Pointers on repairing stock FC front air dam

[Pete_89T2]

After getting one of those hard to find stock front lip spoilers for my FC, I had the unfortunate experience this weekend of mangling it. Could have been a lot worse, country road I was on went from nice pavement to gravel with no signs or warnings. Damned MD DOT.... Anyway, here's the damage:

http://www.rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=13292&stc=1&d=1368062747

May be hard to see, but there's about a 3~4 inch crack along the top edge, and a bit of gouging from the gravel. If I can find a replacement it will cost about $350 or so, but that is unlikely since when I bought this one a year ago, Ray Crowe said there were only a couple left in the US. So that leaves a repair. Got a few estimates from local body shops, and we're talking at least $400 to fix this thing.

Has anyone done a successful DIY repair on these urethane parts that could recommend the appropriate fillers, adhesives and/or plastic welding products that I could use to repair & refinish this thing?

After removing it from the car, it looks like I can get the crack to close up nicely, and use an appropriate adhesive/epoxy on the back side to hold it together and give it the necessary strength to stay together. Then some sanding & filling/shaping and more sanding to get rid of the scrapes & gouges, and finally prime & paint it.

[knonfs]

I have zero experience with those, but have done lots of repairs on motorcycle fairings. I use the epoxy for plastics, the one that comes in a double syringe, and basically follow the same process as when welding plastic.

You can sand the plastic epoxy fairly easy, your cost will be painting it.

[GySgtFrank]

Go down to the local supply store used by the body shops, not just the corner O'Reilly's. 3M makes a urethane bumper adhesive and filler. Personally I wouldn't trust any other brand of products for it, as the part has to be able to flex. It looks like a fairly straightforward repair and shouldn't be all that difficult. Lots of sanding and the paint matching can get a little tricky.

Again take a paint chip down to the supply store. Most have a color analyzer that can scan the chip and match up the color and provide you with the small amounts of primer, color, clear, and catalysts you will need. Use a good automotive paint, not cheap stuff, if you want professional results. The folks there can typically give you some pretty good advice.

It's $400 for a reason, the materials are expensive and there is a lot of time involved, but it's your time so that should help.

[knonfs]

Go down to the local supply store used by the body shops, not just the corner O'Reilly's. 3M makes a urethane bumper adhesive and filler. Personally I wouldn't trust any other brand of products for it, as the part has to be able to flex. It looks like a fairly straightforward repair and shouldn't be all that difficult. Lots of sanding and the paint matching can get a little tricky.

Again take a paint chip down to the supply store. Most have a color analyzer that can scan the chip and match up the color and provide you with the small amounts of primer, color, clear, and catalysts you will need. Use a good automotive paint, not cheap stuff, if you want professional results. The folks there can typically give you some pretty good advice.

It's $400 for a reason, the materials are expensive and there is a lot of time involved, but it's your time so that should help.

Since its a OEM part, he should be able to get the OEM black for S5 fc3s right of the books. I have had mixed results when scanning paint colors :(

[Pete_89T2]

Well I did a little research on the net and basically came to the same conclusion Gunny did. Ended up purchasing a 3M urethane bumper repair kit that has a 2 part epoxy adhesive/filler and backing mesh. The kit is specifically designed to work with flexible urethane body parts, and I had to buy it at local body & paint supply shop. Repaired the crack, and filled the deepest gouges on the surface myself, but I outsourced the rest of the job to a local body shop to take care of final surface finish smoothing, prep & paint work. Looks & works as good as new! Total cost including the 3M kit was about $250, which beats buying a new one from Mazda for about $415. BTW, when I called Ray Crowe to check on price/availability he said there was only ONE left in the US that is the same Brilliant Black paint.

[GySgtFrank]

Good deal. Glad you're happy with it. Try not to hit them thar rocks. They leave ow'ies. ;)