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...What the best way to go about filling in the holes from a luggage rack?...Would it be necessary to lay a couple of layers of fiberglass mat under the hole inside the car before applying the filler?...
Yes. Lay up patches for the existing holes on the underside of the panel. Once those have cured, dish grind the top side of the holes. Lay up patches for the holes. If you do careful fiberglass work, you won't need much filler.
Fiberglass based body filler ASKA-Bondo is one type sold by different manufacturers under different brand names is one. Designed to fill imperfections not make things with otherwise its problems. There is a product called Tigerhair which is fiberglass strands in resin that is good. Seems to be much more uniform and should block out fine.
Biggest problem is the "draw back or shrinkage" you can have and that comes from different causes. What is used as the base and how you sanded it (ruffer grit paper vs finer grit paper) and/or the primers/sealers you put over the repair getting the area ready for paint. Slower drying solvents vs faster drying solventss etc. Some people try to solve some of these issues by letting the area set for extented periods of time and letting the area "cure out"--before painting it.
You'll want to use fiberglass matt (not weave) & resin, the bondo stuff from walmart will work fine. The process is more important than the matt/resin you pick as it is all pretty much the same stuff.
Sooner or later, the filler will shrink and show the holes.
To reduce this process, best is to find a old piece of Fiberglass panel and cut out plugs from it. Then put them into the hole with some resin.
The plugs will not shrink.
The better the plugs fit the less chance is there that the holes show up later on again.
Hi,
I believe the way to fill the hole is to grind a shallow taper on both the upper and lower surface of the deck panel. The repair should be about the size of a half dollar. Do the entire repair using fiberglass and resin with NO filler.
Here's a picture of the repair on my 71's rear deck. It's been painted for 5 years and hasn't shown yet.
Using a plug of some sort is a lot easier unless you're painting the body.
Regards,
Alan
Hi,
I believe the way to fill the hole is to grind a shallow taper on both the upper and lower surface of the deck panel. The repair should be about the size of a half dollar. Do the entire repair using fiberglass and resin with NO filler.
Here's a picture of the repair on my 71's rear deck. It's been painted for 5 years and hasn't shown yet.
I agree with Alan, did mine this way and it's been 3 yrs. and no sign if them showing up. The idea is to use as little filler as possible because filler will shrink and that's what shows up down the road.