Can you bung me a bung?

[Steve Maskery]

Evening all,
I know that this is a long shot but here goes.
My car has washers for the headlights. Not the wipers, just the squirty bits. One of them has gone AWOL, so I rang up for a replacement.

How much? £22, Sir.

OK, could be worse.

It was. That is just for the jet. I also need the plastic cap which covers it, £47 +VAT, and it only comes primed, so I'll have to have it sprayed. That means mixing a batch of paint and setting up a gun. It's a metallic finish, so needs a topcoat too. I reckon all in all I'll be lucky to get much change out of a couple of hundred quid. It's not going to happen.

So I'm thinking I'd be better off removing the other one to match, and bunging up the 36mm hole in the bumper with a closed grommet or cap. At least they would both be the same.

I can get closed grommets locally, in Maxipcks, but they don't seem to go up to 36mm. Does anyone here work in grommets? I need two. As samples, you might say

Or any other ideas for making an odd car look balanced. I might consider turning a cap out of black phenolic, if I can get a decent finish on it. The car is red, I don't expect to get Renault Flame Red grommets though!

Any help or ideas gratefully received.

Cheers
Steve

 

[CHJ]

Any chance your nearest reclamation yard has a bent vehicle you can cannibalize? even if it's not the same colour a touch-up pot of paint may be good enough.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Been there, tried that. Several. No joy

Cheers
Steve

 

[martyn2]

try on the web for second hand carpart place we have a company in poole that strips down car parts and cleans and sells them on but there are lots of other place that do it but if you want to PM me with the car type part number ect i will gladly ring them and if they have the bit get a price for you .

martyn

 

[Steve Maskery]

Thanks Martyn - done that!
Well I can't say I've tried EVERYWHERE, but I've tried as many places as I can think of, both locally and on the net. Nobody wrecks Lagunas!
The only ones I've seen are the old model, which doesn't have these. Even most new Lagunas don't; just the TOTR ones (cos, I'm posh).

But thanks for the thought.
If I can find the part number again I'll take you up on the offer.

Cheers
Steve

 

[dedee]

Steve,

Have you tried abacus - eg http://www.abacus-furniture.co.uk/49.htm.

You will probably have to glue in place and paint

Andy

 

[Steve Maskery]

Hi Andy
That looks quite promising, I'll give them a call.
Thanks!
Steve

 

[ike]

Steve,

PM me your address, I think I can get some samples for you.

Ike

 

[ike]

OK Steve,

I've searched the UK manufacturers catalogues. 36mm is an odd size. The nearest I can find is a 37mm hole size semi-blind grommet EPDM black rubber)for up to 2mm panel thickness. Semi-blind meaning it's recessed both sides, so not very attractive methinks.

The other is a nylon blanking plug - 38mm hole size for up to 3.2mm panel thickness, available in black or white. It's a low profile dome, but being nylon it won't conform very well to anything other than a fairly flat surface.

I doubt very much there's anything else closer than this. Std sizes around 36mm are 34.6mm and 38.1mm.

Let me know if either are any use to you and I'll get a couple for you.

cheers,

Ike