What to use to fill the gap?

[Danger DANJ]

So, I'm attempting to fill the gap of the '98+ VR-4 side skirts where they go up the front fenders. I've tested regular bondo and some bumper repair kit stuff (which is 2 different things that you mix together). Both suck at sticking to the plastic of the side skirts. I tested it with pieces I trimmed off making them fit. The bumper repair kit worked great with other plastic I tested it on, but not the plastic that the JDM sides are made of. So, does anyone know what to use? I've asked a couple people, but they had a shop do it and don't know what they used. I know in one of Roman's pics I can see some white stuff that was used which kind of looked like white silicone. Anyone know what that could have been?

[boochieboy]

???seam Sealer???

[G-spot]

There's a 3M heavy duty brand bumper repair kit ($50) out there that could handle polyurathane material. JB weld can also be used as a filler, it won't crack unless you kick it REALLY hard and can be sanded /prime/ paint.

[bellefontaine187]

well, im going through the same deal right now with my old style vr4 sides and i used some kitty hair and bondo to fill in the gap and it worked fine. i used the kity hair(cut up fiberglass and resin) to build up that edge and then after getting it as close as possible by basicly just adding material and re-test fitting untill it was pretty close than i used the bondo to make it all perfect. so far i got one side done. the only complaint that i had was that it was a little trikky using the fiberglass because the abs plastic material of the skirts is soo soft. just skuff them real good and you shouldnt have any issues with getting the kitty hair and bondo to stick. just take your time. it took me almost a week to get one side finished. but thats because i work all day long and only have one day off a week. lol hope that can help you.

[Danger DANJ]

I just had my Father go to a place in PA near where he lives that sells Auto body supplies and ask them. They told him that most body shops buy some sort of two part 3M adhesive to fix plastic bumpers and stuff, so he picked some up for me. He said they also told him he needs to spray on some sort of promoter as well to make sure it sticks good, so he picked up some of that too for me. He asked them about some 3M Duramix 4036 for thermal plastics that I found online, but they said 3M discontinued it and basically replaced it with what my Father bought for me. We'll see how it goes. I assume it's the stuff that G-Spot mentioned. Thanks.

[ZigenScarface]

i never knew danj asked questions O_o

[Danger DANJ]

i never knew danj asked questions O_o

LOL. Well, I always have questions, I just know how to search and find answers to most of them.

[gtx]

What type of plastic are your sideskirts made of? Should be somewhere on the back of them. PE and PP for example (like most of our interior pieces) are extremly hard to bond, conventional glue, bondo, fg, bumper repair etc will not work. But there are some solutions. When I did the piece for my wideband gauge, I used Loctite All Plastic super glue (comes with a promoter so it sticks to "problem plastics") to build up layers of plastic and glue it to the HPPE piece. Than I filled the gap and leveled it out with SEM 68422 which is a two component filler, and is made to stick to PE and PP, not to mention it's somewhat flexible so it will not crack. Target has the Super Glue, and I got the SEM stuff from Ebay. If it's urethane, I'd look for something for that from the SEM line.

Edit: I just saw you went with duramix. That should work too, it's very similar, just more expensive.

[Stewi]

David they did discountinued the Duramix 4036, but they still make the 4040 and a few other levels. The only difference between the #'s is the amount of working time before it sets up. 4040 sets up in like 2 minutes, so that wouldnt be good. Duramix is owned by 3M, most of their products are very similar. In terms of adhesion promoter, most places use one called BullDog, which is also available at body shop supply stores. You also want to sand the area where you will add material with some 180 grit or so. Put masking tap over the edge of the fender where it meets so that it wont stick to the fender and just build it up there. Once you mix the two parts of the material together, depending on the working time, give it a little time to get thicker so it sorta stays in place when you apply it. I was going to do it myself, but my shop has done it before on other cars, so I am letting him do it.

[Danger DANJ]

I just talked to my Father on the phone and he said the skirts say PP EP TD20 on the back. So I guess it's Polypropylene (PP). Not sure what EP TD20 is.

The stuff the supply place sold my Father is 3M™ Automix™ EZ Sand Flexible Parts Repair, 05887. It has 5 minutes of work time and it says it works for PP as well as other plastics.

Brian, I'm pretty sure the promoter for the plastic repair is different than Bulldog. My Father tested it with the trim pieces and he said it made the plastic look as if it were kind of melting. I guess that's how it bonds to the repair stuff. I doubt Bulldog will do the same thing since it's for paint. Anyway, My Father tried the reapir stuff over the promoter with two of the trim pieces and he said it stuck great. He was bending it back and forth and it's not pulling apart at all.

The thing is, you need a special gun made by 3M to squirt both parts out evenly, but my Father modified a caulking gun to work. lol.

[Stewi]

Yeah I have access to the gun thru my friends body shop. Im glad its working out for you.

[nokcy21]

any progress on the gap yet ?

[Danger DANJ]

any progress on the gap yet ?

No. All my parts are at my parent's house in PA. I live in NY and I own a co-op, so I have nowhere to do any work here. I have to go to my parent's house to work on my car. I couldn't go this weekend, next weekend I have to go to a wedding and the weekend after that is the Galant BBQ. So, it's going to be a while. :(

[Danger DANJ]

OK, so even though my parent's now live in PA, my Father travels to NY Mon-Thur to work. He works for the same Newspaper I work for. Anyway, this morning he brought one of my side skirts with him to show me what he did to it. He actually took the pieces that we trimmed off of the side skirts and welded them back on where the gap would be using a soldering iron. He said he did it in little strips and built it up. Amazingly, the pieces are stuck on there great. I tried like hell to pull it off, but it doesn't come off. You can't even tell that he did it in little strips because he blended it and smoothed it all together with the side of the soldering iron. The surface is rough, but that can easily be fixed with some sanding and body filler. Where it goes against the fender, it has to be cut down a little to the shape of the fender, but otherwise, the gap is filled!

My Father used to weld fittings on to plastic drums for chemicals and stuff back in the day at his old job, so he figured why can't he do the same with the side skirts.

[DryBear]

Oooo, nice idea!

[nokcy21]

thats cool, cant wait to see pics. good job