Can you repair sunglasses?

My Oakley Flight jackets just fell apart while wearing them. They have never been dropped or used off road and are scratch free. They are 3 years old so out of warranty.
Has anyone glued them together or pinned them or anything?
I’m quite annoyed that my expensive glasses are broken and I am not in a financial position to buy new ones.
I’ve seen some fantastic carbon bike repairs so hoping that I can do something.


Try some superglue and fishing line. May not be a pretty repair, and the arm will no longer fold, but you’ll still be able to use them.

Or plumbing PVC cement? You want something that will partially dissolve the plastic so that it can kind of weld the two pieces together. Having done lots of plumbing projects, including smelling lots of PVC primer and cement/glue (:zany_face:) those joints are stronger than the surrounding pipe…

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Sorry to hear that, mate.

I’ve worn glasses since I was 4 or 5. The repair will just be temporary, and I would look into replacing the frame. Repair hacks are difficult for a number of reasons, not least because you typically need some flexibility in the frame to adjust to your head shape and make minute adjustments to make the glasses fit.

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Have you tried going back to the shop you bought them from to see what they can do? At the least, they may offer you a discount. I had an Oakley arm break a few years ago, and I think the shop replaced it for free.

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Shop was Wiggle and they have closed down. I asked Oakley themselves and they said not their problem and they don’t sell spares for that model. The above plumbing cement idea sounds quite good.
My friend has fake Oakleys and he does enduro with all the crashes that entails and his are fine.

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That’s not great customer service to put it mildly. Oakleys are expensive and when you buy regular glasses, you should expect to have basic parts replaced after 3 years of ownership.

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That’s disappointing, Oakley UK have replaced an arm on a pair of glasses for me in the past for a nominal amount. When the other arm broke a few years later. They swapped the lenses into a new set of frames/arms at no cost. I have remained loyal to Oakley in the years since as a result of that excellent customer service. Fingers crossed I don’t come to need it again!

We take a strong stand on doping around here :face_with_peeking_eye:

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In case people don’t know why that won’t work, ‘pipe dope’ is a viscous paste that works by clogging up threads. It will not fix sunglasses. (Just in case someone might)

But there is some crazy ‘dope’ that solidifies like concrete making removing the pipes involved damn near impossible.

I tried to solder glasses together when I was a young foolish high schooler. The part flipped, flinging the hot solder in the air towards my face, landing on the end of my nose, somehow missing my eyes. (Metal glasses are actually contact welded together, making repair requiring special equipment. I was SO INCREDIBLY LUCKY. People show up in ER’s having glued their eyes/mouths/nose/other orifices shut every day. Acetone can remove Krazy Glue, but not in the eyes, etc)

I needed a new lens for my Radars, and they discoed the line. No help there, but had Oakley frames that had a removable nose cushion, and was always able to get parts and spares with little drama at Oakley stores, after losing one in San Fran. (I walked out with two, and an apology they didn’t have more)

Anyone need a Radar frame and case?

So you think an Oakley store may be more helpful?

I rang Oakley UK direct, was totally up front that I had broken the arm by accident and asked if they could help with replacement. I had to send the glasses to them in the post, when they had them in hand they gave me a call and charged me for the replacement arm before shipping them back.

The second time I went through the same process however they phoned me and said that the had updated the frames on this model of glasses so they no longer had stock of arms that would work. They just asked permission to remove the lenses from the frames to install into a new frame with new arms. When I asked the cost for the work they said ‘it’s not your fault we have changed the design so we will do this free of charge, we just need your permission to go ahead with the work’,

This was a long time ago and things might have changed but they used to be really helpful!

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Just to add to that: some companies are amazing in that regard. Not glasses, but I own several fountain pens. One of my Lamys broke, and I contacted support. They asked me to send it to them. They simply repaired it free of charge. They might have replaced the whole thing for all I know.

Such generous behavior engenders brand loyalty, especially if you buy something of high quality and expect it to last.

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Garmin UK, Southampton, have been good for me in the past which is part of the reason I’ve stayed loyal to them. My first Edge was the old 305, it failed just out of warranty but Garmin covered it anyway. When that eventually failed they let me by a half price upgrade. I think the next unit failure was also solved by a half price upgrade. I’ve also had a garmin totally crushed into the tarmac by huge dumper truck and they helped me out with a half price refurb. I was a little disappointed when the power button of that failed and they refused to upgrade me when I offered to pay for it and sent me the same unit which promplty failed in the same manner. When it failed though and I explained the predicadment (previous unit failure) they agreed to let me purchase an upgrade this time.

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Stories of outstanding customer support: I had a client that was looking for an ‘indestructible notebook’, and we took a chance on selling them a ToughBook (over a ‘rugged’ Dell model) and about a year later, they somehow broke the power connector on the mainboard. I tried fix it in-house, and couldn’t. We sent it in to Panasonic, expecting a huge estimate. A week later we receive a large pizza box from Matsushita, and inside is the ToughBook, with a repaired motherboard, and a new titanium alloy outer case. No invoice. They said that the case had a small dent in it, and some scratches. The handle was worn a little too. They stood 1,000% behind that notebook. We were all surprised that they fixed the problem, and swapped parts of the case out too. Outstanding service, and I’d recommend that notebook to anyone who could afford it. Not sure if the same thing would happen today, but they stepped up and hit it out of the park. (The rest of the story is the notebook was eventually stolen and they had to replace it. Couldn’t afford another ToughBook, but that’s the way it goes I guess)

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I lived in Japan for a long time, and they were very popular. I’m glad to see that they stood behind their product.

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They are not cheap, but this model they had came with a built-in handle that looked like it was a lethal weapon, similar to the current model 40. I imagined that you could swing that thing at someone and take then completely out (or their teeth anyway), wipe it off and keep working. Impressive. I saw someone on a plane with one. ‘NICE!!’…

I have quite a collection of Oakley prescription frames. Loved them all. Have a permanent dent pattern on both sides where the bows have compressed my skull. I usually try to steer clear of plastic frames as ‘life’, but currently have their Dehaven after years of Metalink, Boomstand, Holbrook, Tinfoil, etc. The only issue I had was those removable nose pads. (and the discoed lenses for the Radar. Good stuff, expensive, but like the style…

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