i'm not sure this goes in this section but it wouldn't let me post in the appearance section. anyways i have a good sized rust spot in the rear passenger side wheel well area, wondering if it would be better to weld a repair in or to cut out the rusted part and glass the hole?

i can get a pic but not right now
any help or bumps would be nice

 

by the way its an eg coupe

 

any tips? anybody? can i put fiberglass over it or would that just be stupid, cause i have worked with glass before but i can't weld so if i could glass it that would be great but if not then i could always learn how to weld. pic will come asap.

 

This should probably have been in the apearance forum but whatever.

The accepted practice is to weld in a metal patch of course but if it isn't too big an area you could use fiberglass provided that you remove ALL of the rust. what I have done in the past, yes, I admit it, I'm ghetto,... is to make flat sheets of fiberglass by laying four or five layers up on top of an old glass table top I have. a little car wax on the glass as a release agent will result in a thin, strong, and perfectly flat piece of fiberglass. Then, using that as a patch, cut it about an inch and a half larger than the hole on all sides and epoxy it to the body panel from the inside using JB Weld or PC-7 or some other high strength epoxy. then just bondo in the depression from the outside and you have a decent repair that should last. A word of caution. Make sure that the patch is as tight as possible to the sheet metal and use plenty of epoxy to ensure a good bond. Otherwise it WILL crack at the joint.

For areas around wheel wells or fenders where you have complex shapes you can use a similar method but rather than using fiberglass, cut a donor patch of sheet metal from a car in a junk yard. Use strips of fiberglass and epoxy on the back side to join the pieces together. No, its not as good as welding but if you are carefull to get a good bond it can be almost as strong and one big advantage is that you don't get any heat distortion from welding.

I've replace rusted out rear fender arches on civic hatchbacks using the above method and they turned out pretty well. At laeast they havent fallen out or rusted

Just be sure to get ALL and I do mean ALL of the rust or it will just come back to haunt you.

Mike

 

hey man thanks. i was going to put it in the appearance forum but it wouldn't let me since i'm a trial user still so i put it here.

i can just use the stuff you get like at home depot or whatever right? or do i have to get some special auto type for the epoxy? i assume i'd use a filler too. but i'll try that asap. i think i still have some 'glass strips around somewhere and maybe some epoxy but it's just the clear stuff will that work too? and will i have to take any thing off of the car to do this? like the rear wheel well or the side skirts?

thanks again

 

now if it would only stop raining for a while....

 

I've used stuff called PC-7 which you can find at Home Depot. Its a two part epoxy paste that has the thickness of toothpaste. It sticks to anything and sets as hard as rock.

Yeah, this rain is starting to really **** me off

Mike

 

here's a pic of the spot [img]rustspot.jpg[/img]

 

i guess not. how do you friggin post a pic? i clicked on image and it didn't work. does the pic have to be on imagestation or something?

 

yes, the file must be hosted in a site like imagestation.

this is good stuff
Im working on car body too
3 years ago, a replacement rear corner panel was plugged welded poorly by an autobody shop. They covered the welds with cheap (corrosive?) silicone caulk. The rust has now spread all the way through the jack up points
No wonder the warranty was only 1 yr, faukin insurance

92sleepR, what do you think of JBweld compared to the epoxy you mentioned?

Btw, anyone looking for a rust neutralizer thats compatible with bondo or fiberglass? Permatex Extend kicks ****!

 

hey what happened here? this last question never got answered. another one though, is there a way to do the repair without ending up with a big nasty lookin bondo spot, or getting a paint job? and really how about the jb weld?