I picked up a used pair of aero side skirts and they both have what I believe are minor cracks in the paint line along the bottom. Each side has a crack about 12" long and the crack only opens up if the part is flexed. The crack goes all the way through on one skirt, not the other. Can anyone offer advice on repairing these cracks?

I can't find any markings identifying the plastic used.

I was thinking I could use some bumper epoxy to seal up the cracks and then go on about the business of refinishing them before installing. Will this hold? Do I need to do something more extensive like some of the melt in wire products for supporting the crack? Or use an iron to melt in some extra material on the back side? Thanks

 

I’ll be doing a lot of this before I put my aero kit on. Seriously, I would take it to a shop that does plastic welding and bumper repair. Why experiment. Sounds like very little damage so why chance it on a hack repair, as you know, none of these parts are cheap. Get it done right the first time out.

 

Btw. The aerodynamics package is made of PUR-R-RIM.
This will definitely help: http://www.motoringfile.com/howto/Ae...%20Bodykit.PDF

 

Thanks for the install instructions.

If I don't find enough info to feel comfortable fixing them I may take it to someone but I'm thinking it won't be too hard once I find the best method for the material.

Anyone else have advice? Thanks

 

Were it me, I would probably really rough up the plastic on the back side with like 60 grit paper - really get a good 'tooth' on the backside, thoroughly clean and degrease, then clean again, dam the area off with some sort of clay, and use really some slow setting epoxy, maybe with a fiber additive or fiberglass mesh and fill up the area. Electrical tape on the front of the crack to prevent leakage. I'd probably do a very small test patch first to make sure that there was no reaction between the materials and adequate adhesion. Slow set epoxies are incredibly strong. The slower setting the better. I have used the 24 hour stuff and it is amazingly strong. It's all about material compatibility though, and prep. Surface would need to be rough, clean, and residue free before any repair.

Epoxies won't stick well to everything (like acrylic), but they do stick to most everything else.

 

Thanks for your input.

I have been doing some research and since the plastic is a thermoset urethane material it seems I have two options- use polyurethane welding material with an iron or a structural adhesive.

the polyurethane welding material and iron doesn’t melt the skirt material it just bonds to it like a strong hot glue.

JB Weld and Bondo make an epoxy for thermoset plastics. i’ll probably go this route. I’ll be able to cleanly/neatly apply the epoxy to the front side crack on the one that isn’t all the way through. Trying to use the welding material would be a disaster on that one because of the recessed paint line detail.

Thinking past the crack repair I’m not looking forward to all the hand sanding I’m going to need to do to remove all the blue paint, especially in that paint line channel. Wish I could use some type of chemical stripper. I’ve not seen any for plastic though.