Alright, i am almost done totally rebuilding my car down to the last nut and bolt. Now my old integra had shaved door moldings and i would like them again, first has anyone done it? Second how would you recommend doing it. My old GSR the kid did before i got the car and they looked awsome, 1 year down the road they started to crack because he used bondo…any recomendations? Thanks.
Bondo should be great…
its the amount of time put into it thats gonna make it last…
if you prepare the surface, grind it, sand it… to accept the bondo… Meaning making the bondo stick to the surface the bondo should hold for a very long time…
I did mine, and its been 3 years… and still looks like the first day I did em…
its just how you prep the area before applying bondo that makes it last…
Fiberglass works wonders also…
try Fiberglass if your not aiming towards bondo…
Weld a piece of metal in there then smooth it out. Will look great and last a long time too
ya ppl have been telling me the whole weld a peice of metal thing, but if i weld a piece of metal, how thick, and do i leave holes going inside the car? and do i totally close it off with metal?
I have searching this topic for awhile and I am experimenting as we speak. If you have access to a welder, then I would suggest if you have the experience, tack on small pieces over the holes for the side trim, and use welding primer to make sure nothing rusts underneath the work.
The next question is, what look are you going for? Are you trying to just fill in the groove that the trim was in OR are you trying to go for the totally smooth door look like a new Prelude?
I am aiming for the totally smooth door look. I removed any rust I could find. I have treated the metal with rust inhibitor paint and then filled the small holes for the trim mounts with small metal pieces. If you go looking for something that is called Kitty fur or tiger hair fiberglass, you will be able to fill in the groove quicker than bondo.
Good luck… I cant wait until it warms up around here, too bloody cold to work in the garage!!
any one have pics of this done, ive never seen it come out good
dont plan on doing it cause i think a teg looks beutiful w/ its moldings, but could some prove me wrong…???
If you do the weld it will look better in the end I think. Just be sure if you do to use short tac welds and go from one end to the other. then goto the center and go one and so forth untill they are all connected then grind them down. I watched a show on 4x4 tv or something about shaving door handels and frenching license plates it looked pretty easy if you take your time
ya im goign for the smooth like a prelude, im thinking about just bondoing it and leaving my car primer until i actually have money/time to paint it…i mean the bondo in my gsr lasted over a year and the kid prolly didnt do much of a job either, looked sick though…
If your going to save the money for a good paintjob wait and shave the moldings right! in the long run you will be much happier and will last longer
Bondo is meant for smoothing and light filling and is not the way to go for a project like that. If you do not have the money nor ability to weld up a filler plate then strip it down to bare metal and use fiberglass (I would use 2 ounce chop mat and fiberglass a strip on the inside to help it hold better), then after you have sanded down the glass use a light coat of bondo to smooth it out, and after further sanding use spot putty. You will also have to do some tweaking up front in order to allow the doors to open without hittin on the ends.
If anybody wants to see pictures of moldings shaved the right way, give me your email address. Molding were removed and a piece of sheet metal was welded. I also have pic of it before and after paint.
this is mine done with kittyhair and a finishcoating of bondo. held up great in a harsh environment. only place that cracked was where a truck ground its fender into me.
if possible… use metal… thats the #1 choice.
i think i am going to go with the kittyhair fiberglass and smooth it out with bondo, but a few questions…where can i get it, how much is it about, and how should i do it grind the metal down so it bonds, put fiberglass in and then bondo after the fiberglass dries?
kittyhair is a type of bondo… its also called short, medium, or long strand fiberglass bodyfiller.
basically the strands of fiberglass are in the bondo so all you do is mix in the hardener and spread it out.
word of advice… go with medium strand… long strand is way to lumpy and hard to work with imho. when it hardens it will be very hard to sand so make sure you dont get it all over the place.
you need to grind down to metal for the best adherence.
also for the holes where the moulding goes… i smeared the kittyhair around the holes and then spread a small piece of woven fiberglass mat over the hole and pressed it into the kittyhair and let harden… then its easy to spread over the panel without jamming 1/2 of it into the holes.
This is a members car…and a beautiful one at that. I love this thing and it is what I am working towards. Though I will have some things that are different so as not to copy.
What I was told by several auto body shops in the area if I didn’t want to weld. Fiberglass the molding holes from the back side, use a product called All Metalto fill in the “trough” in the door. Fill in so there is about 1/4" of space left. Fill in the rest with bondo. DO NOT fiberglass the outside of the door. Depending on where you live this could be a very bad idea. If you have freezing winters and hot summers the fiberglass will not be able to expand and contract as much as the metal will. It will over time lose durability. You may not be able to see it but one door ding 4 years from now could be disasterous.
Now with that being said, I’m sure I wil get told I’m wrong by somebody. Flame away.
we get pretty extreme weather here… and yer right… you do run that risk… thats why i said metal is obviously best.
if you cant afford that then make sure you do a really good job stripping all the paint down to the bare metal to ensure maximum adhesion. and make sure the kittyhair fills every bit of the gaps… if you slap it in there and there is an air pocket … yer askin for trouble.
after 3 years one part has cracked after i got hit by a truck but in general its done well.
if i could id go back and use metal instead though.
what i dont understand is y isnt the rear bumper black strip been kept and not shaven off, the car is not consistent and looks dumb, not neat at all
I can speak from current experience, molding over that back bump is a BEOTCH. That is a different two part item. Thus far it has been a learning experience and very time consuming.
you are talking about chris’s old car right? that shit wasn’t straight at all if its the car im thinkin of. i remember seeing that car with loads of duraglass or kitty hair on the sides. LOL use metal if you are going to shaved them.