who here has sanded down their interior pieces to get the fiberglass look.... i started doing this last night... started with 600 wetsanding and it wouldn't do shit... i went down to 180 wetsand till i got it smooth and then hit it with the 600 to clean it up.... took an hour just to do a small piece....
would i be better off hitting it with an orbital sander (wetsanding it) and then once i get the texture smooth hit it with the 600 to smooth it all out.... i'm doing this too all the plastic inside so i have a lot of work ahead of me before i bring it too the paint booth.

all feed back is welcome.............:thumbsup

i didnt sand mine smooth when i did it, but i am about to. i want the smooth look. i was going to try exactly what you said...use an orbital sander and then smooth it out with some fine grit. try it on a piece that isnt really noticeable. but i dont really see why it wouldnt work. btw, what paint are you going to paint it with? i was going to use auto paint, the same stuff thats on the outside. i figure with that and clear it shouldnt ever chip. and you could wax it :thumbsup

yeah i'm painting mine the same color as the outside....
but make sure you wetsand w/ a few drops of soap in the water... it helps cut through better and smoother.... plus it won't be as ruff.. and the time will be cut in half....(tips from bodyshops) that was how i prepped my car before getting it painted.........

use sanding primer and wet sand it. it'll get smooth as glass. I had mine that way, but now it's different. :thumbsup

um, I think that you acutally might be able to put fiberglass resin on the interior pieces and then sand it, or maybe maybe some other type of fiberglass bondo stuff. a REAL light coat then sand it then paint it

I just sanded mine (by hand) until it was smooth. I think an orbital sander might be a little much, but I would test it on something first.

allen i'm talking about the body parts in the interior.... it is softer than those parts you put up....

i don't know about putting the FG resin on it i don't think it will get an even coat even if you took your time... i sanded three pieces last night by hand and it took about 3-4 hrs... i just went to my parents house and grabbed pop's detail sander... i'll try that tomorrow...

I'm in the process of redoing my interior. I've sanded down all the plastic parts below the dash. I'm still not done sanding. I bought the craftsman 3-D sander and that helped me get through all the sanding.

I started off with 80 grit and worked my way up to 320 and then started primering.

Right now I'm in the process of using filler primer and wet-sanding that smooth as glass. Once I'm done with that I'll start painting. It took me a very long time to sand the parts down.

A little trick to make sure you're sanding evenly is to put down a thin coat of contrasting color primer over the filler primer and then sanding till you remove that coat of contrasting primer.

yeah i had to go down to 100 grit with mine....still doing it, very long process..........

vector racing did the fiberglass on his car, and it looked real good...

it would take longer to do fiberglass because if you don't get it on even then you have to sand that shit even more to smooth it out..... if you sand it down smooth then hit it with a primer, wetsand it and then paint it it will look like fiberglass.... once i'm done i'll post pics.........

I thought initally about filling in the texture with bondo, but I was afarid that since the panels get kicked every once in a while the bondo would crack off. I did fill in speaker grill on two of the pieces and I had to redo one of them because the bondo cracked.

I am redoing my interior panels as well. I am sanding them smooth and it is taking forever. I am starting with 80 grit, then 180, then 400, and finally I hit it with some 1000 and it comes out smoother than a baby's a$$. Very nice. It just takes a hellava long time. But is well worth it in the long run.

my buddy did his car... he sanded lightly.. then added sandable primer/filler to get it flat and smooth... so you dont have to get all the ripples out..

>my buddy did his car... he sanded lightly.. then added
>sandable primer/filler to get it flat and smooth... so you
>dont have to get all the ripples out..


that filler can crack if hit!!!! that's why the few of us are doing it the right way and sanding it all the way down so there is less of a chance for them to crack easily

Damn so that filler will crack easy? I am sanding them the whole way down smooth. But it just takes so damn long. I was hoping to get some of that sanding primer to speed up the process. But if it cracks off easy I will continue to sand my a$$ off. Has anyone used this and if so where did you get it from and does it really easy or what? I was thinking about using it on the trunk panels since they are so damn big. and won't really be getting hit. tia

yes it can crack easily.... if you want quickness and maybe having to redo it in the future then use it.... if you want quality then keep sanding it... it a long process but it will be worth it.... i'm still sanding down mine...... it sucks but it will be worth it when it's finished...... and my buddies at the body shop show'd me how someone had used that shit and how it cracked.... they told me to sand the shit out of it and it will come out 10X's better......... they do this for a living and know their shit........:7

i am going to modify the door panels a little bit by making a new speaker housing. i was planning on using some bondo over it. will this crack you think?

bondo--yes..... if you want to customize on the door panel then do it with fiberglass... and then if you have anything to fill in you can use bondo... but straight bondo will crack like drywall.......

Yes bondo sucks and I regret using it to fill in the speaker grills. If I have to redo them I'm going with figerglass mat in the back and a higher quiality resin to fill.

Are you sure filler primer (stuff that you spray out of a can like paint) will crack? I've been using it on a couple of pieces to fill in some nicks. I sanded all the texture off, but using the sander I made some deep scratches and I was using the filer primer to speed up the primering process. I thought that stuff is just thick primer?

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to answer squid's?

if you use too much of it yes it will crack... if you use it lightly then it probably won't.... but you would need to put it on thick to cover up the texture on our panels.... which will crack it it's kicked or enough pressure is put on it...... you will end up wasteing time and material if it's not done right... just sand it down starting with 120 wet paper then 400 then 600.... no need to go anyhigher than 600......... primer and then paint... and it will look like fiberglass.......

Hey Iced out are you just wetsanding with every grit or what is the process you are using? It has been taking me about 3 to 4 hours per panel just in sanding. Then I have to paint then clear them. I am thinking about once I get them all done, I might have the paint shop use car paint and car clear on them.

yes i bought the wet sand paper... it helps cut better and smother.. and yes once i'm done i'm shooting it with PPG paint and then clear...
and ya it takes a damm long time to sand them down... i'm also using a detail sander it certain area's making sure not to stay in one spod too much........