Thread: Fiberglass skin on steel fender?

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Originally Posted by pat mccarthy

why ? to late now if it looks good and your going to keep it get ready to spend alot of money down the line to fix it . i not saying it great to have filler that thick but how many time s have you taken a magnet to a car show fender s by the beads are all ways going to have a bit more filler on old cars less they were in great shape. you do not need a magnet just run your fingers in the outer and inner that will tell you how thick the body man in the can is on the fender lips

Pat, those were my thoughts, too. Btsave bought a car that he's happy with, and if you're going to run a magnet over the whole car to check for filler the time to do that is before you write the check. This is one of the issues with buying a finished car - you are at the mercy of the owner to understand what's under that shiny paint, unless he's showing you a build book of photos documenting the process start to finish. At this point I'd fix the fender, buy some good tires and be done, unless you're ready to strip the whole car down to bare metal and do it back "your way" anyway. Just my $0.02, others may disagree.

Originally Posted by rspears

Pat, those were my thoughts, too. Btsave bought a car that he's happy with, and if you're going to run a magnet over the whole car to check for filler the time to do that is before you write the check. This is one of the issues with buying a finished car - you are at the mercy of the owner to understand what's under that shiny paint, unless he's showing you a build book of photos documenting the process start to finish. At this point I'd fix the fender, buy some good tires and be done, unless you're ready to strip the whole car down to bare metal and do it back "your way" anyway. Just my $0.02, others may disagree.

I think that this is the route I'm going to take. This is meant to be a fun driver, not a show car. As body problems come up over time, I'll have my man tackle them in an appropriate manner. I'd rather spend my $$$ on the drive train, brakes, etc. than redo a body which, at least to me, looks acceptable to good. Now, if I ever hit the jackpot.... who knows! Oh, I replaced all 4 tires this morning In terms of filler, it does hide problems, but once the problem shows itself, it can be corrected... though with more cost? is that the case? I noticed a few rust "bubbles" on the door skin, especially where they shaved the handles off and am having my body guy attack those as well. I agree, I would prefer an all metal repair, but this car would just cost too much to strip down and completely redo... plus, I'l probably be too old to enjoy it by the time it's done!

Originally Posted by btsave

I think that this is the route I'm going to take. This is meant to be a fun driver, not a show car. As body problems come up over time, I'll have my man tackle them in an appropriate manner. I'd rather spend my $$$ on the drive train, brakes, etc. than redo a body which, at least to me, looks acceptable to good. Now, if I ever hit the jackpot.... who knows! Oh, I replaced all 4 tires this morning In terms of filler, it does hide problems, but once the problem shows itself, it can be corrected... though with more cost? is that the case? I noticed a few rust "bubbles" on the door skin, especially where they shaved the handles off and am having my body guy attack those as well. I agree, I would prefer an all metal repair, but this car would just cost too much to strip down and completely redo... plus, I'l probably be too old to enjoy it by the time it's done!

well you want steel under the filler and that look to be so .its is one of them deals were the guy did not work the steel out much hard to saying why? i have work on many old cars . some guys think it better to pick and file .well i seen fenders from the pick n file days were they are so thin you can not work them much other then tap them in shape and fill them hard to say how many times over the years they been re work . it was never hard for me to fix a body panle that had been fix before and work it out with less filler or to steel with no filler if there was some steel to work with .the big deal with old bodys is the old time body guys did was to bust the old paint off and they did that with sanders with 36 grit or less with a hard backer after a time or to of that they get thin .i like to work the steel up with a doly by tapping it up then a finsh hammer then some slap file lite sand with 80 grit guide coat lite picking up if needed with a pick hammer the a lite file then da with 80 grit .i fixed alot of new steel this way .it came in the body shop hurt after you took it out of the box new .it was faster for me then waiting for body filler to dry i put many door skins on this way to i work with steel more then some it was faster for me to work the steel out to no filler or one coat of filler .some guys do not know how to work steel or care to .they are what we call cave and pavers or body man n the can