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General information regarding repairs to plastic

General information regarding repairs to plastic


More and more parts of modern cars are being made of plastic. Concurrent to this development is the considerable increase of interest in plastic repairs. There are several reasons for this increase. One important reason is the reduction of costs that result if a part does not need to be replaced due to minor damage. Another is that the customer can be provided with rapid service as the plastic parts can be repaired on-site and delivery times for spares are avoided. Later in this publication are descriptions of different types of damage and guidelines for whether parts should be repaired or replaced.

There are many types of plastic and different methods of repairing them. In today's Saab cars, so-called thermoplastics represent a large group. Therefore, these instructions are primarily concerned with the repair of parts made of thermoplastic. This mainly concerns welding the plastic parts. Thermoplastics can also be repaired by bonding but heat treatment/welding have a number of advantages, not least that they are environmentally friendly and there is less risk of harm to the person performing the repair (see Safety regulations). The equipment described is simple to use and gives very good results. A good plastic weld attains at least 70% of the strength of the surrounding plastic.

The purpose of these instructions is to act as a user manual and reference for the repair of all thermoplastic parts.