I thought I'd share with you a way to repair broken plastic trim. I know people have had good luck with plastic repair kits as you might find for bumpers. I do it a bit different that doesn't require a long drying period and ends up being nearly as strong as the original. My solution; plastic welding.

I'm in the middle of a carpet install and just about every piece of plastic trim is broken and cracked. Wherever possible I order new pieces, but I haven't been able to find the pieces in the hatch area that hold the sides of the carpet down just below the window. These are the same pieces that the curtain clips screw into. If any of you have a source for these, please post it because I couldn't find it. Because these pieces are hidden for the most part by other trim I wasn't too overly concerned with aesthetics. I just wanted it to hold the carpet down.

Anyway, here's what I started with. The driver's side was in three pieces with big chunks missing. The passenger side had a huge crack and the end was missing.


I started out by sanding everything and then tacking the pieces together using a wood burning iron. I also have a real plastic welding iron and a hot air welder, but the wood burning iron works better for me for small fragile areas. It's important to fill with the same type of plastic that's being repaired otherwise they won't stick. I am also replacing my dash trim and used the old dash for donor plastic. Here's the first "weld":


I melt a V groove into the joint and then melt some donor plastic into the groove. I then flip it over and do the other side. To fill in the missing pieces I cut some donor plastic to an approximate shape:


Then I weld it, flip it over and repeat until I have it close to the original:






I did the same to the end and re-drilled the holes. If this were to be seen I'd do a lot more sanding filling and painting to make it look presentable. Here's the end product, on the bench and installed:




Ron

 

to make it look clean I would sand it all done and spray a couple layers of Plasti-Dip on it.

 

Nice work. I used much the same approach with the inside of my cracked & broken door panels. I used a fiberglass repair kit from Lowes and they turned out great; very strong & rigid.

 

If I were overly concerned I'd actually sand it down, fill in any low spots with bumper repair, sand again, use high fill primer, sand again, spray with SEM black trim paint. That's how I did my dash bezel around my radio when I modified it to hold a touch screen.

Welded before fill:


In primer:


Finished Bezel:


Ron

 

you guys ever try JB Weld? some of the best epoxy type stuff I have ever found!