Would you paint this first or Sikaflex a plate onto it first? (1 Viewer)

[RogerIvy]

I'm in the process of repairing my 25 year old Euramobil (dark grey bottom half, light grey top half).

The pic below is where the rear view and reversing cameras are mounted at the top of the back. This area is going to be light grey.
As you can see it's been butchered quite a bit, and I'm planning to Sikaflex a 3mm 100x150mm stainless steel plate to the van and then to mount the cameras onto that. The plate will cover all the holes. The new cameras come with painted stainless mounting brackets and stainless screws.

My question is: should I Sikaflex the plate directly onto the surface you can see and paint afterwards or to paint it first and then to Sikaflex onto the painted surface?

 

[kevenh]

My first thought would be to Sikaflex first in a general belief that bonds to rough surfaces are better than smooth ones.
So painting imo would be giving a less strong bond.
But maybe you'd do a further preparation step.

 

[RogerIvy]

My first thought would be to Sikaflex first in a general belief that bonds to rough surfaces are better than smooth ones.

That's also my guess, but hoping someone knows more of the science than I do. Maybe I should ask "Sage"

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[Lenny HB]

If you paint it first the only thing holding on will be paint so Sika first. Also you don't need the mounting screws my camera is just held on with Sika.

 

[RogerIvy]

If you paint it first the only thing holding on will be paint so Sika first.

Agree, the only "but" to this is that fact that it's hardly structural. I would be interested to know what the implications of bare aluminium behind the plate if it holds a bit of damp from time to time. Of course, I could seal all the bare patches in with Sika.

Also you don't need the mounting screws my camera is just held on with Sika.

The stainless screws I mentioned above are to mount the camera to it's bracket (a notorious place to start the corrosion). After that I plan to Sika the bracket to the plate.

 

[berni109]

If I were doing it I would mark the position where the plate is going to go then rough up the surface a bit. Ideally u dont want any direct metal to aluminium contact and u want to make the edges waterproof. Imho.

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