K-Car Wear and Tear. How to restore?

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K-Car Wear and Tear. How to restore?

Postby 89ARIES » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:07 pm

I noticed over the years, the sun has wreaked real havoc on my bumper assembly, outside trim, mirrors, etc. Superficial cracks in the surfaces, black coming off, yellow showing, etc.
Here are my questions?

1. What is this crappy material made of that causes it to deterioate?
2. How can it be refurbished or restored since replacement parts are now obsolete?


Interior plastics in my car are brittle now, and cracking where the door slams, how can I fix that?

I wish our club has the ability to reproduces K-car parts. I guess one idea would be to strip out the plastic interior and use velvet cloth like in the limos and early New Yorkers?

How do I fix my seatbelts? They don't retract anymore and I hear body oil over many years causes it. I don't want to have to strip out my plastic interior just to fix a seatbelt.

As much as I love my coupe, four door cars have stronger, more stable doors that don't sag and you don't have people stomping on the seatbelts and breaking the casings like they
did to my coupe.

A lot of wear and tear items on my car now.

Also can't understand why the red material has starting coming off my headrest and bare spots grew on my carpet where my foot was.

Small annoyances, but 24 years is a long time!
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Re: K-Car Wear and Tear. How to restore?

Postby K-CAR_WAGON » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:50 pm

New outside mirrors are still around. They show up on Ebay occassionaly at reasonable prices. Trim strips also also show up ocassionaly (but less often) or try Arizona parts. There is not much you can do about the UV damage if your car is outside most of the time. Bumpers can be repainted by I think you have to use an additive or it will crack from flexing. As for the interior plastic parts try checking junkyards - cars that have spent most of their life indoors out of the sun ocassionally show up. Replacement rugs are available but its much cheaper to search and find a good one from a junk, especially if you are going to use the car as a daily driver. In the Spring tell me what specific items you need and I will look for them the next time I go the large junkyard in my area.

You could also try contacting capev86, as he is currently parting out an 88 aries 2 dr. Maybe some he has some of the damaged items that you are looking for like the seat belts or some 2 dr specific trim strips that are still in decent condition.

viewtopic.php?f=61&t=5516&p=20594#p20594
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Re: K-Car Wear and Tear. How to restore?

Postby 89ARIES » Thu Jan 12, 2012 10:00 pm

THANKS A MILLION TRILLION. THEY ARE EXACT COPIES OF THE PANELS I NEED TO REPLACE! :D
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Re: K-Car Wear and Tear. How to restore?

Postby 88 aries » Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:08 am

For those bumpers, I've had luck just getting a can of primer, news paper and using a can of that paint for plastic, I think what happens is that over time the sun melts it, The wear spot on your seat is from either your head or the sun has done a job on it. As for the carpet your best bet is going to the junkyard and taking one out yourself. the plastic trim pieces eh....that's a tricky one. which reminds me when it gets warm out this season I gotta repair the one in my 86. As for the seatbelts not retracting that I am unsure of, I just usually either hang it down or I put it up by hand.
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Re: K-Car Wear and Tear. How to restore?

Postby Pete in NH » Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:06 pm

Hi Guy,

Plastics are subject to Ultra Violet damage by the sun and sooner or later UV will degrade almost all plastics. It's not that Chrysler used poor materials, it's just the nature of plastics. Check out the repair section of Allpar, there is an article on using plastic paints and dyes to freshen up interiors. You need to be very gentle when handling these old plastic parts as the sun's UV rays do make them brittle and they break very easily. Bumper covers are another matter. Yes, they can be repainted and as K Carwagon mentioned a flex additive must be used in the paint. Newer paint technology has gotten quite complicated, especially in California where so many pollution laws apply. Repainting those bumper covers out there is best left to a professional paint shop given the equipment required ( pollution issues)and the lower VOC piants ( read pollution) used. I'm sure all solvent based paints will be replaced by water borne paints out there sooner or later.

There is little you can do for broken parts other than look for good used replacements.
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Re: K-Car Wear and Tear. How to restore?

Postby capev86 » Mon Jan 16, 2012 4:33 am

all you can do is keep your car out of the sun as much as possible. my 86 Aries wagon was garaged from 1988 when my parents got it 'till 1998 when it became my car and they bought a 97 Merc Sable wagon (that is now my daily driver...go figure). since then the car has usually had a sunshade in the windshield and where i had it it was in the shade a lot. also, unlike in the southwest, we don't get nearly as much sun and heat up here in new england, although cold can be a bad thing also. about the only trim that ever broke in my car are the door sills. 4 door cars had the front and rear door sill connected by a thin strip which is very easy to snap.

i have a few parts, but you can also try arizonaparts.com. just don't confuse "K" or "E" (which is a caravan/voyager if you look up their abbreviation list) with "k body" which is our cars of course. and i found out EK1 is the end of the code for any interior part dyed "almond". turns out he has the dual belt unit for bucket seats in almond so i will sell the maroon one out of the parts car when the new one arrives-gonna order it this week - along with the NOS driver side 4 door sill plate he has in almond.

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Re: K-Car Wear and Tear. How to restore?

Postby K-CAR_WAGON » Mon Jan 16, 2012 6:21 pm

capev86 wrote: just don't confuse "K" or "E" (which is a caravan/voyager if you look up their abbreviation list) with "k body" which is our cars of course.


In 89, in the Vin for Dodge and Aries it is designated as K (listed under passenger vehicles). In 89 in the VIN Caravans are also designated as K (listed under FWD Truck). In 1989 under Model Code the Dodge Aries is listed as a K Body and further designated with a D, while the Plymouth Reliant is listed as K Body and designated with a P.
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Re: K-Car Wear and Tear. How to restore?

Postby 89ARIES » Mon Jan 16, 2012 6:57 pm

AAACK!

Chris, how much do you want for that seatbelt piece? Mine snapped in two.
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