I got a 70's wagon - well two - with all the rear plastic quarter trim inside. All chewed up. No NOS. nothing any better on parts cars. How do you - or is it even possible - to repair the texture on that Plastic? Dye paint has tightened it up and kept it from getting worse, but there are big scratches and scrapes in the surface. How are you fixing it?
Ummm three dimensional printer??? Don't know if that's going to help him much. The make of the wagon and the style information would go a long way to help you out. Is it sun damaged or just dinged up from being knocked around? Does it have wood grain texture or pebble or sand like texture? Is it on the side, lower or top of the quarter panel? Does it have anything to do with the imitation wood on the side of most wagons? Pictures are pretty easy to upload that would be a good start to helping you.
Keep in mind it was brittle and sun baked. Hit it with some interior paint and it tightened up. Doesn't look too bad since the color is pretty evn
Definitely sun baked!! I think finding replacements could get costly. I would smooth them out with a light skin of filler and spray them down with contact cement and wrap them in a nice matching vinyl. I think that's how most if not all the older wagons were done. You may be able to get vinyl stitched up for complicated curves and it would look really nice and clean. Think of the way dashes look with the stiched vinyl when done right. If you pre glued a thin stiff foam backer on first you could get away without repairing the subsurface at all. Then you would have something really nice.
Funny thing, the guy doing the seats saw a piece i took him for a color match and he ask if I wanted him to cover it in vinyl. Seems to me it would be soft and this plastic is hard. I guess I would need to see it first. Anyone here got and pictures of glued on vinyl on plastic panels?
With just vinyl covering the plastic it will still be hard. Once the vinyl is glued on there won't be any give. Add a layer of foam will make it a bit nicer. Only 1/8 or 1/4" max thickness of foam. Either way it would be a perfect match to the seats if wrapped in the same material.
I always look for used Black versions of the interior trim I need, for some reason the black plastic seems to hold up better to age and sun light. Then I just vinyl dye them to the desired color. I have some tan 80-90 rear cargo area trim available , I bought to replace the trim in a car I was offered to much money for, and forgot I had bought the panels. I will post some pic's of what I have, you may be interested.
When I was re-doing my panels I ran into this same issue. The tops of the rear cargo area panels were heavily sun damaged / dry rotted. I first tried textured paint, but it really didn't match the original texture, so I used some light grit sand paper and just sanded it down smooth and then vinyl dye'd em. It doesn't look bad, but it's not as original as I would have liked. Good luck!
One would think to have experienced the opposite, since anything colored white will reflect heat and light. Maybe, that's the secret. Warming up plastic might pronlong its life, through continual softening
Do you still have those 80-90 tan trim pieces? Would be interested in seeing the pics. Also, how well does the vinyl stain last? My interior is tan, and a few years back I painted the trim, but the paint is starting to chip and flake off. I'd love a better solution. Thanks!
