JDL Ducktail Spoiler review

[shnazzle]

I've just fitted one of the JDL "fake" ducktail spoilers and thought I'd give a little review of the experience.

Ordering
I ordered mine through the MadMotors ebay shop. They're clear about a delivery time and communication is good. Payment of the 95gbp went very smoothly.
9/10 with only some tracking information missing. I.e.. It shows up when it shows up.
 m https://www.madmotors.co.uk/spoilers/to ... oiler.html m

Or

 m http://exelcompsite.com/index.php/categ ... ot-spoiler m

Delivery
The spoiler came shipped in a well-fitted box and wrapped in a fair amount of thick bubble wrap. It's very likely that so shipping costs are quite low. Mine arrived within 4 weeks, which I can't grumble about for a piece built to order.


Quality
This is where the story becomes a little less positive.
It's a hollow fibreglass casting, so not even any foam core. The shape is great and it's straight as an arrow.
Despite the fact that it's hollow, it is very rigid and feels solid. My guess is it has supports inside.

The finish is the problem. And sadly this takes it from a well-priced spoiler to a decently pricey one. The spoiler comes in a rough white gel coat but not well-applied. You'd be better off requesting it be shipped without gel coat. Just plain fibreglass. Reason for this is that the gel coat had shrunk and caused a LOT of unevenness in the finish. This means that your sprayer of choice either has to douse it in quite a few layers of filler primer or skim it. I went for the latter.

I ended up paying 200 to fix, spray and fit it. So I expect 150-180 to get this spoiler to a point where it can be fitted.

Fitting
Once fixed up, the fitment is perfect. It sits very nicely on the boot lid and very flat on the body. So no flex in the part or having to force parts down while waiting for seal to set

Look
Love it! Matter of taste but I prefer it over the actual Toyota ducktail.
Also, it sits on the engine lid, so no issues with removing lights.

[Essex2Visuvesi]

Looks nice on the car
Been thinking about one of these or one of the ones from CL performance

[andyroo104]

By far the best looking spoiler for our cars.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[stewart@boro]

I think mine looked in better nick when it came out the box than the one in your picture.
I know its a trick of the light in the picture but at one point I thought your car had changed colour to blue  s8) s8)  

+1 on the look and fit.

[shnazzle]

So it might be pot luck on the quality of the finish.
I could have just asked him to put a couple layers of filler primer on but it wouldn't have been as mirror smooth as it is now.

[loadswine]

I had one on my old red V6. Looked brilliant, but the sprayer had all sorts of trouble getting a decent finish on it. H e eventually did, but it all bubbled up soon after.
About my favourite too, for looks.

[shnazzle]

Ah another thing the sprayer noted was that it has a little hole at the bottom. That hole needs to remain open to allow the hollow inside to ventilate. Otherwise it can warp/crack.

[Topdownman]

I suspect yours came from the same mould mine did with all the crazed lines in the gel coat!

I had to take mine back from the painter and repair it as it started to delaminate when he started to sand it back smooth!

Looking good on the car though (both of them!).

[shnazzle]

Added a link to the spoiler in the first post.

[m1tch]

Looks great  s:) s:)  might look into it myself  s:D s:D

[shnazzle]

Looks great  s:) s:)  might look into it myself  s:D s:D

And it's very very light which you like  s:) s:)

[m1tch]

Looks great  s:) s:)  might look into it myself  s:D s:D

And it's very very light which you like  s:) s:)

This is very true! Guessing much lighter than the TTE banana I removed! Will have a look at the aero to see if its worth it - might be slightly different as I am running a hard top

[stu h]

hi car looks great have you noticed any front end lift when driving hard 90+ on private roads of course i only ask as i put a spoiler on mine and to be honest it gets scary with noticible lift and lightness on the steering which was not there before i think i probably have 2 options which are remove or put a front spoiler on to counteract would appreciate any comments cheers stu

[shnazzle]

hi car looks great have you noticed any front end lift when driving hard 90+ on private roads of course i only ask as i put a spoiler on mine and to be honest it gets scary with noticible lift and lightness on the steering which was not there before i think i probably have 2 options which are remove or put a front spoiler on to counteract would appreciate any comments cheers stu

Just noticed this post...
I haven't noticed any lifting at all. A splitter should solve that.

[StuC]

hi car looks great have you noticed any front end lift when driving hard 90+ on private roads of course i only ask as i put a spoiler on mine and to be honest it gets scary with noticible lift and lightness on the steering which was not there before i think i probably have 2 options which are remove or put a front spoiler on to counteract would appreciate any comments cheers stu

Just as a supplemental question which may effect aerodynamics...

Are you running a hardtop, if not... was your roof up or down?

[Jims]

I bought a similar fake one from an ebay store and it came with some fairly hefty marks and cracks, seemed to arrive from Poland. This one looks much better.

Edit:

This looks like it came in the same box as my ebay one 

[Bad Dog]

shnazzle how is your ducktail attached to the deck lid stuck or screwed ?
 

[shnazzle]

shnazzle how is your ducktail attached to the deck lid stuck or screwed ?
 

Just stuck. I think it has two screw holes you could use.

It's not showing any signs of budging 3 years on. Even with me using it as a handle to open and close the lid

[shnazzle]

Upon reading this post again I'll add that the finish, 3 years on, is still perfect. No bubbling or cracking.

Worth the money I spent on it then to get it sorted out properly.

[puma2]

now all the work and been done and fitted looks good to me
another good write up i have to say  


  got to say the ducktail spoiler is best looking as had been said  
i did look for ages for 1 but in the end i had to get the boot 1 instead  (gutted)

[shnazzle]

now all the work and been done and fitted looks good to me
another good write up i have to say  


  got to say the ducktail spoiler is best looking as had been said  
i did look for ages for 1 but in the end i had to get the boot 1 instead  (gutted)

Thanks Paul. An old write-up now!

The official ducktail does look very nice and perhaps better-finished than the JDL but the latter looks a bit more "present".

The ducktail is a pain in the ass if you need to take the lights out, but how often do you need to do that?
All said and done it's still one of my favourite mods on the car.

[Nvy]

Sorry for the revival but just to be 100% sure. The toyota ducktail mounts to the bumper but not to the engine lid right?

[shnazzle]

Sorry for the revival but just to be 100% sure. The toyota ducktail mounts to the bumper but not to the engine lid right?

Correct