will fiberglass stick to our plastic door sills? I just want to fill in the lines and sand it all smooth and paint it. Or am i going to have to use some mat. TIA

I don't see why it wouldn't

so mat or no mat just looking for best results!

when u say mat...do you mean mat fiberglass? because I think that would work the best for what you are trying to do. It would probably be the best for getting into the grooves and filling them up nicely. But go for a second opinion because I just recent'y started using fiberglass myself....making custom visors lol

so one layer of mat would be enough just to smooth the grooves. Or would the glass get hard enough(inside the grooves) without the mat to be able to sand it. Sorry so many question just getting into the fiberglass scene. Thanks bro...your gettin points from me

>so one layer of mat would be enough just to smooth the
>grooves. Or would the glass get hard enough(inside the
>grooves) without the mat to be able to sand it. Sorry so many
>question just getting into the fiberglass scene. Thanks
>bro...your gettin points from me
>

Not entirely sure if I am following you right on this but what I would do is to prep the sills for the fiberglass...then just fill the cracks with the fiberglass...wait til they dry and then sand them out...then since you would have some texture (not sure just assuming the sills have some sort of texture) where the fiberglass was not applied, I would use filler primer (enough coats to make it work) then sand it out nice and smooth. I am currently smoothing out my rear side plastic things in backseat with filler primer....Need tons of coats but it seems like its doing its job nicely.

if your gonna do that make sure you scratch up that panel pretty damn good or else it wont stick itll just peel off

and if your going for just looks then mat is not needed but make sure you scratch it up really good

good luck man ive been trying this for a while and mines keeps peeling off

This reminds me...where are my damn carbon fiber sills i ordered? BAH DAMNIT!

hey shock where did yuo find carbon fiber ones at??? or are theey one off's?

>hey shock where did yuo find carbon fiber ones at??? or are
>theey one off's?
>
www.carbonwerks.com

DAMN those look nice how much those set you back...if i can ask bro

$180 bucks...I am trying to finish my interior before winter hits and i start on the rebuild/turbo. I ordered these about a month and a half/two months ago and i still have yet to recieve them..I also ordered rear strut tower bar covers in Cf which i got the other day, and these:

if you plan on laying the fiberglass over the plastic, make sure you put enough of it over the top so that it forms one cohesive structure. if you just put the glass into the valleys to fill them out, they will pop/peel out very VERY soon.

i would suggest using a mixture of chopped up mat and resin (or kittie hair) fo fill in the valleys, and then use a layer of cloth strips over the top runing perpindicular (can speel, dur :P )to the vallies to secure them into place. that way each individual filled piece will be secured to a solid structure over the top. this will eliminate weak spots and increase rigidity. make sure to sand well before filling the vallys, after, and of course after you lay the final cloth on top.

of course, upholstering it (wether its vinyl, carpet, tweed, whatever) will add another layer of protection by providing a tight cover to keep everything lined up and in place. if you paint it, it will eventually crack and peel.

What I did:

I sanded off the texture and raised areas between the grooves.

I filled in the remaining grooves with body filler. Primered the hell out of it. And then Paint it.

Because I used body filler I'm sure I'll be redoing them soon so I dont suggest that route.

Why not just use straigth resin? No mat.

Here's what to do, i did this last week, i'll post pics up tomorrow if i get a chance.
First you need to get some fiberglass cloth, not mat, the hair in the mat makes a rough texture, while the cloth is relatively smooth.

You'll also need the fiberglass resin

Rough to fine grit sandpaper

A drill

And some body filler (rage gold or bondo work well).

Use the rough grit (60-80) to scratch the door sill, then drill a bunch of tiny holes in the sill, this will allow the resin to drip through and have something to hold on to.
Put a layer of resin FIRST, then the cloth, and a final layer of resin. You can use 2 layers of cloth if you wish.
After the resin cures use some finer grit paper (150-180) to smooth out the glass.
After you get the glass somewhat smooth, put a thin layer of the filler on (it's almost impossible to get glass smooth itself) then use 200-400 grit to get it as smooth as you can, adding more filler if needed.
After you get it finished, use filler primer to level out some of the fine scrathes and then use 1000 grit paper on the primer. This should result in a perfectly smooth piece. Good luck

thanks for all the replys peeps...i think i am going to just use the resin like Squid said and see if i can even get it to stick. If not i am going to fab my own outta 20g steel. Just playing around with them to see what all my options are.

>

man...Idunno about that car....dark green exterior and a yellow and blue them inside?:wary I would hope they at least repaint the interior.

>
>>
>
>man...Idunno about that car....dark green exterior and a
>yellow and blue them inside?:wary I would hope they at least
>repaint the interior.
>


yeah that is pretty damn fugly

BCIEclipse had a great idea in drilling holes to let the resin "spill through" to add to the integrity of the structure. i will firmly second that idea. :thumbsup

pouring straight resin in will not last long at all. the first time someone steps on the piece it will crack and peel. using resin without a fabric material is like pouring concrete without rebar.

That green Talon with the blue and yellow interior is Leo's car, he runs Carbonwerks. The interior is still blue, but all the yellow was replaced by Carbon Fiber parts (full lower dash, air bag cover, triple gauge pod, gauge trim etc.), and he's currently finishing up a full Carbon Fiber dash. It looks a hell of alot better without the yellow i think. He has a cardomain site, but i forget the address. He posts on the same composite forum and i do, so i see alot of his work he posts, it's really nice. I'll post the address for his site later.

And again as i originally stated and SPL backed me up, it's REALLY NOT a good idea to put straight resin on the sill, i learned the hard way, resin cures extremely hard and it's going to take ALOT of sanding to get it smooth, the cloth makes a nice flat surface and the filler levels out the high spots alot easier.

But if you do use straight resin ...it can be painted right..? And will it hold?

>But if you do use straight resin ...it can be painted
>right..?

I've never actually painted straight resin, so i'm not too sure how it will come out, all fiberglass parts i make i usually use gel coat or boddy filler, then primer etc..

>And will it hold?

Are you askin if the resin will hold or if the paint will hold to the resin? The resin itself won't stick too well and will eventually crack off unless you drill some holes for it to grip on. And as with painting anything, it will prolly stick, but depending on the paint, it may crack, and using cheap paint, like krylon or duplicolor, it will prolly scratch off pretty easily.


In addition to the directions i gave in my earlier post, after i painted the sills, i used a product called "Kleer Kote tabletop epoxy", it's a 2 part epoxy that is "poured" over the piece and it smooth itself out as it dries, leaving a thick deep shine that is VERY durable. I use it on almost every part i make, it is great for glossing carbon fiber also. You can find Kleer Kote online on most composite sites, it usually runs about $17 for 2 quarts to about $30 for a gallon. Check it out, it's great.

Just like SPL said the fiberglass is like rebar and the resin is like the concrete. The resin takes the load when it is in compression and the fiberglass resists tension.

The straight resin will stick just as well as resin and fiberglass because it’s the resin that does all the sticking. I don’t think it will be any more prone to cracking than with fiberglass. The fiberglass may make it stiffer, but the door sill is still made of fairly flexible plastic.

As far as painting it will stick just as well. After all you don’t have fiberglass on the surface of the part. Gel coat and body filler are nothing more than resin with filler.

Drilling holes sounds like a good idea.

And yes resin is much harder to sand than gel coat or body filler since it doesn't have any filler in it. But like I said if you just use resin and mat the surface will still be just resin.