The inevitable has happened. Not too long after fitting my HT Autos splitter, I’ve only gone and broken it!
With a horrible snapping sound heard clearly from inside the car, I knew exactly what I’d done. During my visit to the Prodrive HQ I made the mistake of getting a little too close to a rather high kerb.
And that was the end of my splitter! Or it would have been, if I hadn’t decided to attempt to fix it.
Let’s take a look at the damage:
Split into three pieces. Time to get the trusty Tiger Seal out!
Neatly adhered back into place. Now let’s not let the remainder of the tube go to waste:
Not seen, I’d also applied a generous layer of Gorilla Tape on the entire length of the splitter as a little added reinforcement. Allow time to cure:
Job done! Although it would be if these damn kerbs didn’t keep popping up out of nowhere…
Round Two – Broken Again
Around 8 months after breaking (and fixing) it the first time, I was run into a curb by a bin lorry on one of the small lanes running through my village around September 2015.
Still, I’d rather have a broken splitter than a huge gash down the side of the door. A Subaru wouldn’t fare well when up against a bin lorry…
Not to worry, these things are easy to fix. But this time there was no Tiger Seal to hand, so I decided to try something else.
Again, let’s take a look at the damage:
The exact same pieces once again snapped off. Luckily no new damage apart from a few scrapes on the bottom.
Ever heard of ‘drift stitches’? Neither had I until I found myself pondering Google looking for novel ways to repair broken car parts. Turns out the ever-useful cable tie makes the perfect (cheap) repair tool.
You’ll often see this done as an emergency measure during drift demonstrations when pieces of expensive body work shatter upon contact with the outer barrier of a circuit.
Shit happens. But everybody has cable ties to hand – so why not give it a try?
Drilling a selection of holes using my trusty Dremel was the first step, followed by threading a cable tie into each. It’s not pretty, but it works. Function over form they say?
With the splitter fitted, I don’t think it looks too bad. It’s not overly noticeable, and at the end of the day it gets extra life out what would have a been a binned splitter!
Wear your scars with pride I say!
As of March 2016 the splitter is still intact. I’ve since moved house so I no longer have to navigate tiny village lanes, or come face to face with bastard bin lorries.
But who knows, there’s probably a kerb waiting for me somewhere out there…
