Driving along ~50 mph on a sweltering MD Eastern shore road just after sunset. I see the little bugger ('bout the size of a medium house cat) trotting on to the road from the left. He never slows. He never looks; just sure he will make it. He's too close and I can't stop. He disappears from view just under the driver headlight... Sickening thump... About five seconds later, two more thump/bumps. That's him going under the drivers side tires front, then back... RIP Racoon. Well, that was weird! Next morning, I can finally see well enough to figure out what happened. The drivers side fog light is askew, but still there. The left side lower grill piece is MIA - found another at the dealer. And the square brake cooling duct piece has seperated from the two attachment tabs on the bumper facia. So the only actual damage is the plastic tabs for the brake duct and the inboard attachment for the fog light where the lower bumper plastic ripped as the racoon's entire body went into my lower bumper and then was deposited seconds later in front of my then rolling front, then rear tires. So a question: What is the best adhesive/glue for me to repair the ripped tabs on the brake duct and reattach the inboard fog light support to the bumper facia?
WOW! This exact same thing happened to me a few weeks ago! He came in from the left, only i was doing about 85, and it took out the fog light, grill insert, broke the brake cooling duct to pieces, lower radiator mount, deformed the bumper enough to caused the paint to crack up, and it was bigger than a house cat! Nationwide covered the 1800 tab. That sucks man.
The miracle cure for situations like this is ShooGoo. You can get it in sporting goods stores, department stores and even some grocery stores. Cosmetically, it looks like caulking but instead has a high tensile strength, stiffness and elasticity so is great for connections which are subject to vibration and impact. It has a 24 hour cure time with a fair bit of strength coming within about 6 hours. Most people conisder duct tape as their cure-all. For me, it is ShooGoo.
I may take the dremel tool... and drill a few holes then stitch pieces together with nylon or fishing line. Then impregnate with the Shoo Goo or other flexible epoxy. Any opinions on the flexibility of "JB Weld"? Thanks for the tips and suggestions!
There is an epoxy that works on plastic. Sorry, I cannot recall the brand, maybe 3M. You can find it at a craft or hardware store. I has to be specifically for plastic as many epoxies do not bind well to plastic. The other thing you can consider is "plastic welding". The type of plastics used on the ducts and underpanels will melt--as opposed to just burning at high temps. I've had fairly good luck reparing underpanels. The other thing I've used are those clips like the ones that join the underpanels. Plastic rivets also work well. If the parts do not overlap, fabricate straight or right angle plastic pieces and rivet one side to each panel. You can get plastic welders and rivets at Harbor Freight.
