fibreglassing over vacuum formed vinyls

hello from Australia!

im looking for some advice on getting the fibreglass smooth, high gloss finish out of my interior.....

Currently my car has a vinyl like interior, it is slightly soft and has been formed over the dash and door trims

i was hoping to possibly use some form of bondo or filler to cover the dash and door cards and also accomodate a few changes im looking into (screens, controls, speakers etc)

is it possible to find a filler that is flexible? or will i have to remove all of this vinyl, and take it back to its plastic backing and work from there

reason i ask is, following a few searches i have had mixed results, some say no it will crack, others say yes it will work

any help would be much appreciated

cheers
Dan

I would not use just bondo. Most people use a mixture of bondo and fiberglass resin half and half mixture. It's a lot stronger than bondo alone.

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My wife thinks bagging a truck means you kick it in the truck nuts

wouuld this flex with the material better?

if i have to i will strip the material, in that case, what would be best on plastic to get a fibreglass like finish (high gloss, eep look to it)

You can get a smooth finish. You can get a glass smooth finish. But you will have to sand, sand, sand they make sand paper to 5000 grit. Maybe higher but thats as high as I have ever use.

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My wife thinks bagging a truck means you kick it in the truck nuts

so, if i was to use the plastic dash underneath, it would be a matter of sanding, sanding sanding?

Strip the vynil off what you want to glass, then glass your project using fg matting and a 5:1 fg resin/ bondo mix. apply first coat of mix wait for it to get almost hard but still a little soft .Sand with 36 grit paper. This step doesnt need to be perfect as you will be applying at least one more layer of mix.Use a block with your paper on all area that you can so that you dont create highs and lows in your work. Next apply a second coat of mix again use matting and cover project in a nice layer.Let it get to the same point as before "almost hard" You'll know its good because your paper wont gum up. This time use 80 grit paper on a block on all areas that you can .Sand in a X pattern for best results.Next spray some some guide coat on your project.If you dont know what guide coat is ,simply take some black spray paint and "dust" or mist the entire project with it.This will show you where you need to sand and where you dont. Now sand the guide coat off with 180 paper on a block.In this step you just want to change the scratches from 80 to 180 basically so dont sand super hard on the piece just knock the guide coat off. USE A BLOCK FOR THIS.N ow your ready for primer!!! Apply 2-3 coats of high build primer waiting 10-15 minutes between coats. .Spray guide coat on primer and WET sand with 400 grit paper again use a block and only knock the guide coat off,use and X pattern as much as you can.If you have any pinholes or anything now is the time to fill them with some painters putty, apply with a razor blade just enough to cover the hole. wait for it to dry then feather in. Now spray with guide coat, Wet sand with 600 in an Xpattern as much as possible.At this point the panels should nearly be glass flat and paintable,There should be no large spots of bondo mix showing ,if there are prime those spots and feather in with 400 paper and then 600 to finish. Do you know how to paint? Im assuming that's what you want to do because you want them Glass flat high gloss.Follow these steps to a "t" .Let me know if you have any questions. I can also walk you through painting and sanding the clear coat for a show room glass smooth finish .Let me know when your going to paint, I do this for a living and by the way there is never a need to use 5000 grit sandpaper on anything.You would be there for a decade trying to make a scratch in that project using that high of grit.

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-A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-

I also do this for a living. I do custom paint jobs around $10,000 and up for paint jobs

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My wife thinks bagging a truck means you kick it in the truck nuts

jayson33 wrote:

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I also do this for a living. I do custom paint jobs around $10,000 and up for paint jobs

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Same here friend, not trying to knock your method just trying to get it accomplished in the next decade.If you finish your primer in 5000 grit paper id hate to see one of your custom paint jobs 3 yrs from now.Even finish sanding clear coat with 5000 grit is completely inefficient and a useless waste of time.

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-A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-

Well think what you will to get a glass smooth finish on the clear coat it is a must my finish you can see your reflection in the finish without wax. 3 years thats a long time. When you get 20 years under you belt. Then tell me how to do it.

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My wife thinks bagging a truck means you kick it in the truck nuts

jayson33 wrote:

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Well think what you will to get a glass smooth finish on the clear coat it is a must my finish you can see your reflection in the finish without wax. 3 years thats a long time. When you get 20 years under you belt. Then tell me how to do it.

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First off I wasnt telling you how to do anything, secondly the 3 years was directed towards how long your paint jobs will last if you finish your PRIMER in 5000 grit paper.I do apologize if i misunderstood your post wich i dont believe i did the OP was asking how to F/g from start to finish, not just polish out paint wich is all that you explained.As for 5000 grit to get a mirror finish ,to each his own my friend but i can achieve the same result if not better and not go beyond 2500.Also my experience is very extensive in the collision repair industry, I have been doing this my whole life since i was 6 years old,My dad owned a body shop as well as myself . So this isnt about who gots the biggest balls of them all ,its about using your tools efficiently and knowing HOW to complete a project in a timely manner.Thats is what I was trying to do for the OP ,so he didnt sand his finished project till his damn arm fell off. Like I said previously to each his own but the above how to is the most efficient way I have found to achieve great results in a timely manner.

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-A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-

Was your question answered?

Can he just fiberglass over the existing vinyl with padding? Some of your older cars have 3" thick pre-formed foam pads.  Just wondering.

topinstaller200 wrote:

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Was your question answered?

Can he just fiberglass over the existing vinyl with padding? Some of your older cars have 3" thick pre-formed foam pads.  Just wondering.

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I wouldnt advise f/g over the vinyl permanently ,but you could make a mold of your project with the vinyl still attached to it, then remove the factory piece and replace it with the f/g piece.

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-A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-

how about if i remove the vinyl and take it back to the stock formed plastic? could i then use a bondo:resin mixture to cover then paint the dash?

You could do that if you wanted ,I would recomend scuffing the plastic up before applying mix.Use some 36-80 grit paper and leave some nice scratches in it so the bondo/resin mix can really adhere.It would be more beneficial and faster if you just scratched the plastic up lay some f/g down on it ,scuff that the same way as the plastic , do one more layer of mat and f/g then scuff and do bondo resin mix.

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-A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-