During a large snow this winter my wifes front air dam (the piece underneath the bumper) scooped up a bunch of snow while she was backing out and basically busted off the drivers side. Well, the piece is like $300 so I thought I might try to glue it back together. I looked closely at the piece and there are no pieces of plastic missing from the unit. It’s just got 3 or 4 cracks through the plastic in a couple of areas. It is all still together, just cracked (maybe I could post a picture if it would help).
So I need a glue that will hold, not be too goopy, and dries quickly. Is super glue the best option? I think there must be a better option than that. Any tips?
I’d use some kind of epoxy; super glues tend to be somewhat brittle. There are some solid epoxies that are like modeling clay, a two-part ribbon that you knead together to mix. Whatever type you use, you’ll want to use it in a warm place; epoxies tend to set up faster & better in a warm environment. In the past, when epoxying plastic bits, I’ve let them cure in a low oven (say 200-250 F) – this of course assumes that the plastic can take those temps and will fit into the oven, which may not apply to your air dam.
It definitely won’t fit in an oven and the pieces are probably too thin for epoxy putty (probably 1/8" thick at the most)
Some cyanoacrylates are designed for plastic, and are packaged with a cleaner/primer. I’m not really optimistic about your proejct, but you can’t hurt by trying. Good luck.
The Devcon 2-part plastic welder is the best all-around plastic glue on the market. Amazing stuff.
http://www.drillspot.com/products/335326/Devcon_14320_Plastic_Welder
I’ve never had any luck gluing plastic together, but more surface area would help. So if the back of the air dam is not visible to the public, you might consider getting some flat plastic or metal and bonding that to the plastic with epoxy as if it were duct tape.