Spare Wheel Cover

[jonddd]

I've just stupidly reversed into our other car on the drive and cracked the (rather fragile

and rather vulnerable) spare wheel cover on our 2004 2 door Rav.

Is it possible to repair the plastic cover?

A replacement is likely to be horribly expensive from Mr. T, I suspect.

Jon

[Lomond Lad]

I scratched mine hooking up a boat trailer and looked about eBay for one but could only find silver backed one's or canvas. I ended up getting a paint job for free as a favour and it came up like new. Not sure if you can get them repaired if cracked though.

[Hoovie]

This is how I would suggest repairing the crack .....

Get some suitable material - Fibreglass matting comes to mind.

Use something like arildite to glue the two sides of the crack together - get something that does not set instantly to give you a bit of working time.

Apply the matting on the inside of the cover along the crack and past it some distance - couple of inches maybe. That will give the cover back its strength and rigidity along the crack.

Then use some touch-up paint as need be or possibly get a spray to feather in the paint

May not be as good as a new one but sounds like nothing to lose :)

[three5]

This is how I would suggest repairing the crack .....

Get some suitable material - Fibreglass matting comes to mind.

Use something like arildite to glue the two sides of the crack together - get something that does not set instantly to give you a bit of working time.

Apply the matting on the inside of the cover along the crack and past it some distance - couple of inches maybe. That will give the cover back its strength and rigidity along the crack.

Then use some touch-up paint as need be or possibly get a spray to feather in the paint

May not be as good as a new one but sounds like nothing to lose :)

Hoovie,

most car parts are thermoplastic these days, probably as a result of environmental legislation which says that they should be recyclable. Bumpers are a similar material to the spare wheel cover and they are weld-repaired on a regular basis by a body shop with the right equipment. It would be worth a trawl around locally to find a specialist bumper repair company who would be able to do the whole job including filling and spraying. They are generally small, low-overheads organisations who sub-contract work from larger body shops, so not too expensive. Bumpers come up as good as new when repaired this way. If this is not possible then araldite and glass is probably as good as it gets. It's a terrible feeling, that cracking sound when it happens. But definitely worth a try

[stevepen]

A Mr T one is about £280 and comes ready painted

[nig.xl]

I've just stupidly reversed into our other car on the drive and cracked the (rather fragile

and rather vulnerable) spare wheel cover on our 2004 2 door Rav.

Is it possible to repair the plastic cover?

A replacement is likely to be horribly expensive from Mr. T, I suspect.

Jon

There's one on e bay at the moment.