lopez14

First off I wasn't too sure where this went so I put it here, if there is a more appropriate place for this post mods please move it

I've always liked the tamon spoiler but ive never justified spending $700 on a spoiler, ive talked to local fabricators so see if I can get a replica made and the cheapest price I got quoted was $600, so for that I rather pay 100 bucks more and have an original not a replica. Which brings me to another point, why has no one ever made a replica of the tamon? I mean come on those things would fly if they were at a good price, or so I believe. Anyways I thought about it and decided to attempt to make my own replica. My plans are to use 1.5" Styrofoam sheets glued together to shape it as the spoiler, once I have it shaped I plan on wrapping it in aluminum foil or saran wrap (so the fiberglass doesn't melt it), well anyways once I have the shape I plan of fiber glassing it to make the mold and then some bondo and a lot of sanding. This project can turn out to be a complete fail or a total home run by ending up with a tamon for around 50 bucks and some of my precious time, more like a lot. Im gonna make this my mini-build thread for my spoiler build for any of you that want to follow to maybe try one day or to just plain out make fun of me lol. Ill try to take pics as I go, if anyone has any suggestions please let me know I love tips

The Styrofoam I got for free at work


I then cut them into smaller sheets some what to how the spoiler is going to be to make shaping easier


I used some Elmer's craft spray on glue as its safe on foam and it'll hold up good


And i layed it flat on the ground with a wooden shelf laying over it for some good weight without damaging the foam, oh yea and bye bye oem spoiler, well hopefully lol


I don't work tomorrow and i don't have class until 1pm so hopefully i layed enough glue down and the sheets are together so i can start shaping.
Update tomorrow stay tuned

lopez14

reserved for pics

lopez14

reserved for pics

RaulChavez

Any updates ?

Very interested in results. Might give it a try my self

Chris_Lum

1. there ARE replicas of the Tamon already.
2. Good luck! I'm anxious to see how this turns out. i have the real thing and it's not the greatest quality. i paid around $550 for it and although i love the design, the quality just doesn't match the authentic ASM and Mugen fiberglass parts on my car. The Tamon Fiberglass spoiler is by far the lowest quality and "cheapest" feeling aero part i have.

lopez14

Yes I actually have a lot of it shaped already, not all though. I used everything from a zawsaw, to a kitchen knife to a grinder to a band sander to try and shape it. It's not as easy as it seems to shape it lol. I'll snap a pic or two when I get home from work but I definately won't be working on it tonight, I'm exhausted after a 12 hour shift. Just a nice wash to the S and off to a meet to hangout

Chris_Lum

Hah I can imagine it wasn't easy. For one, I believe it would have been easier to use high density foam, but I know you're just using what you have.

Sterling Sackey

Just out of curiosity, what about it do you find to be low quality? Seeing your car made me want an FRP Tamon.

I had an authentic carbon Tamon spoiler at one point, ended up returning it in exchange for a Flashpro. I remember the carbon weave on it being pretty wavy with big gaps for such an expensive part. The fitment seemed good but I didn't actually tape it down.

Weasel497

As stated before, I'd use some high density foam, like floral foam, or craft foam. I believe you can pick up rather large pieces of the stuff at hobby stores for cheap.

Chris_Lum

The first issue is hard to explain online, much easier to show you in person. But it cracked in certain areas from me pressing it down onto the trunk lid. The lip where the double sticky tape attaches is very weak, a design flaw IMO. Being that it is only held on my tape, i don't want to just lightly press it on. When it would get hot, the spoiler would separate from my trunk (the leading edge). Not only did it look ugly, but i would worry that it would have a parachute effect and catch air that way, possibly falling off of the car when driving. Basically i ended up trying to press it down many times (resulting in cracks) which was never a permanent solution, so i got fed up and just sealed it to my car with some all weather sealant/caulk. If Tamon would have designed it so it could be bolted onto the trunk via the 3rd brake light (like ASM) that would have been better.

Secondly, i have developed many (maybe 6-8) air pockets in my paint. At first i thought it was a bad paint job, but after researching the subject, i found out that it has to do with gasses from the manufacturing process being constantly released and the FG being contaminated. Some kit cars have this problem, even old Fiberglass bodied corvettes and such. People have said that the ONLY way to fix it is to cut out the section of fiberglass and put new FG, as repainting will only be a temporary fix. My Mugen HT and ASM front/rear bumpers have never developed air bubbles.

Third, i don't like the provision for the third brake light. It is just a hole in the spoiler (and the entire thing being hollow). I glued piece of lexan on the inside of the brake light window to close it off, otherwise all sorts of water and debris would get in there. Not to mention, the third brake light is 'sunken in' to the wing now, so visibility angles of the brake light are lost. It is only visible from directly behind the car, not from a 3/4 view. The brake light needs to be moved right up against the opening for it to have a wider angle of visibility to other drivers. i was going to try to wire up a string of Red LEDs to place in the hole and connect them to my brake lights, but i got lazy and scrapped the idea.

Lastly, the part is very thin, contributing to the problems of cracking when i mounted it in my first point. While i am all for authentic parts and paying for an original design, $550 for this piece in fiberglass was not worth it (especially with everything i don't like about it mentioned above). It's really the only part i regret buying for my car. I might replace it with an ASM spoiler in the future, modified to fit w/ the 3rd brake light (someone posted this in the Official ASM thread and it looks really good).

I actually wanted to get the full Tamon Widebody, but after this experience with the spoiler, i don't want to risk it with panels all over my car.