Bonehead in Parking Lot - Look out

[timmil]

Well, today sucked. Wife and I went to breakfast, beautiful morning and car running great. Then we pulled into a parking lot of the local Ace Hardware. As I pulled into a spot I didn't notice the concrete barrier was angled and not straight. Pulled up way to close and heard the awful sound of fiberglass on cement. Then the bonehead move, instead of getting out and surveying, like the dolt I am, I backed up and this happened...

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I am just sick about this. Not sure what I should do. I have been thinking about a re-paint and this might be what pushes me over the edge. Would love to hear from the experts.

Ugh, and it was such a great morning...

Tim

[Old Timer]

You are not the first, and I'm sure you won't be the last.

I caught the lip of my coupe the same way, but was lucky and only scraped it.
I was able to smooth and repaint the spot good enough it is hard to see.

Yours can be fixed, just not a quick one.

[GTBradley]

I feel for you. Its not really your fault if they left the bump stop angled, any of us could have done that. Its probably good that the body is fiberglass and not aluminum in this case.

[rich grsc]

Man that's a shame. Something like that happening is just one of the reasons I always back into a parking spot.

[Papa]

Man that sucks. :( I wonder if something like this could be made to look and operate well on a roadster?

http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/frontzone-front-parking-sensors.html

[johnnybgoode]

I feel your pain. I used to race R/C gas boats and did lots of fibreglass repair. The break looks fairly clean. I would clean up the edges of the broken piece and then hold it in position from the front with duct or 2" masking tape. Use resin and glass to build/strengthen from the rear (you can use micoballoons or baby powder to thicken up the first coat of resin and brush into the cracks). Remove the tape, sand, fill and finish. I would usually put on a final layer of 2oz. glass cloth on the inside to clean-up the repair. Down that low, your painter should be able to blend in the colour and shoot a final coat of clear over the fenders and nose. If the missing piece is crushed I would try to reconstruct it using the above method (you could also use superglue (CA) and an accelerator to glue together the smaller pieces, check out a hobby store) and then once rebuilt attach it back to the nose. Fibreglass is actually quite easy to work with. If you mess up just let it dry and sand it down. Good Luck. Scott

[CraigS]

I agree w/ Johnny. This really isn't that bad. Looking at your first picture you can see that it's almost invisible when standing relatively close so an imperfect repair will most likely never be noticed. While looking into source for f-glass repair materials also ask at body shop suppliers if they can mix paint and put it in rattle cans. I have done that twice in two different locations. Both suppliers also had a couple of primers and clears in rattle cans. If you don't know your color code, take the broken piece to them so they can use their analyzer to get the color. One can each of primer, color and clear will do it for maybe $60.

[timmil]

Everyone: It sickened me when it happened, and your encouragement that it is not that big of a deal makes me feel better. Many thanks to all of you, now I feel like I am ready to tackle this and will start a separate thread to document my process. Outside of prepping my car for paint, I have never really done any fiberglass work so any tips, tricks and gotchas will be appreciated. I am thinking that I am going to need to get a repair kit like this (https://www.amazon.com/Bondo-420-Fiberglass-Repair-4-5d-1/dp/B000BO9NOO/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=fiberglass+repair+kit&qid=1597670253&rnid=2941120011&s=automotive&sr=1-2). Would this suffice, or are there better avenues? I am a fiberglass newbie, but not afraid to tackle this. It's my mistake to fix. :)

Again, appreciate all the support!

[GoDadGo]

Tim,

I don't know how good you are with glass, so with that said check out this thread if you have if you haven't already seen it:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?35544-Fiberglass-Tips-Tricks-Methods-and-Materials&highlight=visqueen

If I can be of assistance to you, I'm pretty good with glass since I'm a former boat builder, who gave up itching for banking many moons ago.

Steve

[timmil]

Tim,

I don't know how good you are with glass, so with that said check out this thread if you have if you haven't already seen it:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?35544-Fiberglass-Tips-Tricks-Methods-and-Materials&highlight=visqueen

If I can be of assistance to you, I'm pretty good with glass since I'm a former boat builder, who gave up itching for banking many moons ago.

Steve

This is awesome, thank you! I am a complete newbie with fiberglass so I will definitely be asking lots of questions! The link is awesome and I plan on studying it tonite.

Tim

[timmil]

Man that sucks. :( I wonder if something like this could be made to look and operate well on a roadster?

http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/frontzone-front-parking-sensors.html

Papa, this is a great site, lots of ideas are spinning now. Thanks!