Luck repairing cracked taillight lens?

[merbesfield]

Has anyone had any success repairing red taillight lens that are cracked and chipped? I have one that is less than perfect. It seems like there should be a glue or filler that could be flowed into the imperfection and then sanded and buffed out for a nice repair. Anyone done or seen this info? These are the early housings I am referring to.

[Olivier]

It will depend of the plastic's nature, but you could probably try to infiltrate liquid styrene into the cracks. This is supposed to weld plastics, at least some of them. But this product is also knwn for being very dangerous, and usually hard to find.

Olivier

[merbesfield]

Been doing some Googling and found that there are specific glues for plastic, but I need to know which plastic the lens are made of. Also found a post where they said to use Chloroform of all things. Said it melted plastic and would fuse back cracks.

http://www.dorkiphus.net/porsche/showthread.php?t=29981

[Jetjok]

Mark, you do know that they have been selling lens inserts for all four corners of these cars. They're very easy to install and look brand new, because they are.

[merbesfield]

Mark, you do know that they have been selling lens inserts for all four corners of these cars. They're very easy to install and look brand new, because they are.

Yes I have seen them, but I have four nice lens other than the small cracked area so I was thinking of staying original if possible. The car is not perfect so I'm not needing new perfection. It's a driver.

[Olivier]

Plastic models cements actually melt the plastic. I may have been wrong with styrene. Chloroform may be the product you are looking for. Do not use any kind of glue on crack as i think it wont go through. you need something very liquid, so that it penetrates by capilarity.

You could try to apply a bit of it on a hidden area or a broken lens with a toothpick. if it works, your plastic will become soft and blurry. (put your finger in the molten area, and look what happens when you take it off: messy!)

If you try it on your cracks, my advise: a very small drop on the crack, and then DO NOT TOUCH your lens for several hours. If as I think surface is alterated, you should be able to polish it with polishing pads and polish compound...

I would practice on a dead one before your units.

Olivier

[merbesfield]

Plastic models cements actually melt the plastic. I may have been wrong with styrene. Chloroform may be the product you are looking for. Do not use any kind of glue on crack as i think it wont go through. you need something very liquid, so that it penetrates by capilarity.

You could try to apply a bit of it on a hidden area or a broken lens with a toothpick. if it works, your plastic will become soft and blurry. (put your finger in the molten area, and look what happens when you take it off: messy!)

If you try it on your cracks, my advise: a very small drop on the crack, and then DO NOT TOUCH your lens for several hours. If as I think surface is alterated, you should be able to polish it with polishing pads and polish compound...

I would practice on a dead one before your units.

Olivier

Agreed, glue needs to be liquid to flow through capillary action into crack and then ultimately build up and be sandable and polish out.

[steve shea]

On some lenses that have cracked I have used a penetrating oil. It worked remarkably well. You really had to look closely to see the crack and would stand the two foot test easily. The only thing is that you need to refresh every so often but no big deal. Another problem with glue is that you would melt the surrounding plastic if any missed the crack which is a given. I did not need repaired just the crack to disappear, the oil worked.