Body work help
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 286
Likes: 0
From: Plainfield Illinois
Body work help
My first of many posts about fixing up my new (to me) Vette. First the door. This is the drivers side door. The rest of the paint on the car is decent (15 feet). Well, pics below...
I want to get the door repair process started and try to make it look a little better....So to all the experts....How do I get started? and Any good paint places in or near Joliet?
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I want to get the door repair process started and try to make it look a little better....So to all the experts....How do I get started? and Any good paint places in or near Joliet?
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 993
Likes: 3
From: Iowa
Ok for starters what you have there is a bad repair that was not done properly. To make sure it gets done right you can do the critical part yourself! Someone put a lot of regular body filler on this panel and it did not hold on. What we would do in our shop is get the 3M AutoMix for a SMC Rigid Repair. This is what you will want to use and it comes in squeeze tubes for the home user. Start by cleaning the surface with a good wax, grease, and tar remover. Then you get a cheap DA sander with a firm but not solid pad. You can use 3M 180 grit Stick IT sand paper and begin to cut down through the paint and filler quickly. The filler is the pink stuff, the SMC door panel is the grey stuff. You want to grind out all of the pink stuff and leave the grey stuff; if you get into the grey that is not a big problem just avoid making holes in the panel. You may find that there is a lot of filler so you will just need to work out further and further until it stops appearing. Once this is done you then get a soft block and some 80 grit sheet sand paper and really scratch the bare areas; i.e. the grey stuff and a little ways into the paint surrounding it. Then use the specified cleaner (it is listed in the directions that come with the Rigid Repair Kit from 3M) and clean all of that area by wiping over it with a rag soaked in it. If you leave any fuzz you can use a tack cloth to get them off (this is just a final paint prep cloth that is sticky but won't residue on the panel). Now for the big part, through all of this process you want to make sure after you have cleaned the part not to touch it or contaminate it in any way so, once you degrease the panel at the start try to avoid touching it, after you clean with the 3M prep don't touch it! Mix the two parts of the AutoMix repair 1 to 1 by simply squeezing out identical amounts. Mix them together thoroughly on something that is flat and smooth. You also will use a body filler spreader for this. Once they have been well mixed you can begin to apply the repair but move fast. The goal here is to get all of the low spots filled in and brought up higher than the rest of the panel. This stuff is nasty and will set up an about 10 minutes so work fast and make sure you are ready to apply before you mix. I have wasted 40 bucks worth of stuff because I got ahead of myself here! When you are spreading the repair work in both directions example, if you start by going from left to right you will pull the repair in that direction so you will then follow that with a right to left swipe. This will keep the repair even for you. Once the repair dries you can use your DA sander with 180 or 240 grit and sanding slowly get the repair close to where it needs to be as far as flat and level. You will want to pay attention to the contour of the panel as well during this phase. Then you can go in with your block and 400 grit and wet sand the panel to near perfection! At this phase if all has gone well you will need to primer. If not you can always come back in with more AutoMix and fill over your repair. If you need any other information about this PM me and I can give you some more details. I have done both repairs in the shop, 3M AutoMix and DuraMix so we are experienced with this but many shops do not put in the required work and time so I would strongly urge you to do this yourself as it is something one can do and you will be more thorough than most painters. If you really don’t want to do it yourself and want a good job take it to a custom painter that deals with a lot of plastics and composites like my shop and have him work on it. Also remember that at anytime you can stop the process and have the pro's finish it for you. Sorry for the long post but that is the procedure for repairing this panel so that the above does not happen again.
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 13,421
Likes: 8
From: Lake Mary Florida
Originally Posted by Deakins
Ok for starters what you have there is a bad repair that was not done properly. To make sure it gets done right you can do the critical part yourself! Someone put a lot of regular body filler on this panel and it did not hold on. What we would do in our shop is get the 3M AutoMix for a SMC Rigid Repair. This is what you will want to use and it comes in squeeze tubes for the home user. Start by cleaning the surface with a good wax, grease, and tar remover. Then you get a cheap DA sander with a firm but not solid pad. You can use 3M 180 grit Stick IT sand paper and begin to cut down through the paint and filler quickly. The filler is the pink stuff, the SMC door panel is the grey stuff. You want to grind out all of the pink stuff and leave the grey stuff; if you get into the grey that is not a big problem just avoid making holes in the panel. You may find that there is a lot of filler so you will just need to work out further and further until it stops appearing. Once this is done you then get a soft block and some 80 grit sheet sand paper and really scratch the bare areas; i.e. the grey stuff and a little ways into the paint surrounding it. Then use the specified cleaner (it is listed in the directions that come with the Rigid Repair Kit from 3M) and clean all of that area by wiping over it with a rag soaked in it. If you leave any fuzz you can use a tack cloth to get them off (this is just a final paint prep cloth that is sticky but won't residue on the panel). Now for the big part, through all of this process you want to make sure after you have cleaned the part not to touch it or contaminate it in any way so, once you degrease the panel at the start try to avoid touching it, after you clean with the 3M prep don't touch it! Mix the two parts of the AutoMix repair 1 to 1 by simply squeezing out identical amounts. Mix them together thoroughly on something that is flat and smooth. You also will use a body filler spreader for this. Once they have been well mixed you can begin to apply the repair but move fast. The goal here is to get all of the low spots filled in and brought up higher than the rest of the panel. This stuff is nasty and will set up an about 10 minutes so work fast and make sure you are ready to apply before you mix. I have wasted 40 bucks worth of stuff because I got ahead of myself here! When you are spreading the repair work in both directions example, if you start by going from left to right you will pull the repair in that direction so you will then follow that with a right to left swipe. This will keep the repair even for you. Once the repair dries you can use your DA sander with 180 or 240 grit and sanding slowly get the repair close to where it needs to be as far as flat and level. You will want to pay attention to the contour of the panel as well during this phase. Then you can go in with your block and 400 grit and wet sand the panel to near perfection! At this phase if all has gone well you will need to primer. If not you can always come back in with more AutoMix and fill over your repair. If you need any other information about this PM me and I can give you some more details. I have done both repairs in the shop, 3M AutoMix and DuraMix so we are experienced with this but many shops do not put in the required work and time so I would strongly urge you to do this yourself as it is something one can do and you will be more thorough than most painters. If you really don’t want to do it yourself and want a good job take it to a custom painter that deals with a lot of plastics and composites like my shop and have him work on it. Also remember that at anytime you can stop the process and have the pro's finish it for you. Sorry for the long post but that is the procedure for repairing this panel so that the above does not happen again.
