Bullbar and snorkel

[AussieAndy Find all posts View Profile Close AussieAndy]

I have seen a few colour coded snorkels, but they all go a bit crappy over time. When i spoke to my panel beater he said there is something in the plastic which makes them hard to paint properly, and the paint doesn't stick to well. I'm sure with time and the right prep work and paint additives it would be ok, but just be aware.

[MelbournePark Member Find all posts View Profile Close MelbournePark]

AusieAndy - the problem is that the snorkels are made from Polyethylene, which glue doesn't stick to. They may add UV stabilizers (they claim to). But what makes PE light stable, is lots of carbon black - which is really cheap. The UV light goes to the carbon black, and doesn't damage the plastic. Notice that with garden plant pots, the cheap ones, are often made of the same stuff. One can tell such plastics by burning them - the colour of the flame, and the smell, identifies what the family of plastic is. If you get a coloured one, they will suffer from UV and crack early one. While the black ones hang in their. Then, their are different densities of the family of plastic (polyethylene in the snokel case), different technical issues, different additives and also they way the plastics are combined with the additives can make a difference.

A pretty similar material to those white cutting boards, that can be scratched, because the plastic is not hard either. I presume they use the "PE" material because the resin is very low cost, and its cheap and easy to process. They are very far from engineering plastics. I guess their thickness gives them strengthen, and probably absorbs vibration and probably makes them quieter than using a thin engineering plastic. Even something like ABS would paint terrifically, but its a more costly plastic. I think snorkels must be a high profit margin item.





The place I spoke to have a guy who does 4WD drive stuff, and they also are authorized Lexus repairers, and they said that adhesion was dependent on properly treating the plastic. Otherwise they said it will chip and even worse.

So I think I'll give it a go.

If the paint doesn't adhere really well, then it would be straight forward to remove the paint.

[MelbournePark Member Find all posts View Profile Close MelbournePark]

I guess the real question is, is it worth putting a snorkel on a vehicle that mostly does city miles?

[BlakMoth Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close BlakMoth]

If you're stuck in traffic then it will still breather clearer. Whether it will make much difference I don't know.


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[MelbournePark Member Find all posts View Profile Close MelbournePark]

I bought one for I think $440 from ARB in Kylsyth. Maybe $430. Doesn't include installation though.

The main negative with one is IMO if I sell the vehicle, I reckon it will devalue it. And replacing the panel would cost a fare bit too ...

But I like the idea of clean air and not having to worry about the filter so much. Looks cool too which sadly is probably why I'm doing it ... people who buy Prados second hand, all want shopping trolleys.

The irony is that shopping trolleys work damn hard. While a vehicle that does off road spends most of its time getting there and back. I think a few scratches underneath the door sills cost many thousands when selling. People probably think the vehicle has been thrashed, hence whey they are selling it.

if I sell mine, then I'll just say I liked the look of the snorkel. And at now 60 years, I have never been interested in rock hopping. But dirt roads - far less stress than city traffic...