ok, heres a good, dificult question that im just curious about : my dads 96 monte Z34 SS
came with a factory bodykit as part of the SS package. i have never seen another monte with the SS bodykit, other than a lumina counterpart ( idk if it was factory installed on the lumina?) and i have not yet found any replacements in the aftermarket. the kit looks way cool, with a lower front airdam that incorperates 2 round foglamps into the design.

the problem is, someone boddemed out the front at some point and cracked the plastic around the foglamp housings to the point where it feels like it could fall off

my question is: is their any way to repair the damage, or does anyone know of a repop peice of the same style?

 

What is the material the body kit is made of? Plastic or fiberglass? Repairing plastic can get kind of expensive with the necessary materials. Cleaners, adhesion promoters and the repair material are all expensive when it comes to plastic. Without even knowing the extent of the damage, I would say you will spend at least 50-60 bucks just on repair materials alone. Plus the cost of the paint, tools and other supplies. Honestly, I would have a body shop repair it for you so you dont have to buy the hole containers of the materials you need, plus the body shop will already have the applicator for the repair material which isnt cheap either. If you were planning on doing alot of plastic repair, like multiple vehicles worth, then it would be wise to invest in the supplies, but it is not cost effective for a single job.

Now if the kit is fiberglass then its alot cheaper to do it yourself. You will need to V out the crack front and back. Rough the area up around the crack with a grinder so the repair holds better. Get yourself some fiberglass resin and fiberglass matt. Do the back first, spread some resin in and around the crack. Then, cut some fiberglass matt to an appropriate size for the repair area and stick it in the resin you just layed. Take a paint brush and brush resin over the matt until it is saturated with resin. Smooth a little bit of resin over the entire repair area. Once the back dries, you can repeat the same procedure for the front, then you can sand the front and smooth it out with fiberglass filler and sand it down. Finish off the area with body filler and then primer then after sanding the primer, topcoat accordingly. Try and keep the area as clean as possible at all times. Use a water based prep solvent and avoid getting excessive amounts on the bare fiberglass.

 

Can it be plastic welded? My buddy got in a wreck w/ his srt4, and it had a few severe cracks/ gashes that they plastic welded back together. They said it was cheaper than a whole new bumper- and it came out perfect.

 

ive never heard of plastic being welded. the only way i could think would be to apply the heat very slowly so it melts, then sand smooth? it would be really tricky though.... plus very weak when your done.

 

Plastic welding can be done, but it takes some skill, knowledge and of course the plastic welder itself, which not all people/shops have. I dont recommend welding plastic unless you are experienced in plastic repair.

I like to just stick to plastic repair material to fix plastic parts. Its much easier to do and can be used on a wider range of plastics without needing to adjust the procedure.

 

the bumpers are plastic to the best of my knowlage, i dont think the factory installed fiberglass but i could be mistakien

now that you mention it, i remember finding a plastic welder in the eastwood catolouge, now correct me if im wrong, but i think
it actually worked like an ordinary mig, only with plastic sticks being fed through the gun, i thought it was a cool idea but did not know how well it would work.

not too worried about looking great, its in a recessed aerea where its cracked ( i guess the best way to describe it would be that it curves around the foglight housing in a
"valley" for lack of a better term. a pain to fix i am shoure but if you were not under the car you dont notice it, i only looked because the lights along with the peice between them seemed ready to fall off.

thanks for the help and advice, everyone

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_welding

Its very common in body shops. Its very inexpensive compared to buying complete new body parts in many cases (especially looking at new OEM parts)- so it allows them to be more competitive when giving quotes.

The 'torch' blows hot air to melt / soften the base material, and you add filler rod to fill gaps/holes (somewhat like TIG welding). You build up the gap so it is slightly taller than the surrounding material, and sand it smooth. It can be somewhat tricky- more no more so than TIG welding metals, its just a whole lot cheaper to do.

Any evidence to support this? If you're using the same material filler rod as your base material- and it is all melted back together as a solid piece- and you maintain similar thickness as stock- then there is no reason why it would be any weaker than stock.

Its not like its a structural application anyways, its just a piece of a body kit- its not really under any real stress.


If you plan to do the repair yourself, then it doesn't really make any sense to go buy a whole plastic welding setup, practice, and make a repair. I just meant if he wants to have it repaired by a shop- call around for a body shop that does this for a quote.

 

if its SMC plastic (bends) which it should be from factory, the repair will not be as easy as fiberglass.

what some use in our shop is a form of panel bond, its not specifically designed for plastic repair per say but it works perfectly and bonds to the old SMC.

steps involved
first roughing up the plastic then making a V in the crack
applying the panelbond to both sides..then useing a spreader to smooth it out
use a heat gun on it until its hardened. then cool down before sanding
sand it flush with some 150 grit then even more with 320..
when happy with the repair , apply adhesion permoter before priming
use a 2k high build primer surfacer with flex agent.
let it dry and sand with 320. use guidecoat to see pinholes
wetsand with 600
putty in any pinholes not filled with primer
put it in the booth and spray it with a 2k wet-on-wet sealer
let it flash off (5-10 mins)
basecoat it
clear coat w/ flex agent