I've been reading up on automovite painting and what not. And when i goto paint my car, i was goign to remove the plastic side strip things , and fill them in. And the question is, what method is best for doign so? I figured apply bondo in thick quantities cant be good (it may crack or something?) so i was wondering what method i should use, or any products.
Any help would be great

 

If you are going to take off your moldings you have to cut and weld a peice in to make it look nice. Because if you just fell it it will crack in no time.

 

is there any other way aside welding a piece in? That will be so troublesome to do. And i know you cant just fill it in, come on now.

 

maybe?

http://www.alvinproducts.com/Products/Products.asp?ID=1

 

wow that stuff sounds interesting.

 

welding.

 

there was a guy who had his filled in with a foam filler then glassed over it... pretty sure thats how he did it... but it looked pretty nice. ima search for his post.. since im at work and have nothing to do lol

 

No kidding!

The high temp stuff is pretty interesting too...even though you have to cure it...

 

You could always try filling it with Duraglas.

 

"Lab-metal withstands temperatures as high as 350ºF (and as low as -40oF) and when hard, can be painted with lacquer or enamel without danger of bubbling, lifting paint, chipping or peeling." => BIG PROBLEM is not compatible with most auotmotive paints (urathanes) on the market today. The other problem is this material is the consistancy of corn syrup, designed to be poured into a cavity to fill a void. How are you going to apply it to the side of a car?


The problem with using a polyester based filler to fill a 1/4" deep Strip on your dor is the different expansion and contraction rates of the filler vs. the door metal. You will end up with cracks, maybe not next week or even next month; but that much filler WILL ventually crack.

The proper method would be to cut a filler strip and tack it in place. Then go back and "skip" weld the piece in. After that, grind smooth and smooth using your choice of SCHMUNDA / Aerodynamic smoothing compound.

 

most of the guys above are right... welding is basically the only way to go, you dont want to even try bondo trust me (i work at a body shop) just have to weld on strips of metal and then sand weld spots down... (you dont have to do a steady bead of weld just touch and go along the peremiter of the strip) after that apply a small layer of bondo over it to fill the gaps in and prime and paint.... sounds easy but your in for a job if youve never done this before.. im doing mine but as i said i work at a profesional body shop and have all the tools and materials present for me to use... good luck whatever you do

 

hmm, alright thanks for the input guys. ill probably have to do some welding then to get it done properly. Oh well, I guess I needed to buy welding equipment anyways!
ty all, much appriciation

 

Just do it the right way the first time and forget about it. You have to weld and cut. trust me i work in a bodyshop and i seen alot of car civic the most where ppl would pack it full of weird **** and then it would crack or chip. Also know a person the filled up his dripp rails and it looked good sitting there after he did it but as soon as he start the car and went off his drive it all cracked and was fucked. Weld it and foget!

 

Another thought. You could rivet in the metal instead of welding, and leave a small gap between the rivet height and the door, and slap some body filler or some semi liquid fiberglassing stuff.

 

i dont know much about welding but would you still be able to weld it on the front and rear bumbers? if that what would you do for that?

 

Can't weld metal to something that's not metal (front and rear bumper covers).

 

thats what i was thinking. so how would you fill in those spots after removing the side molding?

 

Well the fenders and the rear ¼ panel are both metal, the only left over moulding would be on the bumpers themselves. So either by getting an aftermarket set of bumpers, or sanding the **** out of the stock ones (which I am unsure if it can be done, I haven't looked at the backside to see how thick everything is).

 

One thought would be maybe predrill some holes and mounting points for a picec of metal instead of welding the panels since on some spots there aren't places to weld(Plastic bumper,etc)

Then just use some bondo/fiber glass to blend the edges.

 

Anything you use to "fill" the hole will crack in a few months. Using Bondo/body filler in an area that big is a sure way to make the job look like crap. I've seen FCs where people have done this, and I had to walk away and shake my head in disgust. You can certainly make it look perfect....for about 3 months.

Cutting and welding is not as bad as you think if you can do it yourself. But it's probably a good 8 hours of labour for a body shop. It's fairly straightforward to cut a strip of the right size, then tack weld at alternating ends until you have a continuous bead (don't go from one end to the other...hello warpage). Then grind, and use body filler to even it out. If you're good, you don't even need the filler.

 

If bondo is done right, it can look great and not crack. But again, that's if it's done right. I've seen my dad put a large amount of bondo on a car and i've never seen it crack, then i give it a try and it cracks the next day. At least with welding the metal won't crack.

 

Anyone have pics of cars with the line 'filled in'?

 

I like painted moldings more..

 

Dang your pretty good at photoshop man, but if you look close enough you can tell. But at least it gives you the image you wanting to see. NICE! Maybe next time do the bumpers too.

 

I was gonna do the front bumper, but I tried it once and screwed it up cause I didn't follow the shadows.. then I just never got around to trying it again.