the deck lid on my SLK is cracked. i am worried about it getting worse with furthur usage of the convertable roof. has anyone had this problem? if so how did you deal with it? are any repairs possible or does the entire thing have to be replaced? any suggestions are welcome.

 

Do you have a photo of the crack you can share? A good body shop may be able to weld it up. OR you may want to look for a replacement eith new or in the wreaking yards. Good luck.

 

Hi,
The deck, if I understand you correctly, is made from a compressed fibre material.
It is easily removeable but you need to take care to understand how you disassembled the brackets at the end (underneath deck) and especially the pulley and cable bit.
Take care this component doesn't break whilst operating the hood. If it does it can damage these brackets and then you've got big trouble.
Once removed the deck could be repaired with a thin film of fibreglass on the underside since clearance to other components isn't an issue.
Biker Drews suggestion to find a wreck is possibly the best solution but you will have to find yourself a car.
I have no idea about availability or cost of a new component.
Stuart

 

Stuart. I was thinking he meant the trunk lid itself. If he is talking about the hard panel cover with hinged flaps behind the seat then "my bad". It may be possible to glue the crack, but locating the right adhesive would be a trick since plastics use very specialized glues. I would try for a new used/one.

[IMG]local://upfiles/4982/561C71A1E53B4A34A4EC5C7953AD8F39.jpg[/IMG]

 

Hi Biker drew,
You may well be right. Just shows how important it is to state exactly what the problem is.
Your request for a photo would resolve.
The panel shown as 9 on your diagram is a compressed fibre material. Due to its nature a local repair would not be able to carry the loads that presumably cracked it in the first place. A new part is the real answer but if on a budget fibreglass matting + resin on the underside will do the job just fine. The material isn't anything difficult like PVE, ABS.
Lets see how Sunfire responds.
Stuart

 

Here are a few pics. the first one is the crack underneath and the other two are the above views.

[IMG]local://upfiles/14046/320EB8E6842E4897AB2AB2D751620A3C.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/14046/5A744CCFD37F4C3EBB2FB4465E4F6096.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/14046/CE5935DDEB25404EB2E00770537E310A.jpg[/IMG]

 

For around $150, I would order a new one...[sm=goodidea.gif]

I am not sure how easy this panel would be to R & R though.