Body/Metal work help please?

[Sparky73]

I'm working on a fender for my truck and want to get it sprayed within the next couple of days. The fender is dent free and in great shape, BUT.. there was previously a 'flare' on it, and where that was bolted to the fender, left 5 holes about 1/2 - 5/8".

Is there anything I can do besides welding the holes in? Even with a real low temp, I know the sheet metal is going to warp. I want to eliminate as much bondo and feathering as I can.

The ONLY thing I can think of is if I remove the undercoating on the inside of the fender, and lay a piece of fiberglass on the underside of the holes.. that way I can just bondo the holes and still have some type of 'platform' for the body filler to adhere to, instead of 6 months down the road having the pieces fall out LOL.

I really want to get this done with as the cold weather is getting real close, and the only place I can spray is in my garage..

[heimue]

If you do the fiberglass underlay / bondo over method, the bondo will not fall out, but in a few weeks will show hairline cracks around your holes. This will happen because the thin sheet metal doesn't provide enough surface for the bondo to hold on. Welding is the better way, but if you don't wanna do it, you would have to put at least 2 layers of fiberglass on the outside of the fender and straighten it out with bondo.

Dieter

[tomking]

I wonder how the new two part structural expoxy would hold a small metal patch behind the hole? Then you could bondo the hole up to even the surface. They use this epoxy to hold on fenders etc.

[yellaopelgt]

Have you thought about leading the holes in??? I dont think you would need as much heat.......it would'nt warp as bad. I'm not a big fan of fiberglass or bondo myself, it always seems to crack eventually.
Joe

[namba209]

Something kinda similar happened on Willit?, the body shop used bondo and fiberglass on the original antenna hole. I sat on the fender and the hole punched through. I asked the body shop if my welder could put a plate under the hole then fill it in, then said go for it. So, he tacked a small plate under the hole, then filled it in with a MIG welder, then used my Dremel with a cut-off disc and smoothed it out. fixed the problem with no warping in the surrounding metal. it only took about 15-20 minutes. HTH.

[kwilford]

To do this "right", grind to bare metal just around the edge of the holes, and either cut small patches exactly the same size to fit flush inside the holes, or just slightly larger (perhaps 1/8" around the edges) to fit below the panel. Then MIG weld the patches in, using a "stitch" weld and then fill in the stitches. Such a small hole, reasonably carefully MIG'ed, will NOT warp the panel. Any other repair is destined to fail, especially fiberglass or such.

JM2CW

[2 Fast 4 U]

Originally Posted by kwilford To do this "right", grind to bare metal just around the edge of the holes, and either cut small patches exactly the same size to fit flush inside the holes, or just slightly larger (perhaps 1/8" around the edges) to fit below the panel. Then MIG weld the patches in, using a "stitch" weld and then fill in the stitches. Such a small hole, reasonably carefully MIG'ed, will NOT warp the panel. Any other repair is destined to fail, especially fiberglass or such. JM2CW

The same way I would do it