How to Repair Car Interior Plastic?

When repairing plastic or vinyl on your car there are a few characteristics of the glue you want to make sure of. Generally, you don't want messy. You want to see the joint of the two pieces where they have been glued together if this is possible. Or at least make the joint minimal. You'll need a glue that will not melt plastic or vinyl.

If you are repairing vinyl windows or seats, for example, you will need a glue that dries flexible and with very little discoloration.

Epoxies are messy or they can be and they don't always give a tight fit as you are putting the two parts or mixing first. Super glue is quick and bonds well but because it is generally a consumer grade glue and thus has not been distilled with the solvents making the final product brittle and discolored.

A commercial grade glue like Mister Glue is the best for repairing vinyl or car interior plastic. It has been distilled numerous times so that it does not dry in the bottle and dries clear and flexible. It will also, not melt certain plastics and foams that super glue and other glues will.

Because of this you can use Mister Glue for repairing vinyl laminate, vinyl windows and pretty much all the hard plastics in and around your car or truck. Vinyl, rubber and plastics are like leather - they dry out. In older cars, pieces of vinyl or rubber can just 'come apart' or crack. A drop of Mister Glue will put them back together in seconds. If there is a small crack, put a drop of Mister Glue at the edge and it will wick in - squeeze the two parts together for a few seconds and it is done.

For broken pieces of plastic or hard vinyl, put Mister Glue only on one side. Only put enough so that when you squeeze the two pieces together it will spread and cover the whole area. One of the characteristics of this glue is that the tighter the fit or closer the bond the stronger it will be. So, more is not always better. This is good because if you do it right all you should have after the two pieces have been glued together is a hairline crack - almost invisible.

"We were replacing a part on the inside of my car door. I had to order the part from Europe and when we got the door panel off to put it on we found the bracket that held it in place was also broken. Oh man I did not want to wait another 3 weeks to get a part that I wasn't even going to see. Three drops of Mister Glue and the bracket was fixed! In seconds it held firm and was able to support the new piece. The new piece is the part where one pulls the door shut so we were happy that it was so quick, we didn't have to wait 24 hours for it to cure like some of the glues we have used on the car (it is an older high end car and tough to get parts for). And we were happy that it held so well it was small ends were gluing together and it did just a great job.
Thank you Mr Glue you saved the day."
Peter G. Dallas TX

If you are gluing inside the car be careful as Mister Glue is pretty runny - it can drip and run onto other parts and can be difficult to clean up. Acetone will clean up this and other cyanoacrylates but will also remove paint and damage a lot of plastics. So, use some cardboard under the area you are working to protect. Don't use cloth as the glue can go right through and bond to the surface you are protecting!

How to fix vinyl seat covers?

This is tricky as nothing will really glue two edges of soft vinyl together but there is something that you can do. If the tear is large enough you may be able to place a piece of similar soft vinyl underneath. Get the new piece fixed into place then lift the edges and apply a small amount of glue all around and press firmly down to make the surfaces tight together. Mister Glue will dry flexible so you won't get the new piece cracking and breaking over time like super glue would. If you can bring the two sides of the tear close enough together you will be left with only a line.

How to repair vinyl windows?

Get a piece of similar thickness clear vinyl - 3 mil, 4 mil - whatever and cut a strip so that it overlaps the tear by an inch or so. Have someone on the inside or other side so that you can press the new and old vinyl together. Press the two surfaces together in such a way that the glue spreads evenly as you put it together. This is obviously not as aesthetic as a whole new window but it looks a whole lot better than duct tape and it is waterproof.

Other pages/articles that may interest you:
Repair a rear view mirror
Care of Mister Glue
Cyanoacrylate Glue