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Has anyone out there tried to repair broken parts of these plastic body's? Are they made from acrylic plastic? If so maybe I can glue a piece of plastic behind the two broken parts. thanks
Plastic body's
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There are no known affordable repair materials that work well every time in every repair instance. But some repairs can be done with good results in certain cases.
The plastics are either injection molded or thermo-formed depending on the product and each contain a relatively high percentage of mold-release waxes in the mix. Those waxes are forever present in the plastics which prevent the use of strong reactant glue bonds and refinish materials sticking to them long term. They look pretty fresh and shiny straight out of the molds due to all the wax, but they are a bugger to repair. Those types of plastics will always be used by the manufacturers for those reasons.
Search Youtube for some ideas and techniques for adding reinforcements to broken areas and put a lot of extra effort and expense into surface preparations... working harder than anyone else is willing to is a key factor in every success story.
The plastics are either injection molded or thermo-formed depending on the product and each contain a relatively high percentage of mold-release waxes in the mix. Those waxes are forever present in the plastics which prevent the use of strong reactant glue bonds and refinish materials sticking to them long term. They look pretty fresh and shiny straight out of the molds due to all the wax, but they are a bugger to repair. Those types of plastics will always be used by the manufacturers for those reasons.
Search Youtube for some ideas and techniques for adding reinforcements to broken areas and put a lot of extra effort and expense into surface preparations... working harder than anyone else is willing to is a key factor in every success story.
I normally drill a tiny hole at the end of the crack. That will keep it from spreading further.
Then drill holes on either side of the crack and use zipties to hold it together. Looks like a stitched up wound when I'm done.
I watched a youtube video of a guy who used clamps and boards to hold the crack together, then melted the backside of the plastic with a heat gun and pushed hardware cloth into the melted plastic. When the plastic cooled the hardware cloth held the crack together and offered reinforcement, and was invisible from the top.
I'm probably going to try that next.
Then drill holes on either side of the crack and use zipties to hold it together. Looks like a stitched up wound when I'm done.
I watched a youtube video of a guy who used clamps and boards to hold the crack together, then melted the backside of the plastic with a heat gun and pushed hardware cloth into the melted plastic. When the plastic cooled the hardware cloth held the crack together and offered reinforcement, and was invisible from the top.
I'm probably going to try that next.
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155 Posts
I have done plastic welding on ABS motorcycle plastics w/ good success...
I recently had a buddy's 2004 Arctic Cat ATV that had a tear in the rear fender where the rack goes through.. and I tried this method.. and it worked quite well.. and was much stronger than just a plastic weld..
I recently had a buddy's 2004 Arctic Cat ATV that had a tear in the rear fender where the rack goes through.. and I tried this method.. and it worked quite well.. and was much stronger than just a plastic weld..
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Thanks guy's , this is where the front fenders bolt onto the frame on a 2002 Foreman 4X4 broke clean away. will come up with something. thanks again
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1,203 Posts
You can take some aluminum sheet metal, put it under the fender along the crack and pop rivet it together. Not the best looking but definitely very strong
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