DIY: Repairing Fiberglass Parts (Front Lip)

HadesMR

Member
_,-'::SECOND PART A FEW POSTS DOWN::'-,_

Hey guys!
Well, I started getting into Fiberglass and stuff and decided since my Shine Auto front lip was cracked and had a hole in it that it would
become my first test subject. It was pretty easy with the help of my buddy Hector who does this for a living, he walked me through it, but, just reading this should be enough. If you need anything done in fiberglass or any fiberglass parts repaired and you don't want to try it (Or deal with the never ending itchiness that comes with fiberglass) PM me or e-mail me at: Hehetkk@gmail.com and I'll get my buddy or myself to fix it at a very good, low, SFLDrifters cost... haha. :bigthumbu

Here are the tools I used:
-Sand Paper (starting at 40 grit until you hit 220)
-Brushes (I had two of them, you can do it with one)
-Rollers for fiberglass (Optional, depends on what type of glass you're using, for chopped up matt you don't really need it)
-Acetone (To clean your tools and anything else you might get resin on)
-Fiberglass Repair Kit (I used the Bondo brand kit that I bought at the local auto parts store, most if not all auto parts stores sell it)
(This includes Fiberglass, Resin, Hardener)
-Tape
-Gloves (I used Latex gloves)
-Dust Mask (If you don't want to be inhaling little strands of fiberglass that WILL get everywhere, that's inevitable, today was proof for me.
-A pack of smokes and a couple of beers

The damages that have been taken by this lip: (Mind you, Shine Auto products are AMAZING, and I have bottomed out my front lip coming down a steep mountain road too fast and nothing happened to it, this is all because of ONE tow truck driver who had no clue what he was doing!)

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We started off by taping off (outside of the lip) and then sanding down (inside of the lip first)the areas that were to be reglassed since it helps the glass stick to it if it's rough, we used 40 grit sand paper. I say "we" because I had two buddies over for moral support and they helped me out when my gloves were covered in hairs and resin. And they were working on it while I took the pics of course, to show you what was going on!

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This is the lip on the inside after we had sanded it down:

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Okay, well, poor a healthy amount of resin into a small container (We used a 2 liter bottle of Coca Cola that we cut the bottom off of since it will have to be thrown away anyway...). Poor some hardener in there, I'm no pro., I don't know the quantity per amount of resin, so, be careful with this part. The more hardener you put in it the hotter and faster it will get hard, you don't want your resin to become a solid rock halfway through the project, so also just mix enough to do the project piece by piece...

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And have your Acetone in a bucket, ready to clean!

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Now, dip your brush into the resin and soak up the area that you're going to lay matt on.

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After you soak it up real well take your first piece of matt and lay it on the resin, press it down with your hands and get it right where you want it!

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Now take the brush, soak it in the resin again and start wetting the matt with the resin, the white should go clear with resin pretty much, so it's the color of whatever you're sticking it too. My lip was black, so, you'll see how it looks:

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Once the hairs aren't visible anymore, they're all soaked down with the resin, look for air bubbles and get those out by either pushing down on them with the brush or using a roller if you have one (Not a paint roller people!)

Now let it dry, depending on how much hardener was in your resin depends how long 'til it dries up to solid fiberglass. My first half of the lip took about an hour, the second one, well... too much hardener, the brush got ruined, stuck in the resin that turned almost solid in just a few minutes... the third one though, took about 20 minutes to get fairly hard, and about 30 minutes it was completely solid.

I'll post the rest of the pics tomorrow, glassed all sides already, just need to sand and paint now.
 
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to every 2 oz of resin .5oz of hardener :bigthumbu

been doing fiberglass for years using a coke bottle also not a great idea cause in the cause you use too much hardener it can melt through the bottle.
 
to every 2 oz of resin .5oz of hardener :bigthumbu

been doing fiberglass for years using a coke bottle also not a great idea cause in the cause you use too much hardener it can melt through the bottle.

every party has a party pooper and that party pooper is you! haha.
 
Continued here:

Well, had to take a random road trip to Talladega, AL so I took a bit longer than expected. Anyway, here we go...

Now the glass has dried and is just awaiting sanding:

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Here the glass has already been sanded down as smooth as it's going to go:

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Now, for all the little holes that were left we used bondo to fill it. Bondo is super easy to use, just don't mix too much bondo/hardener because it hardens VERY fast:

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Now sand down the bondo like you did the glass:

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After it's all smooth and all small holes have been filled in you can move on to painting:

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And voila, cracked front lip repaired.
 
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