Fibre Glass Pointers...

[one-lady-owner 1]

I've never used fibre glass before and am about to attempt to fix a crack in my ZX's front bumper, it's a fairly open crack (about 3 inches at it's widest) the bumper has retained it's shape so it's just a fill job, any tips/ advice would be very much appreciated!

 

I wouldn't mind getting it back to roughly factory looking so will be rattle caning it after, it's smooth body-coloured rather than textured plastic so should make life a little easier! There's no supporting structure underneath so it won't be just lay it over the top and wait for it to dry...... I'll stick a pic up if it'll make it easier!

[willmounsey 1]

I've done a wee bit of fibre-glassing before, had to extend rally arches on my own and repair the front bumper, it was a friend who's a panel beater who showed me how to. If you could get a pic up i might be able to help

 

Will

[Nathan 0]

My job involves a lot of fibre glassing so here are my tips:

 

First of all you'll need to cover over the crack from the outside so when you start putting the glass down you don't just push it through the crack. By far the easiest way is with a sheet of card held in place with tape, if you also cover the card with parcel tape it'll just peel off once the resin has cured.

 

No you need to prep the area you are trying to repair on a crack 3 inchces long you want to be working 1.5-2" past the edges so an area approx 5" x 2", you need to make this area nice and rough so the resin will stick to it, a dremel or simialr device is very handy for this purpose, after roughing it up you need to give it a wipe overto clean / degrease the surface, I use acetone for this purpose.

 

Next mix a small quantity of resin, just enough to cover the area your trying to fill and a bit onto the freshly prepped surface, now paint the resin on and allow it to tack off (ideal stage is when if you touch it with your finger none sticks to it and you leave a thumb print). Once you've reached this stage you can start putting on the actual fibre glass start with a layer of tissue and then add 2-5 layers of thicker glass (amount of layers depends on what weight of glass you are using) and then finish with a final layer of tissue. Make sure you get all the air out before adding another layer of glass, I often use a paint brush with the bristles cut down to half length, use this in an up and down stipling motion. Also as you add each layer of glass it should be slightly larger than the last all round.

 

Points to watch:

 

Don't mix loads of resin at once.

Try and use gravity to your advantage.

Try and mix resin in a large wide pot rather than something tall and thin.

If it's warm the resin will go off much quicker.

Wear gloves.

Don't get it in your eyes! I've had paint, metal, petrol, acetone and vodka in my eyes over the years but nothing hurts as much as fibreglass resin......

 

Please note using the method outlined above you might find you might find once its cured that you have to grind awy a bit of resin so you can put down some filler before you spray the repair.

[willmounsey 1]

^^What Nathan said^^

 

Same as what i was shown and a very good description by Nathan, just as well as I'm normally notoriously sh1t at explaining things.

 

Will