Hello to all,

I have a crack and some damage to my pass side rocker panel. Going through divorce and had to take my car to my parents house while I try and find a place. Unfortunately they live on a gravel rd with less than desirable conditions. So it didn't take long for this to happen...














So I did a little research on fiberglass repair. Most of the sites(including this one) and vids show repairing from both sides. Get the back done for support then finish the front. So I did a research on removing rocker panels. After just the first few posts I realized that that would be nearly impossible for me since the panels are bonded. I would wind up with a 1000 peices So my question to you all: can it be fixed just from the outside without having to remove the dang thing. It is a DD but I would like it to at least not have holes in it. Know what I mean. As you can see it looks like I bottomed out and cracked/damaged the panel. It is on the passenger side and at the rear. You can see the rear tire in a couple of pics. The damaged part is about a nickel size area although it looks like a softball in the pics. I tried to put my fingers by it for comparison. I know that I need to grind out more than that and bevel out the crack to get it right. This is smc correct? I cant remember the exact word Im looking for. Which means I need a epoxy/resin for that particular application. So which epoxy/resin and matt material would you all suggest. Never mind that white crap around it. That is road salt. Been snowing having snow and ice and believe it or not I just washed it yesterday thanks in advance for your suggestions/comments.

 

Fixed easily from the outside. If you continue to drive where you do won't it happen again?
Looks like it might have been repaired before.

 

In the paint and body section there are some specific threads about repairing C5 panels. I seem to recall the actual rockers being a different material than the rest of the body. They seemed to have success using 3m products to repair some or the actual body panels such as mounting holes.

 

Thanks,

Yes you are correct. I'm actually looking at a place now. Hopefully within the next month or so. And rest assured it wont have gravel. It will also have a garage lol.

 

Bummer. I ran over a dits dot in the road one day and it cracked my rocker panel in a similar way.

SMC is polyester resin/fiberglass cloth. (Prepreg) You could use epoxy, but generally speaking, most epoxies doesn't really like to bond with polyester resin.

If it's as small as a nickel, then you could try what I did. I repaired mine with some Hysol 9462 that I bought from McMaster-Carr. It's an aerospace-grade epoxy resin that bonds to just about anything, including polyester resin.

See: http://www.mcmaster.com/#loctite-hysol/=r2rndk

You might be able to get it from a local hobby store. Unfortunately, the tubes it comes in are designed to be used with the application gun, which costs $22. You won't really need the mixer nozzles as you can just squeeze some out onto a piece of cardboard or into a mixing cup and hand-mix it.

Make sure the area is clean and dry, then work the mixed epoxy into the exposed cloth and cracks. Let it dry for about a week, then use a Dremel sanding drum to sand it smooth.

I have some match-paint I used to cover the repaired area. It's not perfect, but it doesn't stand out like a sore thumb from the surrounding area.

I know the Hysol will work on the ugly crack/crevice in the middle of the rocker panel with the exposed cloth.

I'm not sure how it will work in the long crack at the back of the rocker panel, but IMO, it's worth a shot. Like I say, the Hysol is very strong, so it might work pretty good.

 

Watch this, in your case you won't be able to get to the back.


OR GOOGLE SMC repair.

 

Interesting. The SMC Repair (#8004) looks just like Hysol 9462.

 

Here is the page for the Rocker Repair kits from Ecklers:

http://www.ecklerscorvette.com/catal...epair&x=22&y=9

Rear Left:
http://www.ecklerscorvette.com/corve...1997-2004.html

Rear Right:
http://www.ecklerscorvette.com/corve...1997-2004.html

Both FRONTS:
http://www.ecklerscorvette.com/corve...1997-2004.html

Thanks,Matt