatch frame and the spoiler panel. I have not found the correct size rubber pipe with the correct softness that will fit. The idea for this is to keep the water away from the whole top part of the main seal, it will go from one side of the glass to the other, it may not fit for about 1" or so in from each side though. A drawing for this idea is at the bottom of the thread.

 

Nice job with the "winder puddy" Dave! Hope it doesn't dry out and crack.

 

This caulk will be replaced, I have to see if it's in the right spot and touching in all areas so it does not leak.Basically I'm using it as a plasti-gage.

This is an on going project, I have to wait until it's warm enough out to run a hose over it.