REPAIRING CRACKED CLEAR/FIBERGLASS ????

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 6:10 am
I have a Corvette fiberglass panel that some how ended up with a spider like crack with each finger being roughly 3" long. I don't know how it got there or how long it has been there but can hardly be seen unless looking at it in a certain light and or direction but definatly can be felt. I believe that it is in the paint/clear only and not the glass but can't tell for sure. It is House of Kolor Sunset pearl with Nason clear . Here's my question, does anybody here have any trick to repairing this before re spraying color again? I do not want to go through the paint to bare glass just fix what is there and paint. I have read about Super glue being used for this to seal the cracks ,cleared with urethane, and painted. I know,I know , it sounds ridiculous and I laughed when I read it , but apparently quite a few people have used this method . Any input would be appreciated , thank you in advance.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 4:09 pm
Well, I can tell by the way your are talking....you already know this is a very subtle thing to go after that can go pretty bad, fast.... Okay, so the products used in the paint system were of good quality and have quite a bit of flexibility. Yes, there could have been a one time hit or even just "push" to the panel (watched it happen to a Porsche fender flare at a car show, boy was that guy pissed....) that exceeded the ability of the paint package to flex enough. Might want to get a fairly high powered magnifying glass and strong light and see if you can see deeper into the cracks. I've even poked around with small sewing needles to see just how deep the cracks extend. If it is extending down into that glass no amount of trickery short of proper V'ing out of the fiberglass, filling, and repainting is going to stabilize that. Now, next, if you think it is just in the paint package..... I will not laugh at the super glue trick. I've actually done it on cheaper fiberglass flips here and there in the past. The thing I don't like about it is....the cyanoacrylates are very hard when cured and you are essentially bonding the flexible urethane clear with them so....down the road if the area is still under some stress or gets stressed again you can get new cracks/tearing on either side of the super glue repair....... Last option might be..... leave it alone......
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 5:44 pm
Great info , thank you very much . But as I was reading your reply and mentioning v in g out the glass , I happen to think of mixing up a small amount of resin instead of super glue. Possibly if I could ightly sand or scrape down the clear in the legs of the crack and apply a small amoun of resin sand, inner coat clear , then paint. Am I on the right path or climbing the wrong tree ?

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:29 pm
Well, I'm not saying that won't work but you could still end up in the same boat as the glue because that new resin is still going to attach to some of the polyurethane clear.....I mean, it's kind of unavoidable. Once dried/cured (polyester resin does shrink more than the better super glue formulas) you could still get a tearing on either side of the repair. Actually they do make a perfect type of cyanoacrylate for this type of application. It is the "rubber toughend" variety. Stuff is almost as flexible as poly clear coats. Problem is that it is only offered in black to my knowledge...... I've used it to repair black convertible top tears.
Another company that is kind of the gurus of the fiberglass industry is Fiber Glast about an hour and a half from me. Here is their web site.... www.fiberglast.com
Might be worth a chat on their 800 number for some more input.......
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 8:41 am
This might be the best idea yet. Take a look at Captain Tolleys creeping crack cure. It's made to penetrate hairline cracks in fiberglass gelcoat ,dries clear, and is paintable. There are a few youtube videos on it.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:02 am
Yep, very familiar with it.... came out back in the late 80s. It is a water based copolymer which is indeed very flexible. It does work well on a lot surfaces and serves a need for boat based gel coats and other things that tend to leak on boats, etc. If you go on West Marine's web site and look at the reviews there is one review in particular that doesn't bode well for what you want to do.... it says....
This was very runny... it does not cover the hairline at all... it's not very thick, more like skim milk really... it may have "sealed" the hairline some, but it didn't make any difference cosmetically at all... a wasted effort.
Just the fact that West sells it says a lot for its' performance, however, much like the super glue it's a toss of the dice as to IF it will solve your problem and make the crack "look" go away.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:01 am
O.K. thank you again for your input. I'm going to order some of this stuff and try it. I 'll be very happy if this penetrates the crack and seals it to enable me to spray color over it to make it disappear. I know what happens when trying to spray over a crack ,it never goes away, but maybe this will fill it enough for it to be hidden after paint and clear. Now have to work on blending House of Kolor pearl, which I was told could not be done .

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:28 pm
Okay..... yep, blending pearls....if this all works out get back on here and tell us about it.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:34 pm
I sure will

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