RCautoworks

Just like the title says, is there anything I can do to stop fiberglass from cracking anymore ? Might even be some bondo thats cracked, bought a car where the body kit was molded to the car.

khmboostedeh2

with any crack... you drill a hole at the end of the crack to prevent it from spreading. No guarentees with bondo though.

jon volk

Re-create the body kit in steel and weld it all up...no more cracks

RCautoworks

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by k20 jon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Re-create the body kit in steel and weld it all up...no more cracks </TD></TR></TABLE>

How about gold

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jeterkm02 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">with any crack... you drill a hole at the end of the crack to prevent it from spreading. No guarentees with bondo though.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks, yeah that would probably make it look worse though. Hmm

Lamchop0000

do you just want to stop the cracks from spreading? just drill a hole at the end. like homeboy said.

is removing it and repairing it a option?

RCautoworks

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Lam.N &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
is removing it and repairing it a option?</TD></TR></TABLE>

In the future, but the whole car would have to be painted. Its not your average paint

Niles

The hole drilling method is how aircraft maintenence is done. Just use a small bit and drill at the very tip of the crack. I'll look better (hopefully no paint chipping) than having a big crack in the filler right

integrawhat

well unfortunatly you bought a car with the body work already done and have know idea how it was done and more often than not its done the wrong way and they have probably just put the kit on and bondoed over it original paint and all. now like you said its not factory paint and no matter what you do this repair will have to be repainted so your best bet for the long run will be to take the kit off and redo it the right way from the ground up but for now if you just want the crack fixed you can buy fiber glass repair kits from autozone or where ever, cut out the cracked area and rebuild it with new fiberglass and then sand it down smooth. if you just drill the end of it the crack can still spread from any edge of the hole you drilled. but i would bet in your case its bondo and theres nothing you can do but start over

werksberg

Steel and Fiberglass expanse & contract at different rates. To properly attach them, you ned to use a body shop supply shop epoxy putty to attach the 2x together to prevent the cracks from the expansion rates difference.....

integrawhat

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by werksberg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Steel and Fiberglass expanse & contract at different rates. To properly attach them, you ned to use a body shop supply shop epoxy putty to attach the 2x together to prevent the cracks from the expansion rates difference.....</TD></TR></TABLE>

what are you talking about this is a body kit its not being heated so why will they EXPAND or contract at all? fiberglass will ALWAYS shirink over time especialy around corners and curves but it should last at least a decade or two (look at an unrestored vette from the 60's or 70' around the head lights and wheel wells). and uh ive never heard of a steel door or body panel shrinking or expanding. you can mold fiberglass directly to metal with fiberglass resin and chop mat and you dont use any epoxy putty, but this problem is most likely a misuse of cheap bondo that can shink over a matter of months if aplied to thick.


can you get a closer picture of the crack for us to look at?

2kjettaguy

Temperature!

kiddcarbuff

hey you are right with the fiberglasing it to the steel method, i do that to every kit i mold, but its to bhare steel then i use a sealer before i even prime the car, i use the sealer on the areas that are molded together and nothing i have done has cracked, ever. temperature does in fact change how the resin/fiberglas/' and panels all fit. the fiberglass will shrink and the resin will in fact change ever so slightly under temperature. it wont make a huge *** crack but it will flex a little!