I put down a layer of fiberglass matt...then i put down a layer of the green bondo-hair fiberglass stuff....once i get it a nice and smooth is there anything i can use instead of bondo....iv had bad experiences on this same project with bondo and i dont like the idea of using too much of it for long term use...so do you thinkg instead of bondo a layer of mybe just the fiberglass resin you use with the fiberglass matt will get the job done without discoloration once its painted?

there is at least one pic up on my car domain site that i know of at the very bottom, ill have more up in the next couple of days.

http://www.cardomain.com/id/joec3

 

That is not going to work. You have to use bondo. You can't just lay down fiberglass mat it doesn't fill it covers and will crack just as fast if not faster than bondo. If it's your daily driver it would be pointless of even doing that it's gonna crack no matter what way you do it

 

So are you molding your bumper and hatch? Just the bumper? It's hard to tell in the pic. You will have to use body filler of some kind, it's going to be almost impossible to do it without. There are better brands than Bondo though.

My wife's Integra has the rear bumper/sideskirts molded in. It's been almost 3 years now, no cracks and it's her daily driver. The only reasons it would crack is if the bumper is really low and hits stuff. Or if the job is done badly, if the molding is done right, it shouldn't crack.

 

Damn your wifes teg looks nice as hell, i had that same rear bumper on a 94 civic coupe.

The way we have be bumper mounted its super tight so there is very little play when you push and pull on the bumper. The hatch has never worked so we put it in place with the glass and welded it above the tail lights to the car and below where the hatch meets the bumper im molding it there too.

Iv layed a layer of matt and a layer of the bondo hair, and tested its durability by pushing and pulling as hard as i can where the bumper meets the car, and theres very very little flex.

I just dont want to have to slap 1/4th of an inch thick of bondo on there and have the bondo crack and not the fiberglass.

Its also my daily driver, and i just dont think that bondo has the abitlity to flex as well as some of the other fiberglass stuff im useing.

 

I have been molded **** on my cars for while. I would not do the hatch unless it was welded to the 1/4 panels. On the back bump I use short bondo-hair, in the crack. The nI sand it down. I get all the paint off the fender and lay down a layer of glass. I only has to overlap on the bumper and fender by about a inch. The lay a thin layer of bondo over that and shape it the way u want it. The thinner u keep the bonbo the less change there is for it to crack.

 

You definitely don't want to slap 1/4" of bondo on there, you should be able to use a very thin layer just to fill out imperfections if you get the fiberglass straight. That's what it's for anyways. Using a ton of bondo is the easy way out, unfortunately, a lot of people do it because it's less time consuming than doing it right. But then a couple of months down the line, the car looks like ***.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by UTJoeC33 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Damn your wifes teg looks nice as hell, i had that same rear bumper on a 94 civic coupe.

The way we have be bumper mounted its super tight so there is very little play when you push and pull on the bumper. The hatch has never worked so we put it in place with the glass and welded it above the tail lights to the car and below where the hatch meets the bumper im molding it there too.

Iv layed a layer of matt and a layer of the bondo hair, and tested its durability by pushing and pulling as hard as i can where the bumper meets the car, and theres very very little flex.

I just dont want to have to slap 1/4th of an inch thick of bondo on there and have the bondo crack and not the fiberglass.

Its also my daily driver, and i just dont think that bondo has the abitlity to flex as well as some of the other fiberglass stuff im useing.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Yea man keep the bondo thin. It will crack it then u have alot or work to sand it all back down, and redo it . So do it right the first time.

 

yeah, today i layed down 2 more layers of the short hair bondo, think im goin to get it as close to perfect as i can with this stuff then use as little bondo as possible. Ill make sure to get pics up when im done. Thanx

 

Don't do it.

 

Well your going ot have to lay bondo down. U will never get the bondo hair to the point of primer and paint.