Car Parts and Accessories

If the area to be repaired is a large hole, then applying sheets of glass fibre from the back can prove difficult as the glass fibre soaked in resin will tend to sag. For this type of repair a metal mesh is generally used. Unlike the thicker types of glass fibre, perforated metal adds very little mechanical strength to a repair. Its main function is to act as a base for the filler. It bonds to filler far better than glass fibre because the filler can pass through the holes in it.

Because in its normal state it is fairly rigid it can be used to carry out repairs which would be almost impossible using glass fibre and filler. It can be used, for example, to back patch a hole where there is only access from the front or to build up a section of bodywork where a complete edge has rotted away (such as a boot lid).

Perforated metal is either an aluminium mesh or perforated zinc and can be bought quite cheaply in sheets around a foot square.

Back patching with filler

To back patch a hole from the front, first clean the front and back of the surrounding metal in the usual way. If the diameter of the hole is too small for you to get at the back of pour a few drops of white spirit around the edge of the hole. This will at least degrease the back surface.

Then cut a piece of perforated metal so that it is slightly bigger than the hole but can be passed through it at an angle. With an irregular shaped hole, this is fairly easy but with an almost circular hole, you may have to fold the metal slightly like a partly opened umbrella.

Push the end of a fairly long wood screw into one of the perforations near the centre and turn it until it is tight. If we use the idea of an umbrella this would be the handle. Make up a mixture of filler paste and hardener using a fairly high proportion of hardener so that it sets rapidly. Apply this to the bodywork at the back of the hole and to the edge of the perforated metal on the handle side.

Using the wood screw to manoeuvre the perforated metal, pass it through the hole and pull it back, so that it is held in contact with the back edge of the hole. Hold it in position until the filler sets. Remove the wood screw from the perforated metal and using further applications of filler, build the area up until it matches the surrounding metalwork. Rub down and spray.

Edge sections

Where an edge section has completely rotted away, the existing bodywork is cleaned on both sides for a distance of between 1 to 3 inches back from the edge (depending on the depth of the missing edge).

Shape a piece of perforated metal to match the missing section and allow the appropriate distance for the overlap to the existing bodywork. Also allow an extra 2 inch along the side of the perforated metal which will be used to form the new edge section. Fold this extra z inch back along itself so that it forms a radiused edge but remember that the radius of this edge must be smaller than the radius of the existing edge. Otherwise when body filler is applied, the edge section that has been replaced will be thicker than the rest of the edge that it should blend into.

Prepare a mixture of filler and apply it to the underside of the clean bodywork area and to that part of the perforated metal which will come into contact with it. Hold them together until the filler sets.

Apply further layers of filler to the perforated metal and bodywork and rub down until the filler blends in with the bodywork to form the missing section.

When a fine edge is being built up, as on the edge of a door, under no circumstances use a file or very rough emery paper as the slightest excess pressure could cause it to chip before it is completely hardened.

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