Door Pull Refurb

[Adam205STDT 1 1 Cars]

I’m not sure if this is being posted in the correct place. Thought it may be of use to someone. 

I recently had an issue with my inside door pulls and some success with repairing them. 

I wanted to share it, in case it proved useful to anyone . 

The 205 door pulls as you know, have inside them a metal skeleton surrounded by foam, all encased in a PVC /Laminate type skin. After years of use and being yanked on the foam starts to part from the PVC skin, it distorts and looks like it’s bursting open a bit. 

 

The foam inside both my door pulls had started to separate from the outer skin and the metal skeleton. This allowed the ends to flare and bulge out of shape. 

I wanted to try repair them instead of simply replace. 
 

I found a company online that manufactures a 2 part liquid which expands into an adhesive foam.
They make and sell it primarily for movie sets to make props such as foam weapons etc. 

After speaking to them, I went ahead and bought their smallest kit , 500ml. 

In preparation, I made a small wooden jig to brace the door pull in. This squeezed the handle into the correct shape and position, holding it all in place ready for me to inject the liquid.

 

I removed a generous amount of the original foam to allow space for the new liquid/foam to fill a decent void and to give it more surface area to adhere and bond to. 

To prevent this liquid/foam going everywhere I used a bit of masking tape and taped up the edges.  

 

With the handle secure in the jig, I mixed the two parts together and using a large 100ml syringe I injected the liquid into the void. 

BEWARE that once mixed, the chemical reaction takes about 30 seconds to begin - the liquid begins to heat up fast and then starts to foam. 

 

Leave it to foam and do its thing and allow to dry overnight and then trim off any excess using a Stanley blade. 

My door pulls are almost as good as new ! Packed out with foam and back in their original shape.

 

I suggest doing a decent sized test patch before you commit to using it for the real repair, maybe into an aerosol lid or something. This way you have an appreciation for the foaming ratio and the speed of the reaction. Also make sure you mix the two liquids together extremely  well and be quick ! 

 

I hadn’t planned to put up a post about this so apologies for the terrible photos.  

Hopefully it’s useful to someone out there . 

The link for the product is :

https://www.mbfg.co.uk/black-gun-foam.html

 

They do large quantities but the smallest 500ml kit is ample for small repairs . 

[Gohn 68]

nice fix

I've been thru a few of these, mostly the other moulded plastic version but also your foam filled jobbies

for the time being i've gone to the base model door pulls (via the UK as they never came here) which seem more robust

also thought of doing a set out of wood or 3D printing some but haven't taken it further 

your fix looks a goodun

long live the STDT