Did this today. Have replacement fixture ordered but need ideas how to diy fix the dent cracks in body.?

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Myles

开云体育

Hello Myles:

For myself I would remove the old base and support, clean up the fiberglass skin and then cover the cracks with white Edurabond tape. This will seal the area and then you can put the new tail light on.

OR: you could clean it up and take it to a body shop and have them fix it. They should be able to do a seamless job that would look like new. ( of if you are handy you could do this. )

Carl.

Fiberglass repair is on my list of things to learn.? But not yet.? Another option would be a top to bottom piece of diamond plate on each side.
--
Don DeRyke
Sunrise, Florida

2009 Classic, 2020 Ford Escape, 2.0 liter EcoBoost, AWD.?
Previous TV 2015 Ford Escape 1.6 ltr EcoBoost engine.

I would bite the bullet and do the gelcoat repair.?

Sand the damaged area.? Feather the edges of the cracks.? Fill the dents with bondo and sand.? Put 2 or 3 layers of fiberglass cloth (the thin stuff) over the damaged area, and sand smooth.? Then paint with matching gelcoat.

Some tips on doing this job:

Buy gelcoat from a color matching place that uses a chip of the existing gelcoat to determine color.? The kits with white base and little bottles of color are pretty much impossible to get right.??

The gelcoat must have wax added or wax sprayed on top, because gelcoat won't completely harden in the presence of air.? The spray on top stuff is called polyvinyl alcohol (or PVA).

Cover yourself with long pants and long sleeves, taped at the cuffs, when you sand the fiberglass, or else the sharp glass fibers will give you a rash.? Wear a mask over your face too.

You can do the sanding with a 5 inch disk on a drill, but renting or buying an 8 inch disk sander will save you time, and the results will look better.

After you spray on the gelcoat and pva and let dry, wash off the pva with water, and then hand wet sand a little with 600 grit sandpaper to smooth out imperfections.? Don't be surprised if there are significant blemishes, and most first time attempts need a second spraying of gelcoat and sanding to look nice.? You might even need to use more bondo.

Use Preval sprayers to spray on the gelcoat and PVA.? Its just a glass bottle with a small aircan attached.? Get extra sprayers since they aren't reusable, and as per comment above, you may do the gelcoat twice.

Those are the major points. You can also watch some YouTube videos on fiberglass repair.