“How to Replace and Repair Plastic Car Parts Yourself and Save Money”

It takes very little to damage your car: a bollard that you overlook, a curb whose height you misjudge, slow down too late in a traffic jam… With a bit of luck, the damage will be limited in the event of a minor collision to an ugly scratch in the paint. It can usually be repaired by yourself with few resources.

However, if there is a serious dent in your bodywork, you are more likely to rely on the specialized repairer. It is usually wiser to pay for such a repair of a few hundred euros out of your own pocket than to claim the damage from your insurance. Because often you end up paying more premium than the repair would cost you.

Have you damaged only a plastic part? With good tools and the right work instructions, you really don’t have to be a car mechanic to disassemble and replace a bottom plate, bumper or protective frame yourself. It is only a matter of completing all the operations in the correct order. Second-hand parts can be ordered online via websites such as autoonderdelen24.bebut also simply tweedehands.be many are offered by companies and individuals – used or new. With a bit of luck you will even find the necessary part online in the color of your car.

If a plastic part is torn, it is usually easy to repair. This applies not only to body parts, but also, for example, to a panel of the dashboard, the trunk or the door.

To repair cracks and holes in plastic parts, special repair kits are available through web shops such as Bol.com and Amazon. If you have no experience with it yet, it is advisable to practice a few times until the result is satisfactory. For example, you can use an old bucket or laundry basket – preferably something that is about the same thickness as your car’s bumper or dashboard panel.

There are several types of repair kits for plastic auto parts available. For example, there is a kit that works with steel ‘staples’. After placing the tear edges tightly together, place the staple on the plastic and press the button of the electric stapler, just like with a soldering iron. Now the staple is heated to about 400 degrees, melting the plastic around it and fusing both halves of the part together. You repeat this operation over the entire length of the crack, until everything forms a solid whole again. Cut the ends of the staples with the supplied pliers. Such a set is available from 35 euros.

You also have repair kits with which you can, as it were, create a new plastic ‘weld’ between the plastic edges. To do this, you must first sand and file the edges to create enough space to apply the weld. With this method, the finish requires a bit more work, because excess plastic must be filed away. It is quite an art to get a tight whole. However, if the plastic part needs to be repainted, any unevenness can easily be smoothed out with some putty. After all, there is a layer of lacquer over it. And so the repaired bumper is like new again.

If there is a dent in your bumper, you can sometimes repair it with water. All you need is a pot of boiling water, rubber gloves so you don’t burn yourself, and another pot of cold water. Pour the boiling water on the dent and when the plastic is hot enough reach for the dent from the inside and push them out. Once it has returned to its original shape, pour cold water over it so that it cools down quickly.

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