EDIT: Put the picture below the text as it sucked to scroll a lot to read what I typed.
Not that good of "score" really, but I couldn't pass it up for $9. :laugh: In the local junkyards, it's extremely tough to find a valence worth buying. I've come across about 10 of them in the past year and only this one was worth grabbing. The rest were missing large chunks and otherwise completely destroyed. From here on out, I'm buying any of them that are in semi-decent shape since they're no longer available. This one has cracks in about three different spots and the tab that's made into the center portion on the right was snapped off. I sat it back in place for the picture, so you can't tell the tab is broken. I'm planning on fixing this valence and keeping it as a spare. I'm not certain what route I'm going to take to fix it. I'm thinking about trying out some plastic welding on a spare part for practice and then tackling the valence. On the center tab, I'm likely going to fiberglass it there for some extra support. For the light scraped portions of the valence at the bottom, I'll likely throw a light coating of spot glazing putty on and sand it back perfectly smooth again. I smoothed out the center of the valence on the red car using a two part glazing putty and it worked extremely well.
Now for the question portion of the thread. Has anyone ever used any of those epoxies that are specifically for cracks in bumpers? I know some of them are referred to as "plastic weld" expoxies. I'm going to actually get a plastic welding setup and at least play around with it. I'll probably buy one of those plastic repair epoxies as well just to play around with and satisfy my curiosity.
(http://home.windstream.net/mfewtrail/images/val.jpg)
First off sweet find. Now for your question, I used that plastic weld a couple of times. The most important time I used it was when I ran my Monte Carlo over one of those parking curb things and ripped my front bumper half way off. Slapped some of that stuff on and does it ever hold, 2 years later and over 60,000 miles still holding strong. And 90% of those miles were going 65 or faster. So I am a firm believer that it holds just as good as they say. It can be sanded and painted over aswell. Hope that helps.
Shawn
Quote from: dogginred90 on March 08, 2009, 11:10:40 PM
First off sweet find. Now for your question, I used that plastic weld a couple of times. The most important time I used it was when I ran my Monte Carlo over one of those parking curb things and ripped my front bumper half way off. Slapped some of that stuff on and does it ever hold, 2 years later and over 60,000 miles still holding strong. And 90% of those miles were going 65 or faster. So I am a firm believer that it holds just as good as they say. It can be sanded and painted over aswell. Hope that helps.
Shawn
Thanks for the input Shawn. I figured the plastic weld is pretty strong considering how strong some of the other types of epoxy I've used in the past were. I fixed my hood louvers by epoxying one of the old tabs back to the louver + making a new tab of my own on one side and by epoxying the old mounting tab back on the other side. The homemade mounting tab has held up for several months and to the hood being shut & opened probably 40+ times. The stock tab that I put back together broke again...I should have made my own tab for that side like I was going to do in the first place. It's not that big of a deal to fix though, takes about 10 minutes of my time including removing the louver. Besides that, I need to pull them to repaint them the stock "Bright Red." One of the previous owners repainted them probably due to failing clearcoat, and they're now a much darker red than the rest of the car. :laugh:
No problem glad to help out. I remember reading about your homemade tab somewhere on here.
Is there a brand name for this plastic weld? where do you get it? I ripped my nose piece years ago and would like to fix it permanetly.
Quote from: GPChief on March 10, 2009, 09:28:39 AM
Is there a brand name for this plastic weld? where do you get it? I ripped my nose piece years ago and would like to fix it permanetly.
I was going to use the Permatex "PermaPoxy" brand as I've had good luck with their other epoxies in the past. I believe most auto parts chains carry it.
Yeah thats the stuff I used too. Works great, here is a picture of the tube.