Nice weather and a boring weekend ... so I took off my rear window wiper. Pretty simple. On my scale of one to five "Z's" I rate this one a single "Z". The only "difficult" parts are searching Home Depot on a Saturday afternoon and pulling the plastic panel off the interior of the hatch lid.

Just in case you haven't seen it done before ... remove the plastic trim from the wiper by gripping the bottom with fingers of both hands near the bottom and gently pull outwards and upwards.



Use a 12 mm socket or wrench to remove the one bolt.



Grab the wiper arm and wiggle it back and forth will pulling upwards ... it will come off.



Remove the plastic interior cover by gripping it with your fingers and tugging outwards. Rescue any orange trim holding pieces with a pair of diagonal pliers slipped under any remaining cuff. Once the trim piece is off remove the three 10 mm bolts that hold the washer motor to the trunk lid.



Remove the wire retaining clip by gripping the sides from the bottom and squeezing. Now press the two legs back though and it will come off. Press the white tab down and remove the power connector.



Remove the gasket from the hole.



Secure the loose connector with a wire tie and an anchor. I wrapped it in electrical tape to prevent rattles.



The stopper is a faucet stopper used to fill an empty faucet hole above a sink. I bought the almond colored one and spray painted it with Krylon gloss black. I also took a marker and painted the edge of the foam gasket black.



Pop that stopper in the hole with the gasket on top, thread the plastic nut on from the bottom and tighten. I added a bit of super glue to the threads as I tightened. Replace the interior plastic trim snapping each retaining clip into its matching hole.



The result is a small black lump on the passenger's side.



And a cleaner looking back end.



15 minute job once you paint the stopper to match your car's color.

 

Hey that looks really nice! I wonder how much a good paint shop would charge to fill and re-paint the hatch?

 

I was quoted about $350.00


by the way, looks great Master Chief!

 

Great write up!

Ian

 

I've seen people make that into a cell phone antenna too. I'm digging the slick look of the back end now.

 

Nice write up, When I get my lip painted, I'll make sure to bring the bodyshop a faucet stopper to paint just in case I am brave enough to do this mod later on

 

have u weighted the motor and the wiper blade? This might be my next weight saving mod.

 

I did mine about a month ago. Its nice and sleek looking. I painted mine the PPW using the touch up paint and a airbrush. Worked slick. Ill have to take picture of mine as soon as i wash the Z

 

I'm doing my car today. I will post once is done

 

Was it the touch up paint from the dealer? Did you just open it and pour it into a air brush canister?

 

Paul, do you remember what size the faucet stopper was that you used? I am going to go buy one and do this over the weekend, just want to make sure I get the right materials.

 

Not all models have it but there is also a counter balance weight in the hatch also that can come out with the motor. After all that weight comes off the hatch it shoots up like a rocket.

Ive done many mods but this is one of my favorite because it cleans the cars lines up and gives it a sleek look. Thats one mans opinion anyhow.

 

Why did you paint the foam gasket black? Doesn't the foam gasket go underneath the metal? Why paint the edges when it will not be seen?

I'm planning to do this mod soon and am reading up on all the DIY on the forum.

See attached image.

 

***** should have nothing to do with completing this mod, it is quite possibly the easiest mod a diy could ever encounter.

unless ur like DJK and u break ur wiper off!

 

What's the easiest way to remove the interior panel?

I already have a couple of 7/8" plugs painted and was going to do mine this weekend in between rain storms. I was trying to figure out where I need to pry at, to pop off the interior panel/cover to get it started?

 

a panel remover or a prybar. If you are really down and out a wide standard screwdriver. I used a prybar when I did mine as it is very wide and allows for the stress to be spread over a greater area.

 

The foam gasket should go on the outside. It will help prevent water from entering there.

 

But that's what the OEM rubber cover is for, isn't it? You don't remove it...

So if it was good to stop water from coming in originally, why put the foam on top of it, I would think that the OEM rubber on the top with the foam gasket underneath would work much better, right?

 

I understand what you are saying, but the original post stated to remove the original gasket. My guess is that the original gasket is to tall to get a good flush fit. I would have to look at mine to get a better idea. I plan on doing this over the weekend.

 

The OEM gasket would have raised the cover up just a bit more than the foam gasket did. Plus I found my OEM gasket was torqued with a big wrinkle in it that might have let rain into the trunk if I ever allowed my car to get wet.