I have seen this happen before, and I really tried to avoid this. I used the reccomended Duramix and very little filler. Then shot and blocked 2 coats of ZChrome, 2 coats 2K, and applied a coat of sealer prior to the basecoat.

What products have you guys used to avoid the shrinking? It appears my materials were incorrect. Pre-emptive thanks!!

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primed it once again .. and then I felt comfortable enough to spray them...

Took me too long to do but .. I had NO problems at all

Jamie

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Looks nice though

lolzzz

Block one coat of 2k primer with 220... Then shoot a lighter layer of primer and block with an old piece of 220 and finishing blocking with 500 (around).

I just follow the dry times on the spec sheets for the 2k.

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If you used a Polyester filler over a urathane filler then u will experence Bubbling and shrinking. Also did u also use all the recomended adhesion promoters before applying dura mix?? my main intrest in knowing what the zhrome stuff is,.

-Dan

Danny

Z Chrome is a sprayable filler. This stuff is great - it's labeled as a rust defender, sealer, primer, and filler. I use it for things like this where I don't want a bunch of poly filler to come back and haunt me. The stuff sprays on transparent orange, but very thick. Hard to explain, but by looking at it you would definetly not expect it to be filling anything. Once you start sanding the guide coat off though, you realize how much this stuff rocks.

I use a few good coats of ZChrome on aftermarket parts (like DubTechnik skirts and Euro Gear bumpers) and most of the imperfections block right out the first time.

I did use poly filler on this one, but VERY little. I was able to epoxy the moldings at just the right height to the bumper face. I then 2K'd the epoxy and added a very thin skim coat of Rage filler over that. The Z Chrome took care of the rest. Most of the filler went into the area where the valence was molded to make the radius there.

I did try doing a test fascia without the adhesion promoter and it DID NOT work! I used the adhesion promoter on the main bumper and had no issues.

Some pics of the trimmed-down moldings:

Modified by Shifty at 5:38 PM 4-9-2006

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Did you just trim down the rubstrips and then smooth/mold over them? I had always figured you needed to fill the whole area in with filler or something? This seems like it would be simpler and makes a lot more sense. Do you happen to have anymore pictures of how much you took off the strips and how you set them into the grooves. I'm an absolute novice so please forgive me if these questions are off base. Thanks, Dave

I have more pix, but I dropped my cam and broke it and can't get them to upload - yet. Anyway, if you remove the strip you'll see there is a pretty large lip under it. I trimmed the lip completely off EXCEPT for the clips that lock the strip on. I left them for locating and holding the strip during bonding.

Once you do this, the strip can almost lie completely flat on the bumper. But you still have to: A.) cut the ends of the rubstrip since the new height will make them longer around the corners, and B.) grind off some material behind the rubstrip mounting area for clearance.

At this point I layed a few beads of Duramix inside the strip and installed them, holding them in place with large C-clamp ViseGrips. I ran the bead of Duramix around the moldings and let them dry, then began bodywork from there. I did have to grind a bit more material from the face of the moldings during the bodyworking process, but I figured it'd be better to take material off the plastic pieces than add more epoxy and filler (as long as I didn't sand through).

IMO, filling the molding openings any other way would be either way too time consuming and/or expensive (lots more material used), and/or not nearly as durable in the long run. I figure if he bumps something with the strips in place they will still give a little and worst case scenario a little filler cracks. I researched quite a bit and kept coming back to this method. I don't know how others are doing it, but I'd certainly recommend this way.

Modified by Shifty at 11:07 PM 4-12-2006

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With today's products you shouldn't have major issues with dry times (to where you should have to leave it dry for days). Heck, I have sprayed a "QuiK" clear that was sandable the same day without force drying (company claimed in a matter of hours).

Looks good!

What base and clear did you spray?

anyway thanks for the little bit of info for the primer

What's the part number for the Duramix? Just want to be able to get the same stuff you did if there's a multitude of choices. That and I'll prolly be following the EXACT same procedure you did with the materials. Make sure I do it right the first time.

As my autobody instructor says:

"There's never enough time or money to do it right the first time but there is always enough time and money to fix it."

Modified by TMTuned99.5Golf at 4:14 PM 4-14-2006

Quote, originally posted by rice is burning »

Chinese government says no Hummer? Does that make it a **** block?

Lots of questions there, I'll try and answer them all...

Someone asked about price - this was a sponsorship deal so the customer really got hooked up. The upside is I get to slap Spraywerkz decals all over it! I have quoted two others for this same job since completeing these, and I came up with $1020 per fascia. That's $720 in labor (19 @ $45/hr) and $300 in materials. Prices will likely vary greatly from shop-to-shop. Some shops probably won't even touch this job.

I used DuPont Chromabase/Clear to finish the fascias. I love the stuff. In the past I have shot PPG, R-M Diamont (good stuff as well), and Spies-Hecker.

As for the Duramix part number, I have it at the shop. I would not recommend the type I used, however. It bonds well enough but does not sand well at all. The edges peel right up and you cannot feather it out. There is another number which I understand sands and feathers much better. This is what the 3M reps are telling me anyway. Duramix distributors should have a chart that shows all the PPO-compatible products and their sanding characteristics. I'd check that out.

Modified by Shifty at 6:06 PM 4-14-2006

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So one day i decided to do everything but the technical Data Sheets and no problems after that....

Right now i switched over from Duramix to the Evercoat Maxim plastic repair. Really good system and Very easy to use. Also no special gun is needed. Just any regular calking gun works...

-Dan

Danny

That's what I thought. I tried prepping with 40 grit then 80, with and without adhesion promoter, called 3M, etc... finally discovered that the type I used just does not sand well. This is straight from the 3M help line people.

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-Dan

Danny

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I've been around more than ya mom

http://www.vwparadise.com

I used a DA only in the very first stages. Everything beyond the first coat of filler was done with a paintstick and 220/360.

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-Dan

Danny

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Quote, originally posted by Shifty »

Hmmm. Something to look forward to. This is how I was told to do it by many different people. Paint store reps said I'd be fine as long as I put down 2k before filler. Might explain my shrinking issue.

I wouldnt worry to much.. My bumpers are done the same way and I have had them done for 3 years now with no problrems.with rage and evercoat

BTW, I went ahead and posted a how-to on this for anyone interested. I had a few requests and a few spare minutes, so here it is:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zer...d=148

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I am a firm believer in poly fillers and use them accordingly.

that link doesn't work... not that it was hard to find the topic but here is a working link:
Shaving and Molding DIY

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