fiberglassing wheel well

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jquest03

Copper - Posts: 105

Joined: September 23, 2005

Location: United States

Posted: October 03, 2006 at 4:14 PM / IP Logged

I have taken on the daunting task of repairing my wheel well by applying some of my fiberglassing techniques. The reason for this is because i got an estimate to replace it and it was well over $1000. I dont have a camera available so i will try my best to explain the problem. The vehicle is a 2005 Volkswagen Passat. I am working on the driver side rear wheel well. What happened is an object got caught on the wheel well and ripped the bumper completely off and takin some of the wheel well with it. I put the bumper back on but now there is a gap where part of the plastic is missing from the wheel well. Since the estimate was outrageous i decided to try n either fiberglass the repair or just use body filler or a combination.

I started out by using self adhesive body patch over the missing area to give myself some type of structure to use the body fliler on. However i am having a hard time getting the patch to stick to the plastice wheel well. My plan was for this to stick and then directly use Bondo Gold Body Filler on it and let it dry a bit then sand it down and paint it black so it looks uniform with the rest of the wheel well. I bought chop mat and resin but can't figure out a way to get anything to stick to plastic. Any suggestions or anything would be greatly appreciated. I am shooting for this to get done tonight.

branvw

Copper - Posts: 90

Joined: November 25, 2004

Location: Canada

Posted: October 03, 2006 at 4:31 PM / IP Logged

i would get the plastic part from the junk yard, you are not going to save too much money trying to fix this with little exp.

jquest03

Copper - Posts: 105

Joined: September 23, 2005

Location: United States

Posted: October 03, 2006 at 4:39 PM / IP Logged

The gas alone on just getting to the junkyard will cost more than doing it myself. I purchased everything for about $30. Even with that said, junkyard is still a good idea. But if i could do it myself, would save me time and money.

bellsracer

Silver - Posts: 703

Joined: January 14, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: October 03, 2006 at 4:56 PM / IP Logged

Would stick to branvw's idea... it'll save you a lot of headaches, but if you area really set on this, recommend creating a FG piece that will fill in the area, drill and rivet (bolt) it to the vehicle then create the finish by sanding the area being repaired and use filler to it.

The key to be being cussessful for this will be to either make the piece super strong so that flying debris from the tire does't break through or strong and flexible enough to take the impact of road debris and let it bounce off of it without damage.

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Melted Fabric

Silver - Posts: 509

Joined: October 24, 2003

Location: California, United States

Posted: October 04, 2006 at 11:26 AM / IP Logged

Be sure to cover everything, I cannot imagine the car problems you would have if resin got on to your suspension or drivetrain.

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best -- that is inspiration.

branvw

Copper - Posts: 90

Joined: November 25, 2004

Location: Canada

Posted: October 04, 2006 at 1:56 PM / IP Logged

i still think the risk of problems are way too great! pay to ship the parts then, Glass will work but it will not flex as well as the rubber ones OEM and it will make alot more nois.

jquest03

Copper - Posts: 105

Joined: September 23, 2005

Location: United States

Posted: October 05, 2006 at 9:35 AM / IP Logged

Thanks for all of the reply's. I am not going to try and fiberglass the wheel well. It seems the risk outweighs the reward. I've tried diong several searches for this part but am having little luck. Anyone shoot me in the right direction?

locus27

Member - Posts: 1

Joined: March 15, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: November 26, 2006 at 7:35 AM / IP Logged

Actually, I ran into this problem too. I did a widebody conversion on my 240sx and had quite a bit of area to seal up on the rear fenders. What I ended up doing was epoxying fleece to the inside of the fender, then stretching it over to the wheel well. I hot glued that in place, then epoxied over it. Once the epoxy was set (the 8 minute stuff works well) I coated the fleece in fiberglass resin. Once that's set you can do small bits at a time and lay up a layer or two of chopped strand mat. Mix the resin in small batches, and go a drop or two under what you'd normally use for hardner. This'll give you a bit more time to work with it. As always, mask off everything nearby with masking tape, use plenty of drop cloths, and eye protection. Once it was painted it looked pretty much factory.

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fiberglassing wheel well

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