Adhesive recommendations for metal to plastic

Hello all:

I have 99 Concordr LXI and the plastic trim piece on the hood near the windshield keeps disconnecting from the metal retaining clips. The original piece blew off on the highway and I couldn't stop to find it! I had installed the replacement without issue but Sunday that one started flapping so I managed to get off the road and remove it completely. The mounting clips grab onto a very short plastic extension on the trims underside. I am wnodering if there is a body tech or an adhesive knowledgable tech that could recommend a possible brand or type of adhesive.

TIA

Reply to
Hank
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Your best bet is to replace with a whole new piece. Any adhesive on that particular piece is a bandaid (literally), and it will just blow off again. They made those clips like fish hooks - once they are in the body, you can't remove that piece without breaking them out of the plastic. Body shops all the time are gluing them on after a repaint, and I can tell you that that is not reliable at all (on that particular piece).

Was the replacement a brand new piece? I'm surprised it would be coming loose. Are the clips breaking out of the plastic, or out of the hood? Is it pressed own far enough so that the latches on the clips are snapped in to grip the holes in the hood?

If you can take the whole thing off (again - may not be possible without breakage, you can glue the clips into the plastic using Permatech/Versachem's "Plastic Weld" epoxy - that stuff is amazing (on the glues and goops aisle of the auto parts stores). I actually have one of my Concordes done that way - been like that for 2 years with no problem. I also ground off the latch hooks on the clips so it doesn't grip the hood so irreversibly so I can remove it if I need to without destroying it (for painting or whatever) - that's not the part that comes loose - the part that comes loose is the clips out of the plastic.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

Thanks Bill: I will check it out. The trim piece is completely off and in my trunk, I need to extract the clips and glue em back on with the Platic weld stuff. There are the center three clips that may cause me issues but I used to repair office equipment and have a few special tools I can use to release thes babies. Thanks again for the info I greatly appreciate your time and help!

Have a great weekend!

Reply to
Hank

You're welcome, Hank.

To reiterate, once you have those clips out of the hood (you'll figure it out - you've just got to squeeze/poke/compress them with pliers and/or jeweler's screwdriver enough to release those danged barbs - might have to wiggle them around and pull a little bit - might have to get a little mad), you'll see those barbs that lock them into the hood. Once you have them out, get a hand grinder (Dremel Mototool or equivalent) with a cutoff wheel, and grind those barbs off of both sides of each clip. Once you do that and glue them back onto the plastic, they will still hold into the hood fine from spring pressure - the barbs just make it so you have to break it to get them out of the hood - I've been driving with mine like that (barbs ground off) for two years, and it holds tight - yet - if I need to, I can pull the whole thing off without doing any damage.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

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