Plenty of plastics in a car. bumpers, inside, around windows... how do you fix/replace these?it feels like once plastic begins to go bad, the car is doomed.you can replace mechanical parts and somehow fix rust. what about plastics?
>>27596576Car is too old when plastics start to make noise. New car time after 30,000 miles or three years MAX.All else is poorfag cope.If you can't even afford a new, cheap M3 tessie you can't afford our little hobby.
>>27596576>what about plastics?don't fuck with them unnecessarily, apply protectant to keep them from fading, replace as needed>>27596603thread derailed, congratulations nigger
>>27596603A new m3 tesla is still 30k anon, some people just can't afford to get in, as cheap as that is.
Your only hope at this point is for the car to be popular enough for companies to keep making aftermarket reproduction parts for years. Of course those will probably be cheap chinkshit plastic that'll disintegrate in a year.
>>27596603You just threw the fishing rod in the water, you didn't even try
Cracked plastic is actually pretty easy to repair, depending on the plastic type. They make special plastic welding tools but you can just use a soldering iron to melt the material and fill cracks or even patch holes with pieces of scrap plastic of the same type. I've repaired a bunch of old cracked plastic this way. It's easier if you have a temperature adjustable soldering iron, otherwise just go slow and be careful not to get it too hot or it will drip or maybe embrittle when cooled, keep it at a nice sticky and gummy consistency and push it around gently with the iron tip. You can smooth the surface by gently rubbing with the long side of the iron tip and/or use a heat gun and/or finishing sandpaper.
>>27596676Don't forget about 3d printing, it's not too difficult these days to quickly print a plastic interior part. And if it's big, have it done at a print shop online.
>>27596826>>27597088nice ideas for plastic parts, but what about rubber around doors or around windshield?
>>27596576Remember looking at Youtube of a rusty early Rex-7 in Ireland. All the plastics were mint. Here in Australia metalwork is mint, plastics have turned to dust. If only there was a way.
>>27597112>but what about rubber around doors or around windshieldUnless you have some obscure shitbox from the 70's, pre-WWII car, or imported a vehicle that wasn't sold in your country, you're not going to find too many issues here. Even if you do, you can go onto a car forum for your vehicle and find locations of replacement seals. Worst case scenario, if enough of people on that forum has these issues, they can work together to convince a replacement part manufacture to make a batch order of your specific seal. There's no DIY solution other than brute forcing a ""universal seal"" from alibaba. But I reckon you'll have a bigger issue with replacing the windshield itself than the seal. But even that can be solved with enough forum members convincing a glass company to make a small batch run.
>>27597202so it is easy to get it replaced? nice to know, I thought it was imposible
>>27596826You can also use solvents if you know what specific plastic you're working with. Acetone works great for welding ABS.
>>27597215>so it is easy to get it replaced?For the most part, some of the companies that makes replacement parts (not just the seals) are/were often the OEM supplier. But also just as often, they will sell the tooling needed to make these parts to other manufacturing companies to make way for new parts. So for most vehicles, you can expect 20 to 30 years of decent support for replacement parts before it becomes a struggle. But again, once a car reaches past 30 years, you better hope it has a decent internet forum keeping them alive and somewhat popular. My real worry is the computers and touch screens in modern cars, those will be way harder to keep around once they reach past 30 years.
>>27596576wdym, those plastics all have part numbers that you can order online.
>>27596576Paint it. If actually getting brittle epoxy it where it cracks and paint over.
>>27597270>oh your plastic parts are falling off the car goyim?>well you can't just order new ones, yout car is 10 years old and we slightly change the looks of that model every 5 years and discontinue parts for the old design>looks like you'll have to buy the new design of the same model from us to get new plastic, good luck with that resale value...
>>27597215beware, if the car is getting older but only a few are left on the road or it has no following you wont find be able to find spares. Ive been looking for door weather-stripping for my 1991-1996 (not obscenely old) ford escort sedan but they dont exist. same goes for the exterior rubber trim below the windows and covering the roof rails.
>>27596576>how do you fix/replace these?Plastic welding. Not difficult but the fix isn't pretty.
>>27598034I don't think you can fix the windshield rubber by plastic welding.
>>27596623>anon>namefag>seriously responding to our resident chat gpt troll
>>27597402my car is over 20 yo, but I'm seeing older cars everyday as car market becomes retarded and people can't afford a new one. and those who can don't know if they should get an electric they can't charge anywhere.
What do you mean plastic? All that undercarriage shit that's incredibly annoying? I just rip or cut that shit out if I need to access something then throw it out lol. Interior trim plastics? Who da fuck cares lol? Why do people try and maintain old cars in brand new condition?
>>27603354We live in a frugal world where the average person is priced out of something like a new car without bank assistance. People want their old shitboxes to be immaculate and running proper for as long as possible.
>>27596576Depends on the type of plastic and how autistic the owner is. If it just needs to be fixed, you can glue it, or if it's the right kind of plastic, melt it back together with a plastic welder. They also have stitching you can do that melts into the plastic with a little metal clip to add support.However if you don't give a fuck, a drill and some zip ties can fix it forever.
>>27597112Rubber parts like seals are much more available, not to mention you can get most generic kits to work with some TLC and a knife.
