QuestionQUESTION: Greetings;
I would like to glue something to the inner plastic
door panel on a 2000 Jeep Cherokee. What kind of plastic
was used at that time for door panels? (Chrysler could not
answer the question). Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Reiner
ANSWER: Dear Reiner,
I´ve repaired a lot of inner panels for different makes and models but so far I have not been faced to repair that particular one. However, there are some general principles to fix plastics. From your question, I understand that you try to adhere "something" to the piece and actually not have it repaired.In order to help you in the best possible way, I would want you to give us a description, size, material and weight of the part you want to glue in. I assume you have discarded any other fastening options and have only gluing left? Sometimes is better to remove the panel and fix anything by working from the back than achieving a strong joint with common adhesives from the outside. If you had a 40 watts soldering Iron; were you able to pierce the panel material and the same for the piece you mention? If this is that case we can have a good chance to get a nice union. Of course we are going to pierce nothing, what I want to make sure is whether we are dealing with a thermoplastic polymers (both).Be patient, provide all the info you can and I will give you detailed directions to have the job done. I look forward to receiving your comments. Thanks
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QUESTION: Dear Mr. Expert,
Thank you so very much for your swift and thorough reply.
A is so rare to find an excellent adviser like you are.
Indeed, it is not a repair, it is an attachment. The Cherokee is a marvelous vehicle but it lacks door pockets. It is some custom made vernier fabric pouches that I try to fasten to the plastic panel. The pouches (for maps, glasses etc.) have a sewn-in metal support plate in the top part of the back side.A steel beam and electrical wiring directly behind the plastic panel eliminate the direct screw on route. 3M dual lock tape held to both surfaces but separated at a real hard door slam. Found so called EZ-point studs. A 1” diameter, thin aluminum disk with an inside threaded stud, 3/4” long. protruding from it. The pouches are held with machine screws going into the stud. I tried to glue these plates to the plastic panel with epoxy,
silicon-based and a host of other adhesives, all came right off. Found a medical Cyanoacrylate (much stronger version of crazy glue). It almost works. But it is hard, several sharp blows or strong vibrations of the panel will eventually brake the bond. I will have to glue these EZ-point stud plates from behind (the base plate is thin enough)
through a hole in the panel. But I still would like to find the right adhesive for this plastic (and aluminum), to keep the pieces from loosening and turning. Do you know of any adhesive that works with thermoplastic polymers?
Thank you again, it is a pleasure to have met you.
Best regards, Reiner
AnswerHi Reiner,Please link to this site: http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k139/cjtorres12/Tapizado.jpg where I have uploaded a scanned picture from a Cherokee manual. If your panel is like this one, then is made of Polypropilene >PP<. There is no good adhesive for this plastic, at least for your application. (a 1" metal base stud joined to the plastic surface)These pouches have to be assembled to stand even accidental kicks, therefore we need a very strong joint. Consider this: microwave oven doors and some loudspeaker grilles have a perforated metal screen. You can insert a piece of this into a PP plastic with a soldering iron by pushing in.Plastic flows through the holes when melted and once cool it is very difficult to detach the metal piece from the plastic.My suggestion is that you could drill some tiny holes in the stud bases and in the same way, try to insert the stud base into the plastic. For this purpose you could use a 80 watts Iron or any hot pushing rod. you could master the technique by practicing the operation in any discarded similar plastic. (a battery case, and old tupperware bowl or any liquid container with the PP marking.)Does it give you an idea? if not let me know, send some photos of the project to manual@bumper2bumperplasticsrepair.com so we can get a solution.Thanks
