The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Welded Steel vs Fiberglass and Bondo

My body guy is fixing my rust with welded steel in certain spots, and glass and bondo in other places. he says that in some spots he cant weld and glass is ideal.

The truck was pretty rusty, he sanded down to metal, welded in spots, and glassed in some, he is then going you use a metal etching primer, then prime, and flat black top coat.

I am not building a show truck, just a daily driver/ home depot runner. Is this okay method of handling rust and preserving the truck. Need some opinions?

glass may be class but steel is real baby ! it may take a little bit longer but for rust repair glass wont last especially banging around every day driver .just may opinion .

It should be done with welded steel. 'Glas will not last, and modt likely the rust will reform underneath. Now, if it were a 'Glas body, then repairing it that way would be fine.
I'm trying to figure out what it is he can't get to to weld. If he can get to it to 'Glas it, he should be able to weld it just as easy, if not easier.

Agreed. As one who worked with composites (carbon fiber, glass, kevlar, etc.) for almost 30 years I can tell you fiberglass is not made to patch metal. Have I seen it done? Yep, lots of times but I've never done it personally because it's not the right way to do it. Rust is like a cancer, if you don't cut it ALL out & treat what's left it will come back. Eventually his "repair" will fail.

I thought that also, but he cut out most of the rust patched it with steel, but covered that will body fill. he used fiber glass on the door well. and on the inside of the cab where he could not weld( his words!) some one tell me how to post pics or send me their email i can forward you pics.

Look to the left of this page at the bottom of the column for how to post pics.

Well, I['m going against the grain here and say that it all depends on where the rust is, the extent of it and how well the rust is removed or treated. I'd like you to be more specific.

Czechman

The passenger side of the truck had bad glass work or a quick patch to keep the water out of the roof. Which ate small notches in the door well. this was glassed in because my body guy said the area was to small to get a good weld in.

on the of the cab corners had been dented in some as well as the rear driver's side fender. the dents were pulled and the body was smoothed out with body fill.

Like 75-80% of the body work is steel, i just never figured he would use glass on a 1955?

The bottom corners of my windshield opening had some rust through spots and I just filled them in with fiberglass filler. I'll be hanged if I'm going to fabricate those complex parts (or weld in parts from a donor cab) just to fix a few BB-size holes.

I used fiberglass fabric with POR-Putty instead of resin on several bad rust spots on the theory that it would be more flexible and less prone to cracking. It was a few years a go but I seem to remember that the problem with using glass on metal is that they flex differently and the glass will crack and let in moisture leading to more rust. The POR-Putty is supposed to avoid that. And it has so far on my truck.

Frankly I'm not sure I worry about your guy using glass. Once the paint's on, it will look great and you'll just have to watch it for signs of rust. If your truck's like mine, there'll be lots of other things more pressing to worry about.

Good luck!

Wilber