Drivers side got peeled of the Camaro the other day. It's actually not that bad, but I'm possibly opting to fix without insurance. I am pretty certain the rear quarter will need to be replaced. I know of a body shop where I can get a new one for $300 and then pay for install. So that's covered. But just the rear part of the door is kinda screwed up. Not bent or anything, just has some of the fiberglass tore off. Is this something that's fixable with some fiberglass filler? Also any idea on the price to fix it. The spot is about 5 inches long going verticle right on the end of the door. It really isn't that bad, or atleast bad enough to replace the whole skin in my opinion. I also need a mirror, but I figure I can get one for around $50 bucks. This pisses me off. Any info would really help me out. Thanks

 

ttt

I'm trying to get some info on this asap, so I know what route to go with. My biggest concern is the door. I don't really want to pay the extra to have a skin put on if fiberglass filler can do the magic.

 

Does the door have trouble closing? I'd have to see it to actually be able to tell ya if it's repairable... you might just want to take it into a body shop, most will give you a quote in a few minutes.

 

Honestly, doors go so cheap if its bad I'd just get an entire new door off of a wrecked car and repaint the whole thing.

 

The door has no closing issues at all. I wish I had a picture. The spot that's bad is only cosmetic and it's only about a half an inch wide and about 5 inches long. It goes vertical right on the edge of the outside/inside skins at the rear of the door. The car is black and you can see the white fiberglass where it's damaged. I just wasn't sure how that whole fiberglass fill stuff worked and if that was an option. Like just fill it in, sand it down, then prime and paint.

 

Sure you can fix it.
Clean it up then clamp a piece of sheetmetal or even some waxed boxboard from the outside as a surface to lay up the repair glass to.
Then grind it to size and finish it up with bondo.
How good it comes out depends on how long you spend on it but it sounds like not too much work.

 

No.

You cannot use bondo to fill a SMC panel. The bondo will shrink and expand at a different rate than the SMC. It will look fine at first, than after a while in the sun you will be able to see the repair. You'll need to use a special SMC patch kit. It looks like a 2-part caulk gun and has fibers in the mix. Then, there is a special gelcoat-prmer you need to apply over any spots you sanded through the factory primer into the SMC. Fixing that door properly will not be as easy as you think.

Honestly, if the door is damaged just go get a new one from Ebay. I recently replaced my drivers door and I found a complete new one for $145 including shipping to my door. Why waste your time and give yourself a headache?

 

You can just use some corvette fiberglass repair putty.
Corvettes are made from SMC.
Just finish it off nice before priming it.

 

would be easier to judge if you had a pic of the door damage. if it's a fairly small patch, some minor body work would look fine, it it's larger, it will be noticeable unless you're a gold-class certified body man.