Has anyone out there tried the Eastwood panel adhesive for patch panels? I wonder how it holds up. Seems it would be a whole lot easier and faster than welding as in no panel warpage from heat, no welds to grind. Juet curious about this stuff.
someone in anothr post recomended it to me to use to fill in the holes where im taking the trim off the side of my car.
At work we use 3M panel bonding adhesive for putting on quarters, roof panels, etc. it's not advisable to use it in the middle of a panel,like for a patch, due to the fact that the adhesive and the steel expand and contract differently, thus the seem of the patch will over time become noticeable.: just my 2cents:
Yeah the adhesives are great, no heat buildup, burning off corrosion protection, the adhesive itself will protect and seal between the lap joint between two pieces ect, but like gun slinger said, If not entire panel and have a visable seam, a ghost line can show up in the paint at the seam eventually. We use to put box sides on pickups using the panel bonding adhesive, but still had to place a few tack welds on those large things up front where the box goes behind the cab, and a few back by tailights.In tests, I think adhesive has a lot of strength against being pulled straght apart, but little less if pulled end to end (not a physist, sheer maybe?) As far as I know, its still not recommended to use for structural panels, but cosmetic is fine. But adhesives have come a long way from when in the bodyshop they were used for mainly only door skins. There are many different types for different applications. i believe some cars now are using adhesives in structural applications, all panels attached to space frame with adhesive, and they are used quite a bit in the aircraft industry which you would think has to meet strict guidlines for saftey. If you want to learn more about repairs done with adhesive, lord.com I believe has some repair procedures on their site with their adhesives, lord fusor is just one of many selling panel bonding adhesives.
From what I have read about the Eastwood system you have to flange the panel------ drill holes for counter sunk rivits (never have seen them before)------apply the adhesive and the rivits and finish as needed with filler. I thought I had read before in a magazine that some very expensive foreign cars were using panel adhesives and very few welds to hold them together. I just don't want to be the first one to have problems down the road. Yes it's a bit selfish but I'd rather it be someone elses problem so I would know better.
When we glue quarters on, any splices need to be welded as does where the quarter meets the rear body panel, I believe sheer is the right word for that.
welding is a career im looking into cause ive been welding for 3 years now.. im damn good at it.. MIG, arc, and oxy..
Started welding with an old (very old) Forney welder on the farm when I was young (about 8 or 9 yrs old) and I am almost 50 now. It had a carbon arc torch for heating, brazing ect. Before we had a cutting torch we would just crank the Forney all the way up, put in a 6011 rod and burn our way thru what ever it was we needed to cut. I like welding a lot too but if it worked well it would be a lot faster and easier don't you think?
Another turn at thread necromancy but it's relevant to my current dilemma: I want to patch up a roof that was originally covered in vinyl but, due to its removal, is now rusted with small holes throughout. Replacing the entire roof with new sheetmetal, while certainly an option, isn't really feasible so I'm looking at patching things for the moment and throwing on another vinyl top. Someone above mentioned it was used on door panels, which isn't much different than a roof as far as I can tell; could I grind out the rust, stick a sheetmetal patch below the hole (inside the car) and fill the remaining hole with bondo/filler?
My mav used to have a Vinyl top and had the rusted holes as well. In my case the rust wasn't to bad, so I used rust killer first, then got some screening that the sell in any hardware store like home depot or ace. I used the type that you put in front of house windows and it worked great. I held that up inside the car behind the hole and then added my bondo to the outside on the roof top. It will grasp onto the screening once it starts to harden.I left it alone for abou 10 or 15 minutes and then came back and used a wood carver that looks like a cheese grater, also at the hardware store, to sand it Dow . Super easy and it looks great.
Here's another lowbuck idea: Fiberglass. Sand down all rough edges, rust coat with something like POR 15 or Rust Bullit, then apply fiberglass cloth to bottom and top sides. Make sure to get all the bubbles out. I think Hawko used Rust Bullit and fiberglass cloth to repair a trunk floor with a lot of rust pinholes. Either way, once the fiberglass is dry, sand it smooth, making sure there are no holes through to the inside, and put a new vinyl top over it. The repairs will be hidden by the top and head liner. Maybe not the best way, but cheap and quick and simple.
