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What is the best way to start this repair.
I just ordered some west system resin and 206 hardener.
I stayed away from the cracked area when I stripped paint.
West Systems resin is not needed here. This panel or part is NOT made out of SMC....so regular polyester resin will work just fine....and that also is debatable
Even though you posted a photo...I need A LOT more than one photo. Either I need photos of how it looks inside the crack where the panels have separated or delamianted. I do not know what is actually wrong in the area I can see in the photo you provided...so telling you what to do is kinda......pointless.
Because this repair can be repaired with great success with NO RESIN and fiberglass laminating and just VPA...but without being able to see it or a very detailed description from you....right now I an trying to solve the Jeopardy puzzle with only one square revealed.
The last photo....the corner repair..... will be a fun one also due to the thickness of the bonding strip that you have missing that is needed so the metal brackets will work and install correctly. A very touchy area that needs to be as close to correct as possible....and with the clip off the car...it will more than likely need to be finalized when you get the clip back on.
I assume that this front clip has been off for quite some time and exposed to the elements????? The backside of the cracks at the rear fender look really dirty like muddy water got on it...or is it the photo.
My car was missing the clip when i purchased it. i bought the clip on the forum not sure how long it was off the car. its dirty on the underside but not as bad as the pic looks.On the corner repair are you talking about the bumper bracket that goes in the corner? I am going to do my first repair hopefully this weekend if the resin arrives. i will start with a crack i have in the floorboard and move on to the laminating.That way i will get a feel for a technique before i get to the visible repairs.
My car was missing the clip when i purchased it. i bought the clip on the forum not sure how long it was off the car. its dirty on the underside but not as bad as the pic looks.
This may be true...but if it got wet and dirty...prepping it correctly so you get to good uncontaminated/solid fiberglass will be a must. Hopefully that all goes well.
Originally Posted by tyrant
On the corner repair are you talking about the bumper bracket that goes in the corner?
YES.
Originally Posted by tyrant
I am going to do my first repair hopefully this weekend if the resin arrives. i will start with a crack i have in the floorboard and move on to the laminating.That way I will get a feel for a technique before i get to the visible repairs.
This very WISE of you. Keep in mind...smothering the fiberglass in resin is NOT what you want to do....it is getting the concentration of resin IN the fiberglass is what is important....along with basically NO air bubbles.
Do not try to apply too many layers of fiberglass and resin in that application session. Excessive amounts of resin can cause it to not cure correctly and thus...not be as strong. The longer you can allow the resin to cure before it gets hard is BETTER than getting it to rock up in an hour. I work towards 24 hours myself when I am laminating.
There are a lot of 'tricks' to what you can do with the fiberglass mat to make it conform to a specific shape.
I am sure I'll have plenty of questions after my first repair. As for the side repair how much should I remove of the damaged area? Should i begin on the inside or out? Thanks DUB
I am sure I'll have plenty of questions after my first repair. As for the side repair how much should I remove of the damaged area? Should i begin on the inside or out? Thanks DUB
WHICH REPAIR???? I honestly think that you calling me may be to your advantage. I have questions that you can answer and I can cover a lot more information in a phone call than typing stuff out for hours.
How many layers did you apply during this application session???
What is the white I am seeing in the middle of your lamination????
Reason being is that I am concerned if you go the mat saturated. When I see white...I 'think' that it is dry fiberglass that got too much of the resin pushed out of it...or it was not saturated and rolled out to get the air out.
If you look at your first photo. the white wire that is going through your photo. IF you look to the LEFT of the wire....half the distance from the white wire to the end of your repair...AND ABOVE the horizontal white line you can see in your lamination. That area that is dark...is what you lamination should look like.
If the viscosity of your resin was thick...like I mentioned when we talked...it can effect how you laminate.
Hard to comment with only photos and no detailed description on what and how you did it.
I went about four layers. I used the West System I had because I could not return it. I did heat the resin under a work lamp. It was what I consider a fluid consistency. There was a large gap missing on the floor where the panels meet. I taped the bottom side then ground out the seam with a 40 grit 2" disc. Applied resin then began adding fiberglass. I did not have a roller so I used a cut down brush to push in the resin. It was saturated as I added layers. I did experiment with the resin to find a sweet spot. Maybe I should have used more. It seemed to be translucent at the time of application
Depending on the size of your lamination areas...getting a roller for fiberglass laminating would be wise. It will save you GOBS of time and give you the result you need.
I hope that when you applied the fiberglass mat for each later...you had already applied the resin to it on a non absorbent material...then picked it up and applied it on your repair area.
IF you put dry fiberglass mat over the resin and previously soaked layer...it is really hard to get it to soak up by using paint brush.
I will look into getting a roller
I found that it wad easier adding wet pieces after I Firestone tried the dry. I will apply wet on my next repair. On to the clip
I will look into getting a roller
I found that it wad easier adding wet pieces after I Firestone tried the dry. I will apply wet on my next repair. On to the clip
????? can not understand what you wrote...what does 'firestone' have to do with anything here????
Ha! Auto correct on my phone!
I first started with the dry then went to wet.
YEAH...that is where the problem lies.
You want to apply one layer of wet /saturated fiberglass mat...roll that out...and then if you apply another layer of saturated mat (for example) ...and then want to lay a dry piece of mat down...you can do that ..AS LONG AS the amount of resin in the last applied layer will BE ABLE TO soak into the last layer that is dry.
I can do it that way but I have decades of doing it and kinda know how things look and what to look for....and sometimes it can slow me down a bit due to not enough resin to do what I THOUGHT it would do. Heck..i am only human...so...I would advise that getting you layers wetted out and then roll out all excess resin and air bubbles...will give you a repair that will be quite satisfactory.
03-13-2016, 03:53 PM
Front clip repair question
