Glueing aluminium to plastic

[marlinspike]

My car resto has a plastic body kit. There is a metal strip that is glued inside the bodykit which then hooks on a metal rail on the car body.

The metal looks like aluminium and sits on pegs, but was also glued. When it detached I tried a cartridge gripper type adhesive but that hasn't worked. The original glue was amber/clear in appearance. So basically, what's the best adhesive for gluing aluminium to bodykit plastic?

I'm guessing the cartridge 'Sticks Anything' product (can't remember what it was called) is no good for exterior use.

I'll be sanding that residue off obviously.

 

[Bullet2012]

West systems Gflex

West System G/Flex 650-8 Epoxy Kit 236ml

Bonds of GRP, metal, plastic, wood & more Easy to use 1:1 mix ratio Ideal for bonding dissimilar materials

www.cfsnet.co.uk

 

[octo0072000]

Sicka flex or tiger seal both PU adhesive used to stick body panels on but take 24 hours to cure fully

 

[Ross365]

The aircraft people have put huge effort into developing adhesive bonding on to aluminium. My recollection is that to get long life, they often used silicon based primer coatings to stop oxidation of the Al surface progressively extending along the bonding line.

 

[Pete.]

A good quality bodywork trim tape should hold that very well.

 

[smashweld]

^3M VHB

was maybe double sided amber tape originally?

 

[marlinspike]

Originally it was some sort of amber coloured adhesive as you can see the residue. It looks like it was applied from a cartridge or glue gun as it's a squiggly line. The bodykit pieces are very heavy so some sort of adhesive will be needed. Thanks for all the suggestions so far, guys.

 

[tom2207]

ive a roll of that tape ,, its like honey in color and very very sticky , they use it for roofs on trailers .
3M do it and its quite dear ,,, it goes on and sticks , but then it sort of cures even tighter . Its not cheap but its mighty ,,, Ill have a look and see if anythings written on the roll.

 

[mart]

I've become a fan of epoxy resin since it was mentioned on here many times. It was even suggested that I try the cheap ones from pound type shops. So far I have found it ok for plastic to plastic.

In post #4 a good point is made by @Ross365 re priming the alluminium to prevent oxidation issues.

 

[tom2207]

all it says inside the roll is made in england

 

[winchman]

Best option is talk to Sika my local rep was great as he wanted the job to work so told me exactly which product to use and how to pretreat it.
I think I used Sika 522 in the end with some cleaner primer stuff, still not blown off so worked well

 

[Keithmac]

Tiger Seal was always the go to for bonding fiberglass panels onto cars back in the day.

 

[marlinspike]

I do have a cartridge of Tiger Seal but I'd been holding off opening it until I had a few jobs to do as I have never had any luck using it a few days after it's opened. Just goes hard in the tube despite trying the cling film thing or keeping it inside. Might do all my car sealing jobs at once and do the bodykit as well.