Black plastic repair/patch

I recently misguided the LW200, partly sideswiping (in reverse) against
a fence post. Caught the edge of the passenger side mirror and its
housing is cracked. Also have a light but visible scratch about 2' along
the side door. Short of a trip to The Dealership or indy body shop, is
there an effective DIY treatment to fill or hide the scratch. BTW the
color of the Saturn plastic is black. I seem to break materials that
defy repair by all known adhesives. Any suggestions as to what might
work to repair the particular plastic used in the mirror housing?
--
Chuck Reti
Detroit MI

....no good advice to offer but I did want to commiserate about backing into
a fence post. As a rule I don't hit things. Guess it was sobering up from
NyQuil the night before (which was weird because I don't get colds either).
Glad it was a fence and not a neighbor kid, etc.

Oh, I have a 97SL2 and scraped the corner of the bumper and made some
scratches toward the rear wheel well. The body shop wanted $610 and 2 days
to fix. I was about ready to hand them my MasterCard and then said what the
heck and used to paint thinner to clean up the scratches. That was
amazingly better. Then I used some touch up paint I got from the dealer.
And then the next day I used clearcoat cleaner and polish. About 99% better
and I'm keeping the $610.



"Chuck Reti" > wrote in message
...
> I recently misguided the LW200, partly sideswiping (in reverse) against
> a fence post. Caught the edge of the passenger side mirror and its
> housing is cracked. Also have a light but visible scratch about 2' along
> the side door. Short of a trip to The Dealership or indy body shop, is
> there an effective DIY treatment to fill or hide the scratch. BTW the
> color of the Saturn plastic is black. I seem to break materials that
> defy repair by all known adhesives. Any suggestions as to what might
> work to repair the particular plastic used in the mirror housing?
> --
> Chuck Reti
> Detroit MI

Jonnie Santos wrote:
> amazingly better. Then I used some touch up paint I got from the dealer.
> And then the next day I used clearcoat cleaner and polish. About 99% better
> and I'm keeping the $610.

What is the proper way to apply touch up paint? I bought some a couple
of years ago to fix some scratches in my bumper, but it really didn't
turn out all that well.

-rj
98SL2

Replace the entire mirror. I did this with my son's driver mirror on his
'96 SL. I found the mirror at a local salvage yard and it was $15. The
replacement time was about 15 minutes since there were only three nuts and a
set screw to remove and reinstall.

Good luck!

Bob

"Chuck Reti" > wrote in message
...
> I recently misguided the LW200, partly sideswiping (in reverse) against
> a fence post. Caught the edge of the passenger side mirror and its
> housing is cracked. Also have a light but visible scratch about 2' along
> the side door. Short of a trip to The Dealership or indy body shop, is
> there an effective DIY treatment to fill or hide the scratch. BTW the
> color of the Saturn plastic is black. I seem to break materials that
> defy repair by all known adhesives. Any suggestions as to what might
> work to repair the particular plastic used in the mirror housing?
> --
> Chuck Reti
> Detroit MI

I just wanted to cover the blazing white plastic of my normally dark green
SL2 - so I used the included brush and filled the white over and stopped.

Someone here who knows bodywork might suggest some sort of buffing and
second application. I just stand farther back and it looks better and
better! (wink)

"richard hornsby" > wrote in message
...
> Jonnie Santos wrote:
> > amazingly better. Then I used some touch up paint I got from the
dealer.
> > And then the next day I used clearcoat cleaner and polish. About 99%
better
> > and I'm keeping the $610.
>
> What is the proper way to apply touch up paint? I bought some a couple
> of years ago to fix some scratches in my bumper, but it really didn't
> turn out all that well.
>
> -rj
> 98SL2

"Chuck Reti" > wrote in message
...
I seem to break materials that
> defy repair by all known adhesives. Any suggestions as to what might
> work to repair the particular plastic used in the mirror housing?
> --
> Chuck Reti
> Detroit MI

I have had good success with Devcon Plastic Welder. This is a 2 part epoxy
that dries to a tan color. I clobbered a side view mirror and rather than
replace it, used the devcon very successfully on the structural repair. you
had asked specifically about Black color and I can only recommend a spray
paint after any damage has been repaired.

Both side mirrors on the used LW300 I bought this past winter were badly
scraped. I got the dealer to remove them and have them repainted. Is holding
up nicely. One important point when painting is to lightly rough up the
substrate and be certain that the paint is compatible with what was used
before. Otherwise it will blister or flake off.

Oppie