Fiber Glass Issue Opinion?

[Rainier]

Hi

I'd welcome a second opinion on the approach for a fiber glass repair:

Interested in the options/pros/cons of various ways of fixing this.

Issue:

The attached photo of the right rear wheel well clam edge (immediately behind the rear wheel)

1. has had paint gradually removed over time by road debris kicked up from the tire.

2. It looks like two laminated layers of fiberglass are seperating along the edge.
There is a similar (smaller) issue on the rear left wheel well.


Proposed solution:

1. Place fibreglass resin/glue in the space between the two laminated layers.

1a. Can this be done easily and simply with something like a toothpick etc?

1b. Bodyshop want to clean out space with a device like a dentists drill.
They might charge quite a bit for this as they say its quite detailed work.

2. Repaint the edge.

3. Place a small strip of Starshield along the edge.

Thanks for any advice.

[Valenz]

There's usually a bit of a gap there. That's where the outer and inner fenders (not the abs fender liner which is removable) are glued together (epoxy).

Do the pieces flex separately across the apparent dislocation? If not it's probably okay. If there is motion between the pieces, then a re-glue is advisable. However, without disassembly and replacement of the epoxy resin the best bet is to clean the wound and redress it with an adhesive that bonds well to glass, polystyrene, and amine-epoxy resin. I've used cyanoacrylate for this purpose and it works well if the surfaces are carefully cleaned (acetone). If you can't get your hands on bulk cyanoacrylate then just buy "Superglue" (not the gel).

[Rainier]

Thanks. Almost no movement. I can squeze hard and make the gap a bit smaller.

This may have been like this all along, I only noticed it today when the wheel
was off.

I wasn't sure if its normal/common, and/or something I need to fix to stop
water getting in the gap.

[E_Swift]

You're right - the fiberglass will begin to weaken over time once water has an entry point.

The bodyshop method will work, but the cyanoacrylate mentioned above would be a great place to start (you could still always take it in if you aren't satisfied, and you (hopefully) won't have had any chance to make it any worse.)