Fiberglass Hood Repair

[dochummer]

Ok, so, my uncle was kind enough to back into my H2 today. No worries...my wife had just pulled up behind him and he didn't see her....oh well...such is life. It's not a huge amount of damage (not like mike)...if it were just metal or plastic, I wouldn't worry much about it...but it's in the fiberglass. I've never dealt with stuff like this before. Spoke with drty, and I'll be taking it to the body shop tomorrow...Just wondering.... for you fiberglass experts out there...is this something I could do myself with some glue and touch-up paint? Or is it best to have the body shop take care of it...any ideas on reasonable cost? Thanks. (35hrs and counting........)

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[DH22G]

i hate fiberglass...

that looks like some bondo would work better. i have built sub boxes and other racks and mounts with fiberglass and bondo. looking at what you got there you'd probably need to sand the front edge, trim the fiber threads to clean it up then you can break out the bondo and smooth some on and mold it a bit. let dry then sand to shape and smoothness, clean then prep for paint. but again fiberglass and bondo suck.. but i have found that bondo CAN fix ALOT.. but its unfortunate because it does not look like you could just patch it easily yourself. it looks to require alot of paint and sanding. you might be able to get corners cut if a good paint guy can blend it instead of having to sand and repaint the whole hood..

on the other hand.. it could of been ALOT worse.. just cut from the fender straight forward and make your wheel wells even BIGGER!!! mold some custom flares and make it a baja buggie tubbed out h2..

it might be cheaper for the autobody guys to remove the hood and just strip the whole thing and fiberglass it and get it all perfect then just repaint. with the black it wont be that hard. hey you could even have them cut some custom hood louvers or make a custom cowl hood with all the fiberglass. maybe cut a hole and run a blower?? hope this all helps. best of luck.

(how did he NOT see a big black h2?)

[Racer-X]

Before you go to the body shop try this - go to a marine supply place. Buy some black gel coat repair. Follow the instructions - apply, let dry and shave off the extra with the scraper they supply in the kit. Keep building it up. I bet you would be satisfied with the result.

[KenP]

Judging by the condition of your paint in the pics, you should thank him. Now you have a chance to get rid of all those scratches. http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif

[Racer-X]

and wash that thing! http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

here - http://www.shipstore.com/SS/HTML/FIB/FIB108000.html

[dochummer]

Originally posted by KenP:
Judging by the condition of your paint in the pics, you should thank him. Now you have a chance to get rid of all those scratches. http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif

http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[dochummer]

Originally posted by Racer-X:
Before you go to the body shop try this - go to a marine supply place. Buy some black gel coat repair. Follow the instructions - apply, let dry and shave off the extra with the scraper they supply in the kit. Keep building it up. I bet you would be satisfied with the result.

Looks like that might work...now to see if I can't get it locally... http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[OrangeCrush]

Without including the bumper damage, a good idea is about 2-3 hours (depending on if it's cracked underneath) for repair. The rule of thumb for painting is approx. 250 per panel (eg. fender) You'll have some time to R&I (remove and install) items like lenses, latches, fender flares, etc.

You could figure if you took it to a bodyshop, you'd have about 400-450 bucks in it.

It should be about a 3 day repair from start to finish.

Hope that helps.

Mark

PS. If I wasn't in the bodyshop business and was going to try to fix it myself, you can buy what's called vette adhesion panel adhesive. It's a cross between bondo and gorilla hair, just finer. The problem is painting... it's not that some people can't paint, it's just difficult to paint without the proper equipment and place.

[md_sailor]

Sorry about your Mishap... No Bondo! The marine supply route is the easiest way to proceed. the correct way would be to Clean the rought damage out with a dremel and a burr bit. after that you would want to apply a mixture of Virgin Resin and Powdered fiberglass activated with MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) leave extra material on the repaired area so it can be sanded down to match the original shape. start with 220 wet dry sand paper and work progress through 600 wet/dry and you will end up with a smooth as glass surface. Paint/Gelcoat is your choice.... Hope this helps

[dochummer]

Thanks for the tips and info guys. I spoke with two body shops, both quoted $280 for the work. One quoted $150 if I only wanted to paint the immediate area, and not the whole panel. I found the Gelcoat stuff at a local marine supply store. I think i'll be going the gelcoat route. The area is small enough that I think I can get away with it as long as I do it right. In any event, if I screw up, it'll just cost me $150 to repair according to the above quotes.... http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[Racer-X]

For that small of a area I wouldn't let somebody paint the whole panel. Never have been a fan of that. Different paints fade at different rates and i don;t think I've ever seen a paint "match" that I couldn't see.

