hiya all,

When I do plan on preping my car to get primered and painted, I wanted to remove the door bumpers, and want to fix the ugly holes my side view mirrors have left on the door. Whats the best way to fill in these holes? I know I could use bondo, but is there a better way to take care of this or will bondo do?

Zya
Yuichi

 

Well Yuichi-----to start off they are many different approches to this common situation. You have the quick and easy fix that will only last a short period of time. Than you have the little bit more intensive fix that will last forever. The quick fix would be to beat down the screw ridges and than use a filler(bondo-bad=====all-metal-good) to patch over the small holes. Sand down the filler and prime. The problem with this technique is that these small pin/screw holes do not provide good adhesion. The filler eventually with time will pop either inward or outward through the hole. The more labor intensive fix is to rough up the holes with a wire brush removing all paint and primer. Beat down the ridge formed by the screw. Next step would be to weld up the hole. Grind down the weld and then add filler(preferably all-metal or a metal glaze compound). Prime and it should last for an eternity. Good Luck!

 

the only way to properly fix small holes is to weld them up..... if you or a buddy doesnt have a welder...i dont recomend taking the car to a welding shop, they arent used to welding on sheetmetal...and chances are they will warp the metal very badly, check with local body shops.....if they cant give you a decent price...talk to some of the bodymen.....most bodymen do side work at home.....and im sure they would love to jump all over a few easy dollars.

later
chris

 

There are two easy permanent ways to fix small holes with out the worry of warping the metal. One is the use of solder plugs. They come in differant sizes, usually in a kit, From about the size of a pencil eraser to about the size of a dime. The kit comes with a tappered counter sinking bit to accomadate the differant size plugs. After counter sinking the hole, put the plug in and solder it in place, grind it down smooth and your in business. I have used them several time and you need a hammer and punch to remove them. The other way is for smaller holes, lets say about the size of a coat hanger or welding rod. You can experiment to see how large you can go. After the area is cleaned to bare metal (like you would with the other method) use a large industrial soldering iron and place the tip of the iron in the hole and let it warm the metal just a bit, then hit the iron with the solder and pull the iron out at the same time. The solder should flow into the hole and leave a little high spot that can be ground down and refinished. It takes a little practice to get it right, but it is a permanent fix. You should be able to get them at a body shop supply store. If you have any questions let me know. I used the soldering iron method years ago on a 69 Couger when I removed the moulding from down the side. Worked like a champ.