I must be one of the lucky ones: my brown rear view mirror is still solid :-) Karl. On Sat, Apr 5, 2008 at 8:56 PM, John Bange <jbange@gmail.com> wrote: > > I think, the chemical engineer, who designed the mix for the plastic, has > > made it for early disintegration, as planned obsolescense. > > > Nah, it's not so much "on purpose" as it is "cheap". I once had a plastic > and rubber guy explain the chemistry of it to me. I don't recall the > specifics because I don't know one long chain polymer from another, but the > practical upshot was that black plastic uses a more UV/ozone resistant > (plastic chemistry stuff) which happens to be black in color. In non-black > pieces, a different (plastic chemistry stuff) which is white/clear has to > be used to make it colorable, and that stuff is a lot less UV/ozone > resistant. Additional chemicals can be added to make non-black pieces more > durable, but it's usually too costly for things designed to be relatively > cheap to make (like car trim parts). > > -- > John Bange > '90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger" >
-- Karl 1981 VW Westy "Jenny" 2000 VW Jetta GLS VR6 Wilmington, DE |
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