Wheel arch repairs weld or adhesive?

[sulzerman]

I have got some non structural  wheel arch repairs to do on my 2500 saloon

I was wondering instead of welding to use one of the new 'super' in a tube adhesives now available. I have a wheel arch repair section.

Has anyone tried this? Are there any negatives over welding the sections in place?

Many thanks in advance

[chrishawley]

It all depends! 'Spect experiences will vary but here's mine:

I've done some adhesive repairs sucessfully where welding was uneconomical. In particular 'top hat' reinforcing sections on the side of a panel van. Has held up for 3 years ok. But the following conditions applied: a) large contact area between the pieces, b) possible to get absolute cleanliness of the metal of both surfaces, c) possible to get contigous, even, contact between the surfaces, d) in an area ammenable to stable clamping and e) area not subject to peel stresses.

Later I tried an adhesive repair to a localised area of a door skin/lip. Totally unsuccessful. It was just an ill-fitting, poorly attached, mess. In a an economy situation it would have been better to do it old skool e.g. tack weld the repair section, drive the surface down with a pointy hammer, skim with filler and hope for the best. I also notcied that the glued repair couldn't withstand any dressing with hammer and dolly such as is necessary to take down high spots or suchlike.

That's just my expereince. I wonder what others may have found.

[Josef]

@Badwolf has a lot of info on his experiments with adhesive in his resto thread