Stupid plastic

[fonetikal]

Anyone else breaking this crap all the time? Seems like I can't look at my sled funny without plastic cracking. Fair enough a couple times it's definitely my fault, but now the whole nose is sagging down and cracking back by the shock towers. My hood doesn't fit properly anymore, the side panels are all over the place, and the piece that wraps over the gas tank and around the steer post has never fit properly since day one. And here I was considering cutting vents into my shock towers and side panels. My god I can only imagine what would be going on with even less material there...

What's the best way to fix cracked plastic anyway? I was thinking stitching it together with zip ties seems like a pretty quick, half-*** job.. Backing and rivets?

Am I just really hard on this thing?

 

[94fordguy]

The general fit and finish on the IQ sleds was not the greatest to put it mildly... there's a lot of documentation on this to prove it. My 09 700 hood fit has always been horrible at the rear of the sidepanels and it only had 100 miles on it when I bought it.

As to repair, zip ties are a pretty bad way of fixing things, I would suggest either plastic welding them back together with heat, or your other idea of rivets with a splice piece behind it and touch them up with some paint to hide them a bit better. If the stuff is to far gone, replacement of broken panels would obviously be the best, although the most expensive choice.

If you have a tree magnet hidden somewhere in the sled that you just can't seem too remove, then I would suggest a Skinz bumper and Float plate, they will add a HUGE amount of protection and rigidity to the entire front end of the sled. The totally plastic front end on the 05-08 sleds is simply a joke.

 

[Toad face killah]

Ive fixed many a cracked plastic pieces with zip ties, plumbers tape and epoxy. Its not perfect but can definitely get you by for a lot less. Make sure you drill a small hole at the end of the crack to keep it from running further and causing more damage.

 

[Woodsrider]

If you have an older IQ Polaris did have a kit to make 06 thru 08 look like a 09 10 used to be around 350.

 

[volcano buster]

Anybody have luck using Q-bond to glue pieces back together? I am in the process of repairing an Indy Lite and will be experimenting with stuff to get the belly pan healed up.

 

[duece1]

There are lots of automotive grade plastic repair epoxies out there. Check with one of your local parts stores that carries a line of paint products. They can give you the manufactures data sheets too. Find a similar plastic and use it as a backer, rough up both surfaces to be bonded, epoxy it up, and clamp it till dry. Fyi though - good automotive epoxy is around $40 bucks so get every thing ready before you start.

My sleds plastics and I don't see eye to eye very well either!

 

[fonetikal]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I wonder if epoxy would be enough to hold it together with all the vibrations and temp changes. I think I have a sheet of plexiglass around somewhere, maybe I'll cut it up for backing this weekend and see about riveting some together.

I think my sled had a prior incident because it had the 09/10 front end already installed, complete with aluminum bumper (I've already gone through a few of them, one only lasted a day, nod to that tree magnet )

Good call drilling the end of the crack to keep it from continuing!

(p.s. sorry for the necessary title change)

 

[fonetikal]

Found some aluminum angle laying around, cut some strips out of it and used it as rivet backing. Popped a bunch through and painted the heads. Seems to be holding pretty firm, we'll see what the vibrations and stresses of riding does to it (now that we're getting some more snow, finally)

So far, rivets work.

 

[volcano buster]

I've seen a couple Youtube vids where they were using a stainless steel mesh and heating it in the plastic to bridge across cracks. I will be on the hunt tomorrow for some mesh. I will likely back the crack with something and rivet, but would like to get the seam as tight as possible before I do that. Fortunately I bought a large box of large head black rivets a month ago, little did I know a project was on its way.