While out delivering for Uber, several weeks ago, my mother’s trunk caved in. The plastic lip in the back, that holds up the cover over the spare tire, cracked. She drives a Toyota Rav4 Hybrid XLE.
The Uber order only said the load would be heavy, but didn’t give a number value, so she had no idea what she might be picking up until she arrived at Lowe’s.
The dealer (Leith Toyota) quoted over a thousand dollars to replace that section of plastic molding. The way the trunk is designed, the broken part was part of a much larger portion of the trunk and could not be independently replaced.
Instead shelling out for an official fix, we decided to try and repair it ourselves, or rather, mother asked me to do it. It’s been a while since my last DIY project.
We got $27 worth of plywood from Lowe’s and I put together what I think is a tenable patch.
After eyeballing the trunk, I made some initial corner cuts. Then with a measuring tape and a black Sharpie, I determined the sizing for each board and the parts I would need to keep for the support beams.
It took around an hour to get it all handled. I used Elmer’s Carpentry Wood Glue, but I only had 4 clamps, so I’ll be rotating them out every few hours until the glue cures.
The wood isn’t quite thick enough to support a screw or bolt and I don’t want any metal bits possibly scratching up the trunk. If the wood were thicker, I may have considered using screws and recessed holes.
I’ll finish it all off by sanding down the corners and sharp edges. Hopefully, it all holds together and my mother can go out once again to drive for Uber without worrying about the trunk.
Thanks for reading!
