Fiber glass topper

Anything goes in the world of fiberglass and plastic



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PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 5:50 am
Hey Gus need some help bought a fiberglass topper it is red need to paint it white to match the truck it is a flat topper what is the steps to painting fiber glass I will be doing base clear the white is solid not metlic I've painted a lot of things but not fiber glass was concerned with static Thanks for any help Great site

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 4:49 pm
First, welcome aboard! Okay, any idea what the red coat you are looking at is? If it is an original "cast in" gel coat you'll only need to make sure it is not peeling, flaking, or has any hairline cracking. These type of gel coats appear slightly chalky and you can't deform them by pressing your fingernails into them hard. If that's what you've got simply do a clean down with Dawn, hit it with a degreaser (I prefer waterbased ones on fiberglas) and sand (red scotch brite pad is okay too) in the 400 to 600 grit range for final prep. Clean it one final time and then I prefer to seal with epoxy before moving on to base color.
Now, if you think you've got a regular paint on there just make sure it is again, sound, clean as above, scuff and regular sealers or the epoxy could be used. If the paint doesn't seem solid, I'd probably just machine sand it off (DA with 100 grit) keeping the machine level as possible so you don't "dig" into the fiberglass. If all the paint is removed clean and inspect that next layer before moving on to epoxy. Did you notice I keep saying epoxy here? Fiberglas can (yes, even with paint on it) have many nasty things get down in it which can "bleed" back to the surface. Epoxy stops and locks this.
Static? It's really not that bad with what you are doing. On whole cars I do run a chain through a bolt or two in the chassis then connect that to my building's grounding rod at the electric main. Wetting down the floors/building before sticking your piece back in the building would probably be of more help to you. Make sure you wear disposable coveralls so you are covered head to toe. Believe it or not that is where the "source" of most stuff that is going to cling to piece is going to come from.....
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