Just my opinion, but I'd rather live with the chip patched. That gelcoat patch works well if you are patient and take your time.

[Racer-X]

btw - post a pic when you are done.

[OrangeCrush]

Originally posted by Racer-X:
For that small of a area I wouldn't let somebody paint the whole panel. Never have been a fan of that. Different paints fade at different rates and i don;t think I've ever seen a paint "match" that I couldn't see.

Just my opinion, but I'd rather live with the chip patched. That gelcoat patch works well if you are patient and take your time.

You'll be sorry if you don't paint the whole panel. The paint on your truck is basecoat/clearcoat. You repair the damaged area and then use the basecoat (the actual color of your vehicle) to finish over the repaired area.

Then you clear the entire panel. That way, if you blend the basecoat out a bit, you are not bringing color right to the edge of the panel and therefore no risk of a color mismatch.

If you try to "blend" out the clearcoat, you are taking the paint from roughly 4mils to nothing. At some point, if you buff or wax over this area, EVENTUALLY you will wear the edge of the clearcoat down and be left with an edge which will be noticeable.

Also, gelcoat is absolutely ridiculous as an answer for repairing that little bit of damage on a fiberglass fender. That is so overkill, it's not even funny.

I can't speak for the shops that wrote estimates but make sure they are removing ALL necc. trim. Masking off lamps, mouldings, latches etc will be a sure way for the clear to peel later.

I'll bet that if you look at the estimate, the bodyshop is not removing the grille, sidemarker lamp, latch, mouldings, etc ,etc... You'll be sorry if not.

Mark

[Racer-X]

Also, gelcoat is absolutely ridiculous as an answer for repairing that little bit of damage on a fiberglass fender. That is so overkill, it's not even funny.

Gee Mark, Why the hostility? http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif

A $25 marine color matched gelcoat kit is overkill? http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif

just my opinion, but the only "overkill" would be paying hundreds of dollars to repair the panel, sand and then paint the whole panel over a little chip in the corner. http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[OrangeCrush]

Racer,

Sorry, didn't mean that as hostile. When I said gelcoat is overkill, I was thinking of real gelcoat, the kind we repair boats with. The $25 marine color gelcoat kit is a quick repair... My apologies.

As far as painting a little chip, I guess it depends on how anal the person is. It's kind of like when I get a customer in that has a stone chip and wants it brushed touched. Brush touching does indeed cover the chip but it's only brushtouching. The only way to fix it perfectly would be to refinish it.

I guess being in the bodyshop business, I only see it as either perfect or not. Again, my apologies, it was not meant as an insult. The black gelcoat kit will make it look better, just not like factory. (which is the only way acceptable to me..lol)

That is the reason why I had a guy show up at my house at 4am this morning who drove all the way from Maryland to North Carolina just for me to paint his hood and do some extra work.

Anyway, next beer's on me.

Mark

[PARAGON]

Just take some black permanent marker and color it and walk away. It's on the PS, isn't it. You'll never notice again.

[PARAGON]

BTW, I'm calling BS on this one. Your wife was driving? http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[Klaus]

Originally posted by PARAGON:
Just take some black permanent marker and color it and walk away. It's on the PS, isn't it. You'll never notice again.

Did you ever work at a used car lot? http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[dochummer]

Just remembered that I hadn't updated you on the repair. Well, I got the gelcoat repair kit, and was going to try it when i spoke with a friend of mine who, come to find out, has done a lot of auto repair/renovation. I stopped by his house and he put on some fiberglass bondo - kinda like tooth paste. Pushed it into the damaged area and let it dry. Then he sanded it down with some sand paper until it was smooth. I took it home and a few days later did some light sanding and used some touchup paint (duplicolor) and put that on, wet sanded with 2000 grit and then put on the clear coat. All I have left is to sand again and then buff/polish it. Here's a pic of it right now...you can't even notice it's there until you look really closely. But after the final sanding and buffing, shouldn't be able to see it at all...
Thanks for your help guys...

http://x402.putfile.com/4/11316273330.jpg

[OrangeCrush]

Originally posted by PhilD:
Nice job, looks good.

Yup, my your house...

http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Mark