Bob Zweng, senior technical service representative for Lord Corp., said one proven way to effectively perform invisible repairs is with the use of two-sided acrylic tapes.

"As the cost of OEM parts and collision claims continue to increase, the timing is right to focus on methods that allow you to decrease discarded parts, while cultivating body shop labor sales," Zweng said.  "One way to do this is by repairing or reusing exterior trim parts as opposed to replacing them.

"Saving expensive plastic parts has many benefits, including reduction of claim costs, an increase in the shop's cash-flow (with lower monthly parts bills), improvement of repair cycle-times, as well as elimination or reduction of discarded parts.  The use of double-sided acrylic tapes is a key element of this approach."

To help promote the proper use of double-sided tapes and illustrate door molding/body emblem repairs, Lord developed instructional "how-to" videos that educate technicians about the relative ease of using attachment tapes.  The free instructional videos are geared toward body shop professionals with the goal of providing innovative solutions, reducing shop cycle time, and preventing repair comebacks.

Ed Staquet, Lord senior technical support manager, said that estimators, insurance adjusters, and technicians alike wisely debate repair or replace when looking at high-cost parts like body panels, bumpers, and headlights.  However, body side moldings and emblems offer another profit-making area that many overlook.

"Exterior trim parts, moldings, and emblems add significant dollars to the estimate when replaced, but many of these items can be reused," Staquet said.  "Nameplates and door moldings, for example, are often replaced just because they have to be removed in order to gain access to a repair area or when they are difficult to mask during refinishing.  However, with proper removal and reinstallation, these costly replacement parts can be reattached quite easily, which will increase your bottom-line."

Moldings and claddings also are routinely tossed out when torn or cracked, but these pieces can usually be repaired if the damage isn't too severe and the cost warrants such a repair.  For example, damaged cladding with nicks and scuffs can often be mended with plastic repair adhesives using the same procedure commonly used to fix bumpers. 

 
After the cladding is restored to pre-loss condition, it can be refinished and reinstalled onto the vehicle, saving time and money.  This scenario increases labor sales and keeps technicians busy with rewarding work.

Tape tips
With proper installation techniques and sound negotiation practices, the thought of using more tape makes sense.  Two-sided acrylic tapes have been quite popular since introduced in vehicle designs by car manufacturers more than 30 years ago. 

These acrylic-based tape materials have been used with confidence to attach a multitude of exterior and interior components such as moldings, nameplates, air dams, impact strips, and wheel flares, just to name a few. 

The use of tape provides a more secure attachment, reduces noise/vibration, as well as decreases the need for mounting clips and mounting clip holes on car bodies, which reduces the chance of corrosion.

Acrylic two-sided tapes come in two forms, acrylic foam tape and solid core acrylic tape.  Foam tapes have great initial adhesion and bond fairly well over the long term, though some may argue that the foam core products lack high heat-resistance and may attract dirt and moisture. 

 
Also, the foam tapes can be difficult to reposition after installation because the foam center may perforate on removal.  On the other hand, solid core acrylic tapes are typically clear, provide excellent aging resistance and exhibit high temperature adhesion characteristics.  Although solid core acrylic tapes may take longer to reach full adhesion strength, they are typically repositionable without causing damage to the paint, part, or tape. 

 
One key element that promotes a good repair is the use of a plastic surface modifier onto the bond areas of the plastic part before tape installation.  This ensures that the surface energy of the plastic increases, which allows for good wet-out of the tape to the bond surface and promotes excellent adhesion. Plastic surface modifiers also take the guess-work out of plastic identification and help shops make more money without comebacks.

The safe removal and successful reinstallation of moldings and emblems is fairly simple.  First, use a heat gun or heat lamp to warm the molding before removal. Then use a stiff, plastic-bladed putty knife to gently pry the part loose along the length of the bond.  Allow the molding to cool, then remove the old two-sided tape with a pneumatic pinstripe removal wheel.  Wash the part with an adhesive remover or plastic cleaner, then lightly scuff with a scratch pad.  Spray the plastic surface modifier onto the bond surface, and allow to dry as directed.

Install the two-sided tape as necessary onto the molding bond surface, remove the tape backing and mount onto the vehicle.  Finally, apply uniform pressure along the outside length of the part, from one end to the other to secure the molding and then you're done.