Current Classifieds

Cruiser Dash Gauges
Date: 12/04/2016 11:50 am
1973 Ford Pinto, Shift linkage for a/t and cross member
Date: 02/25/2017 08:45 pm
76 pinto sedan sbc/bbc project for sale $1700 obo

Date: 10/27/2018 03:30 pm
Need lower control arms for 1973 pinto
Date: 02/27/2017 10:10 pm
ISO instrument panel 80 hatchback
Date: 04/20/2017 08:56 pm
77 Cruising Wagon Front Seats
Date: 04/12/2017 12:37 pm
1972 pinto grill
Date: 02/27/2018 12:13 am
1975 Pinto bumpers
Date: 10/24/2019 01:43 pm
WANTED Hood Prop Rod
Date: 01/17/2017 02:47 pm
'72 Runabout Drivers Side Door Hinge Set
Date: 12/15/2018 02:21 am
Looking for Passenger side Inner Fender Apron
Date: 10/28/2018 08:45 am
Weber dcoe intake 2.0

Date: 08/01/2018 01:09 pm

Author Topic: repair rubber hatch mat  (Read 1473 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline JoeBob

  • Pinto Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 536
  • FeedBack: +51/-0
  • Gender: Male

  • Total Badges: 7
    Badges: (View All)
    Photographer Topic Starter Signature Tenth year Anniversary Poll Voter Windows User Fifth year Anniversary
repair rubber hatch mat
« on: September 24, 2013, 10:00:21 PM »
   My hatch mat was torn in many places, it also had small pieces missing. I decided to see if I could fix it in some way. Here is what I did.
    At Lowes and Home Depot you can buy a product called Plasti Dip. It is made for coating the handles of tools like pliers. It is a liquid plastic product just dip the tool into the plastic and let dry. You now have plastic coated handles.
    This product, if you buy the black color, is a perfect match to my Bobcat's mat. It does not match when wet, but looks good when dry. I used drywall tape, to hold the seams together. The tape that is self adhesive nylon. Before I started using the tape, the repair just tore again.  I stuck this over the holes and splits. Next I applied a thin coating of the rubber over the tape. This did not bond so I tried adhesion promoter spray, as a base coat. You can get this at any auto parts store. This will make your mat glossy. Be sure to mask off areas that you are not repairing. This promoter made the rubber bond well. Next apply the tape and coat with rubber. After I spread the second coat I took a wad of plastic shopping bag and dipped it in the rubber. I tapped it up and down in the wet rubber. The bag is the white ball in the photo. This made a texture that looked similar to the original. It was hard to hide the tape, so I tried some mesh fabric. This was thinner and hid under the rubber easier. The fabric was not sticky, so I had to hold it down with bricks. I put some of the plastic bag over the liquid rubber so the brick did not stick. The plastic pealed off of the rubber when it dried, with out a problem. I fixed tears and filled in gaps. The areas of the mat that have ridges, I was not able to duplicate. Because the color is good, they and not very noticeable.  Because I had over spray from the adhesion promoter I used plastic dip spray to coat the entire mat. It made the mat look like new. The texture is not such a good match. It does look better than the photos portray. I am going to use the disk sander to smooth them out and try other ways to make the texture. This if not perfect, but I now have a solid usable mat.
   If anyone has better ideas I would love to hear them.
http://s831.photobucket.com/user/deut7nine/library/?sort=6&page=1
I hope this helps someone.
Bill
I forgot to mention. I did the same procedure on the back side to make it stronger.
77 yellow Bobcat hatchback
Deuteronomy 7:9

Offline dga57

  • Chief Moderator / Admin
  • FordPinto.com Moderator
  • Pinto PooBAH
  • ***
  • Posts: 7091
  • FeedBack: +208/-0
  • Gender: Male

  • Total Badges: 8
    Badges: (View All)
    Tenth year Anniversary Topic Starter Signature Poll Voter Mobile User Windows User 1000 Posts Fifth year Anniversary
Re: repair rubber hatch mat
« Reply #1 on: September 25, 2013, 08:14:18 AM »
Bill,
I've always heard that necessity is the mother of invention!  I'd say you have created a perfectly good method of repairing rubber mats.  Thanks for sharing!
Dwayne :)
Pinto Car Club of America - Serving the Ford Pinto enthusiast since 1999.