What are interior body panels made of? 4

[rdjl972]

What are interior body panels on a 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee made of? ABS? I cracked one lately and want to try and repair it.

Thank you,
Rick

 

[TVP]

Can you elaborate a little more on where this panel is located? "Body panel" connotes exterior of the vehicle, so I am confused by the description of "interior body panel". ABS or PC/ABS blends are used on the interior of the vehicle for various parts, but it is not commonly used on the exterior.

 

[patprimmer]

A lot of polypropylene is also used on car interiors. It depends on temperature resistance required and scratch resistance and quality of fit.

Regards
Pat
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[rdjl972]

I'm sorry ... I didn't think about all the different types of "body panels." The panel in question is the interior plastic panel just below the right rear storage area window in the rear of my 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland. It extends from just to the right of the rear seat all the way back to the rear hatch door. I can take a picture if that would help you.

Again, I'm trying to repair a crack that has developed in the panel and want to know what it's made of so I can select the correct glue/adhesive to use.

Thank you. I really appreciate the help.
Rick

 

[patprimmer]

My guess would be polypropylene. If so it cannot really be glued succesfully

Regards
Pat
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[TVP]

My guess would be PP as well. Loctite has some adhesives that can be used with a primer to bond somewhat to PP.

 

[rdjl972]

Thank you to Patprimmer and TVP for their help with my issue with the interior panel. I will check out Loctite Products and see what I find.

Thanks again to both of you and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Rick

 

[Peter7307]

Rick,
If the adhesives don't work as you want you might try locating a place performing plastic welding.
Local phone book , car clubs etc are usually good sources.

This can be done to appear virtually undetectable from the inside of the vehicle.

Good luck , Peter.

 

[patprimmer]

If it is PP I think your only chance of getting a good enough joint to last is by hot air welding or by making a backing plate and using rivets or bolts to reinforce the broken area. If the original PP broke under the normal load, a glued PP butted joint has no chance.

3M also make some excellent double sided tapes for plastics like PTFE, PE and PP, but they will only work if you laminate to a backing piece.

Regards
Pat
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[GregLocock]

Yup, i was going to suggest jigging the panel back into alignment, then making a glass fibre splash of the back face, then attacking the polyprop with a box cutter/soldering iron/whatever to create a really rough surface and then bond the splash to the back face with a glue.

I'd experiment with glues, epoxy or contact adhesive would be my first choice.

A wrecker's yard, spare part counter or ebay sounds like a much better bet.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[patprimmer]

I have to agree on the wrecker's yard being the best bet.

Epoxy has virtually zero adhesion to PP and any bond will be entirely mechanical and as PP is soft, small undercuts like from sanding or scuffing up don't help much. You actually need machined undercuts with substantial deflection or compression required to separate. Things like holes drilled through and countersunk from the other side or if it's thick enough holes drilled and tapped to a coarse thread form.

The reason we use old plastic ice cream packets to mix our epoxy is the fact they are PP and can easily be cleaned for reuse as the epoxy just flicks off when set.

Regards
Pat
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[GregLocock]

For polyurethane we used to use some gruesome brew to chemically activate the surface, probably MEK. Is there anything that can attack PP?

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[patprimmer]

The fancy name is corona discharge. The simple name is run a flame over the surface to very slightly burn it so you have some free radicals available. Still only gives mediocre results.

That was the method of preparing polypropylene bumpers for painting so the paint did not fall off on the first bump. It only really started to work well when the PP also contained significant amounts of other substances that did bond to paint, like some elastomers do. They also increased cold impact strength and reduced mould shrinkage and consequential warping which is the main reason they look and fit so much better than 20 to 30 years ago.

Regards
Pat
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