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I was able to finally find a set of purple shrouds for a reasonable price mainly because one has a 2-3" crack on it. The shrouds are currently in the mail being shipped to me, but based on the pictures they are still usable even with the damage. Just wondering if there are any good ways to stabilize the plastic from cracking anymore than it currently is? Doesn't have to look perfect, just be effective. Thank you for any advice.

Ben

Stop drilling each end of the crack will help keep it from continuing. Google polypropylene repairs and you may find an adhesive that will let you glue a backing piece inside the panel to reinforce it. I think these are polypropylene. Look for a "PP" somewhere n the back side. One of the most drficult plastics to glue.

Thank you doakley. Ill google it and see if anything comes up. If all else fails I just use the trusty duct tape!

There is a thing called plastic welding, melts the parts back together. Heat is your friend when trying to fix plastic.

Did some research today and looks like plastic welding is the best bet, but I may try some apoxy and glue for starters. Most of my searches came up empty, so that probably should tell me something, but I am stubborn haha.

Epoxy will melt the plastic. Best to use a piece of scrap purple plastic and melt it into the crack (after drilling "stop" holes). I have done this work before, be patient and use as low heat as possible. Once done filling the crack, sand it smooth.

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Riveting a piece of aluminum to the back works sometimes.

6 Riders wrote:Epoxy will melt the plastic. Best to use a piece of scrap purple plastic and melt it into the crack (after drilling "stop" holes). I have done this work before, be patient and use as low heat as possible. Once done filling the crack, sand it smooth.

Did you melt the scrap plastic into the crack using a heat gun? Did you physically get the plastic hot enough to "drip" into the crack that you were trying to fix? Or did you place it on top of the crack and let it melt into the crack? I'm working on a purple number plate at the moment with the same issue as the OP. Trying to get more info... I know I wanted try the plastic welding on this, but was afraid I wouldn't be able to find any purple filler material that would match.

I used a soldering iron, cut a piece to size and held it lime a pen while melting into the cracks

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I just drill the end of the crack as others have mentioned, then I drill a line of holes either side of the crack, along its length (1/2" or so apart ). I then use small cable ties to sew it together in a Criss cross pattern. My left radiator shroud has been like this for months and is still hanging in there lol.

The zip tie method works super awesome, if you don't mind seeing the "stitches" lol I did it on a couple spots on my quad and I feel like it looks like the top of frankensteins skull everytime I see it haha

The small crack I am working with, I JB welded the backside and its holding up pretty strong (just flexing it in my hands). But you can still see the crack on the front side. Going to give that hot-drip-into-the-crack trick a try and see how it goes.