Date:         Thu, 3 Feb 2011 07:06:27 -0800
Reply-To:     "Mark L. Hineline" <hineline@OCOTILLOFIELD.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Mark L. Hineline" <hineline@OCOTILLOFIELD.NET>
Subject:      Re: Bad plastic(s)
Comments: To: Karl Wolz <wolzphoto@Q.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <BLU0-SMTP187B5E205FD1060C7B2C550A6E70@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes

Thanks, Karl. I've been thinking about swapping out all of my brown
parts for black (and younger parts, even new parts like Ron's map
pockets).

On a side note, this is something that this list is really good for:
figuring out whether a problem is universal, or particular to one
area, climate, or color!

Mark


On Feb 3, 2011, at 5:44 AM, Karl Wolz wrote:

> I've been told that the brown plastic is much less durable than the
> black.
> Living in hot and dry (though not today) Phoenix, we tend to lose
> plastic
> parts early in their expected lives.
>
>
>
> I agree with Mark; most all of the parts he's mentioned have broken
> on my
> Westy ('85 with 450,000 miles).  Some of them get impacts on
> occasion, like
> knees to steering column covers and map pockets, while others just get
> normal usage, like door pulls and door latch inserts.  The
> plasticizers have
> simply broken down and they've become very brittle.  If you plan to
> keep
> driving your van for a much longer period of time, it would be a great
> investment to pick up all of the parts on Mark's list and store them
> away in
> a cool dark location.  Find black parts.
>
>
>
> Karl Wolz
>
>