[Vwdiesel] Plastic VW parts-what falls apart?

[S. Shourds]

dieseltdi at verizon.net wrote:

>OZONE,  OZONE, OZONE!!!! One of the biggest culprits in the break  
>down of plastics and rubber parts is ozone.  This is especially true  
>if you live in a large urban area like I do.  I have installed rubber  
>parts, like boots, caps etc and seen them basically destroyed in a  
>matter of years.  Heat plays a big roll also.  As the plastic parts  
>are repeatedly heated and cooled over thousands if not millions of  
>cycles, the bonds between atoms break down and eventually the plastic  
>comes apart.  Newer plastics last much longer because they have  
>different chemical bonding agents and  other things to keep them from  
>aging as fast.  Hayden
>
>  
>


Maybe heat and ozone of living amongs 6 million people in Texas would 
explain it, but on my TDI, the interior is generally degrading.  The 
armrest and the door and overhead light switches have failures in the 
plastic parts as well.  Rear ashtray and cupholder as well.  Not that I 
use either, but broken parts make the car look tacky. 

I have the same problem as Mark with the window sill seals.  On the '85 
Jetta, they are so shrunken that when I tested a door liner seal job one 
time by running a hose against the window, I got 9" of water standing in 
the doors.  Not much can stand up to that.  And, near as I can tell, 
those aren't particularly available parts.  It'd be nice if they were a 
standard part that could be ordered by the foot.  I wonder if Citroën 
seals would fit....

-Shalyn