Elantra GLS High Spoiler Installation
by Steve Wortham
Estimated time: 1.5 hours

Most of the instructions for the installation of this spoiler comes with the kit, but hopefully these pictures will help to show you what all is involved.  This particular installation was performed on my white 2002 Elantra GLS.

I thought that it might require some custom wiring to make the brake light work.  But actually, the spoiler has a wire coming out of a hole on the right side where it will be mounted.  And it has a plug at the end of it just to make the installation easier.

Here's a picture of the inside of the trunk lid.  You can see where the spoiler plugs in.  It can't get much better than that.  However, not all Elantras will have this plug here.  If your car doesn't have one, then the instructions will require you to remove the third brake light inside the car and wire the spoiler to that location (the kit also comes with plastic blanks to cover the hole left by that brake light).

But before you install the spoiler, the instructions tell you how to take off the old torsion bars in the trunk, and replace them with the newer heavy-duty bars (they support the extra weight of the spoiler).  Without these new bars, your trunk would probably not stay open with the spoiler installed.  This is the hardest part of the installation.  The old bars will come out fairly easily.  But the new bars supposedly require a Hyundai special service tool that we did not have.  So we improvised with various hook-like tools we could find in the garage.  This part of the installation will be easier with 2 people.  When you're done, the new torsion bars will hold the trunk lid up with ease.

Next up, you should clean the top of the trunk lid as best you can.  Then take out the templates that come with the kit and use masking tape to keep them in position on the trunk lid.  First off, use a center punch (or lightly tap a phillips screwdriver with a hammer) to mark the places where the holes need to be drilled.  Before you whip out the big bits, you should drill 1/8" pilot holes.  Then, the instructions recommend a universal step-up bit to make the holes larger as specified (four 3/8" holes, one 5/8" hole).  You'll need to test fit the spoiler, and possibly make the holes slightly larger to make it fit.

After you drill the holes and see that the spoiler fits, then you can remove the templates, and clean up your work on the trunk lid.  Then, just remove the adhesive backing on the spoiler and fit the spoiler onto the trunk lid.  You'll have to fish the wire for the brake light through the 5/8" hole and towards the middle of the trunk lid where it plugs in.  Then tighten the nuts that came with the kit to secure the spoiler.

You might also want to remove the HCMBL (third brake light) that is inside the car now that you have one on the spoiler.  If so, then the instructions for doing that also comes with the kit.  I'll probably be removing it later.  Besides doing that, the installation is complete.  I hope you enjoy the spoiler as much as I do.

Update(5/15/2003): I removed the HCMBL in my car a couple weeks ago.  There are little clips you have to shove upward from inside the trunk, and then you can pull it out and disconnect the plug.  The kit comes with a little foam pad you're supposed to put in there, followed by the plastic blanking cover that matches your interior.  The plastic cover doesn't actually fit very securely on the cardboard rear deck.  The clips for the cover are different from the clips for the HCMBL.  They actually just fit under the cardboard, and so you might have to do some custom fabrication to make it fit nicely... maybe you could rip the clips off the HCMBL and glue them to the cover or something like that.

Here are a few pictures of the car with the new spoiler:

This spoiler kit can be purchased through Jay Montigny at Lia Hyundai in Enfield, CT.
If you're interested in other modifications for your 2001+ Elantra, then check out www.elantraxd.com.