Cladding repair question

[fiveoh]

HI the tabs on my left front arch all broke off and i need to reapair it, my question is what is the best stuff to use to get good adhesion also what type of material are the cladings made from? i did search and found some used the cheap epoxy from walmart anyone else ever use it ?

thanks in advance
bryan

 

[alwayscode390]

Re: Cladding repair question

I have a cracked peice that I bought, and THOUGHT was new ... what to use when I plan on painting it later on? ---

 

[escofield]

Re: Cladding repair question

I did a lot of research on tab repairs. I ended up using a tube of epoxy from ACE Hardware $3.99. It worked great. It's been on the truck for 10k and not one issue.

Hope that helps

E

 

[Nitrous]

Re: Cladding repair question

escofield, you got lucky since most of the time epoxy doesn't melt the two plastics together. I do plastic welding and I just finished welding the tabs on my new front arch because they fell off fitting it up. If you can break the tab and it crumbles into pieces it's really hard to weld because the plastic is so old. I ran out of black rods last night and I had a 3" X 1" piece missing on the rocker where the arch broke from fatigue. Believe it or not a back plastic spoon from McDonalds or Subway works fine if you don't get it too hot. I was able to break to spork off and melt to pieces together since my welding gun blows hot air and filled in the hole. When you're done , try to keep the plastic as smooth as possible so you can sand it and blend it back in like bondo. The best part is it matches and if you take some black cutting and polisher it blends back it and looks factory again. Any type of ABS plastic will melt pretty easy but if it turns brown you've weakened the plastic and will have to start over. I would recommend welding all of the tabs on a new piece of cladding since they're the weakest link. I'm thinking about welding for members here but most of you live up North and the shipping would eat you alive for a $25 to $50 weld job.

 

[turbodig]

Re: Cladding repair question

I've used the Valvoline Plio-grip (a 2-part plastic auto body adhesive) with great results. You need to clean the parts to be glued really well, and it helps a lot to grind a slight groove into the cladding where the tab sits.

The stuff requires a caulking-gun like gun, although I think you could make do with a couple of dowels. It self-mixes as it comes out of the tube.

Once it hardens, it's stronger than the plastic around it. It's also sandable when it hardens.

Body shop-supply stores will have it, or can get it.