Do-it-yourself step-by-step car fender liner repair
Content
It is not difficult to repair a car fender liner with your own hands. It does not require special skills and high costs.
Lockers (fenders) are protective parts for the wheel arches of a car. For minor damage, you can do-it-yourself car fender repair.
Varieties of locker damage
In their configuration, the lockers completely repeat the wheel niches, tightly clinging to them. Lockers are made of plastic, metal, or needle-punched non-woven material similar to felt. Sand and stones are constantly flying at these elements, eventually damaging their integrity.
Car fender liner repair
Often car owners are faced with such defects in fender liner:
- torn or split fasteners that prevent the fender liner from being rigidly attached;
- cracks and breaks due to impacts with large stones;
- through breaks that occur if the car is driven in adverse conditions;
- frayed areas of plastic that appear due to the installation of unsuitable rims or tires, due to the technical characteristics of the machine itself.
All these destroyed areas can be repaired by yourself.
Do-it-yourself fender repair
Do do-it-yourself car fender repair not difficult. It does not require special skills and high costs.
What materials will be required
Cracks and tears are repaired using materials and tools that can be purchased at a hardware or hardware store:
- brass or copper mesh;
- black rods for the glue gun;
- industrial dryer;
- pure alcohol and gasoline for degreasing;
- aluminum tape;
- soldering irons with a power of 40 W and 100 W;
- a small drill with a set of tools for grinding and cutting off excess material.
How to repair a tear
Patch a hole in the fender car or a small gap can be through three ways: glueing plastic rod, soldering, welding between each other using small strips of plastic.
Crack in fender
That seal the car fender using a hair dryer and a rod:
- Take a hair dryer and set the desired temperature. During operation, it can be adjusted if the plastic melts strongly or weakly.
- Heat the rod until soft.
- Warm up the parts to be joined. The plastic should puff up.
- Connect the pieces of the gap and start stick them to each other with a glue stick.
To connect the gaps with a mesh, you need a soldering iron with a flat nozzle. For repair:
- Take a brass or copper mesh with a fine mesh. A fine mesh network is preferable and easier to work with.
- Level and secure the damaged area so that the surface does not move during work.
- Connect the edges of the gap together. To do this, you need to slightly melt them.
- Set the temperature maximum on the soldering iron to 45 W and attach the mesh.
- Heat the plastic and sink the mesh into it. Try to keep the mesh completely soldered.
- Let the repaired fender liner cool.
- Check the connection for strength.
As a result of the work, a smooth and neat detail is obtained. You can strengthen the part even more by melting the rod. After that, remove the excess plastic, sand the spare part.
To repair with pieces of donor material:
- Take a 100 W soldering iron and plastic strips similar to the one being repaired.
- Degrease the repair site with alcohol.
- Stick aluminum foil tape on the wrong side (this way the melted plastic will not leak).
- With a 100 W soldering iron, melt the strip from the donor part and the edges of the plastic to be joined, filling it with the melted mass. Complete melting of the edges of the repaired parts is required.
- Wait for the spare part to cool down.
- Turn over and tear off the adhesive tape. Do the same on the other side.
It is important to remember about the curved shape of the locker and try not to disturb its configuration.
Restoration of holes
Holes of the desired configuration are made with a soldering iron and then finalized by an engraver.
Fender liner repair
To strengthen the holes, the following materials are needed.
- sheets of soft tin;
- rivets (clothing or shoe);
- rivet setting tool;
- black plastic caps.
Actions when strengthening holes:
- Cut the tin strip to a width that matches the width of the nut. The length is needed so that it goes beyond the nut on each side by 10-15 mm.
- Fold in half and round the edges.
- Drill holes: the first for the rivet, the second for the self-tapping screw and securing the nut.
- Attach the rivet, then the nut, tighten the slot with a Torx socket.
- Cover the hole on the first side with a plug, and drip on the second side with waterproof glue.
Holes reinforced in this way will retain their shape longer.
Proper grinding of plastic
The choice of tool depends on the repair area. Large spaces are smoothed out not only with an engraver, but also with a grinder (by adjusting the speed of rotation) with the necessary nozzles. After each grinding, the space where the repair was made is additionally treated with cyanoacrylate glue. Glue, slightly dissolving the plastic, helps to hide possible microscopic cracks.
In what cases is it better to contact the master
If the locker is badly damaged, the gaps have a complex configuration, it is better to go to an auto repair shop. The specialist will assess how worn the part is. If the repair is impractical, a car service worker will offer to replace the fender liner and help with the selection of a new original or universal part.
Do-it-yourself car fender repair - a painstaking, but relatively simple task that does not require large expenditures. You can find the most convenient way to repair and, having spent some time, save money.
