BodyWork?

[KoolTrix]

Okay..I'm making this thread to help anyone who wants to put out there a question about any bodywork...

Starting off...I have a few questions.

Carbon Fiber...Can it be Sanded/Painted just like Fiberglass or anything else?

Molded Bodykits...From what I've gathered...You would Mount the bodykit, Fiberglass the "mold" section, then coat it with Bondo, then smooth it down, primer it...and ready for paint. If I'm wrong please correct me...have any suggestions or tips, please provide...

Why do I want to mold my bodykit...Because I dont want any gaps, or a sh-tty lookin bodykit. So I figured a molded bodykit, would look smooth and bad azz.

Only concern...Cracking...I honestly done want the mold to crack...nothing worst than seeing a car with a crack in it. So...Suggestions? I know if I just used Bondo...it would DEFINATELY crack...but...If I used Fiberglass, Bondo, and a thick layer of just primer...would that prevent cracking...or what? I would LOVE some suggestions.

The reason why I ask about Carbon Fiber...is because My car came without a hood latch...Like...I cant "pop" open the hood, and theres nothing to unlock the hood even if it could pop open. So the car came with a sh-tty hood and sh-tty hood pins...I recently bought those "Carbon Fiber" hood pins off eBay...that have the KEYS for them...My plan is to sand down the CarbonFiber...cut out the holes in the hood and Mold the Hood Pins in with the hood...Nice and Flush...and have it painted...so the only thing you would see is the keyslots...Nifty idea...will it work...suggestions?

 

[tsidrift1]

The answer to your first question is yes. You can sand and paint carbon fiber. It is basically just a stronger fiberglass because of the actual carbon fiber material is a tighter "woven" material.

As far as molding the kit. It is hard to get a kit molded and not have it crack eventually. If you do it, make sure that kit is very, very tight on the car. For cars that ive done the molded kits on, you can use rivets. Use a lot of them to really keep every part of that kit as tight to the car as possible. Then lay fiberglass over it. Use the actual mat. The fiberglass mat is stronger stuff, its a little bit more of a pain to sand, but it is better. The mat is the real strand, stringy, more course fiberglass material. After you have maybe two layers of fiberglass, then lay down long hair fiberglass bondo. After that then you can lay down the bondo and finish it out. The types of primer are not going to matter at all with the strength of the molding.

Good Luck!!

 

[KoolTrix]

Thanks alot for the information.

ANOTHER QUESTION.

Z3 Fenders...(Fiberglass)...My Driver side came with 2 vents...I want to mold them in...Cover them up. The Side Skirt will automatically coverup the bottom one, but the 2nd top one...shows...Everyone tells me to leave it...that its supposed to be there...for "Pretend" cooling purposes to the driver...its the "Racer Look"...

But u can say i have O-C-D or something but, I just want my Right side of the car, to look perfectly like the left side... Thoughts on this Vented Driver Side Z3 Fender????

 

[will90Eclipse]

If you were going to get rid of the vent you would have to cut a hole around it then lay fiberglass on the backside of the fender behind the hole for support. Then take more glass fill in the hole on the front, smooth out with some bondo and your done

Hope this helps

 

[tsidrift1]

If you were going to get rid of the vent you would have to cut a hole around it then lay fiberglass on the backside of the fender behind the hole for support. Then take more glass fill in the hole on the front, smooth out with some bondo and your done

Hope this helps

AGREED!

 

[KoolTrix]

If you were going to get rid of the vent you would have to cut a hole around it then lay fiberglass on the backside of the fender behind the hole for support. Then take more glass fill in the hole on the front, smooth out with some bondo and your done

Hope this helps

Could I just Drill Some holes into it...Apply Fiberglass-Haired Bondo in there...then Smear Bondo over top, and smooth it out...or would it just not be strong enough??

 

[sk8shorty01]

You want to go from the back because otherwise you will end up building up so high with fiberglass on top of the gap that you will have a mound in the middle of the fender. Start from the back side, then once that is hard and dry, move to the front and start your same process there. About the molded kits, make you you make some metal supports that run into each corner of the lower part of the kit. Meaning the corners that are the lowest points on the hood side of the fender wells for the front and the trunk side for the back. This will eliminate wobble while driving down the highway and prevent cracking. Also make sure you put a lot of rivets in like mentioned before. You can also take expanding foam that is in the little aresol cans and spray that inside the bumper once it is on the car to bulk up the entire application. This will almost completely eliminate the wobble and you wont have to worry about cracking.

 

[KoolTrix]

You want to go from the back because otherwise you will end up building up so high with fiberglass on top of the gap that you will have a mound in the middle of the fender. Start from the back side, then once that is hard and dry, move to the front and start your same process there. About the molded kits, make you you make some metal supports that run into each corner of the lower part of the kit. Meaning the corners that are the lowest points on the hood side of the fender wells for the front and the trunk side for the back. This will eliminate wobble while driving down the highway and prevent cracking. Also make sure you put a lot of rivets in like mentioned before. You can also take expanding foam that is in the little aresol cans and spray that inside the bumper once it is on the car to bulk up the entire application. This will almost completely eliminate the wobble and you wont have to worry about cracking.

Crack Free Molded Bodykit...now that sounds nice...Let me sleep on it...I had actually decided just to mold the side skirts in...sicne they're do the LEAST amount of moving...I was really going to bolt those damn things in there...but as you continued..."completely" no cracks...if done correct...sounds well worth it...Gotta think about if I'm up to it.

Thanks for all the info guys...appreciate it alot-

 

[sk8shorty01]

Yeah, well you know what i mean, if you hit something its going to crack, but you shouldnt get any cracks just from vibration anymore. Make sure you brace it with some metal supports that are tied into the framing somewhere. When there is no wobble there is no cracking The expanding foam is just an added benifit to aid in the stiffness. Its not something that has to be done, but works well.

 

[splattj]

I had my VIS carbonfiber hood painted and there were hundreds, if not thousands of needle-sized holes in the surface of the resin that I couldn't see before the paint. I guess there isn't a gel-coat on CF hoods that's directly paintable? Just be wary of that. I had a huge fight with the bodyshop about redoing the hood so it was smooth and glossy. They ended up sanding it down and using some heavy primer that filled the holes after sanding it back down....

 

[KoolTrix]

I had my VIS carbonfiber hood painted and there were hundreds, if not thousands of needle-sized holes in the surface of the resin that I couldn't see before the paint. I guess there isn't a gel-coat on CF hoods that's directly paintable? Just be wary of that. I had a huge fight with the bodyshop about redoing the hood so it was smooth and glossy. They ended up sanding it down and using some heavy primer that filled the holes after sanding it back down....

I was just going to say that...Take primer and just smear it across all the cracks/needle pin holes...it'll be thicker then mixed with lacquer, and stronger as well...and then just sand is smooth.

My damn hood pins better come in today. When I bought my car...it didnt have have a hood latch thing. so they put in those cheap hood pins...and I thought they were shitty lookin, and I saw those "Carbon Fiber" Hood pins...it wasnt the fact that they were CARBON FIBER that caught my attention, but that they had keys to them...so then I thought...hey...I can cut out circles in the hood....and bondo/mold them in with the hood that way its flush/and smooth. its worth a shot... Any suggestions about doing this??I was thinkin I might need to build a brace of something...still not sure...How can I be sure that this Carbon Fiber Piece will stay in place with the Steel Hood.