Plastic welding the flares and body cladding? (1 Viewer)

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Has anybody tried to plastic weld these pieces? I have a few broken parts and was going to try to rescue them rather than pony up the bucks to replace.

Alternatively, does anybody have right side body flares for a 97 LX450 they want to unload?
 
Yes, I had success with welding my fender flare after (unintentionally) ripping it off.

They are polypropylene.

Flare Fix.JPG
 
Dirty. The LC and LX have very different body cladding. I am not sure, and I doubt, there is any interchangeability.

Landcshr.

Any tips on heat and or welding rods? I am going to get one of the harbor freight guns with the built in air since I don't have a compressor.

What type of rod works with the polypropalene?
 
I used natural polypro (NPP) rod.

I don't remember the exact temperature, but it did cause some visible distortion to the outer surface due to the thin material. You may want to start with whatever the lowest setting is on your welder.

Good luck.
 
Have played with plastic welding, like any welding it requires practice to be good at it. As mentioned, plastic easily deforms when heated, to weld requires melting the surface, so difficult to control the warping. A body shop buddy recommended this stuff, http://www.amazon.com/Urethane-Supply-URE5003R10-30ft-Sticks/dp/B000VNEJOE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top - http://www.urethanesupply.com/step3c.php Haven't tried it, but is claimed to be like hot glue for plastic, so requires less heat, easier to use.

One thing about thin parts like the flare "brackets" is they easily melt before the thicker rod, making it even more tricky. For small jobs there is no reason to buy rod, look at recycle labels on containers to find the same type of plastic and cut strips. Often works great, strips of an antifreeze container for example, are thinner, easier to use.
 
I think I have it. I am going to use an ABS type epoxy and some stainless body mesh. I will post my results when I am done.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have watched a few vids and think I can do what I need to cheaper with the epoxy and mesh. Since it is on the back side of a panel the surface finish is a completely non-issue. If I tried to weld it I could warp the exterior and I want to avoid that.
 
Oh, if you want to keep the flares you should probably develop a plan for repairs. The moldings are brutally expensive to buy new. On Sewell they are ~$800 for the front doors. Yikes...
 
3M sells a professional repair adhesive that works great, specifically for abs,pp, etc
 
Wow. I was just pricing the little fender pads and the clips. Of course I destroyed them getting them off the truck because they are tear away parts. The little pads are a buck and so are the clips. That means it is about $28 to get the little cladding to be reinstalled on the front door alone. It is about $200 or so to replace ALL of the clips and pads around the truck.

Makes me want to keep the flares off. On the plus side, I could probably sell the flares on fleabay and makeup about 1/4 or so of what I have into the truck...
 
I deflared my 80 and love the look of it , give it a shot , if u don't like it just b ready w the $200
 
I am leaning towards the deflared option. It seems that some of the seals have been discontinued. That $200 figure was just in sacrifice nuts and nut pads. The full seal kit would be another $300+ assuming I could even find it.

A side note is the difficulty of getting to the nuts for the front fender flares. It helps to be one of those alien grays with super long, wire thin arms. I'm just not built like that. :)
 

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