The Fiberglass top on my 89 is suffering from exposure to the sun (at least that is what I think is causing this). The fiberglass is looking like it's wearing thin, the fibers are starting come off of it and it's very rough (if you rub it with your hand, obviously wearing a glove, you can see the hairs on your hand). What is the best way to repair this...would using a fiberglass resin seal it okay, or is there a special product that is recommended?
Thanks!
Mike

 

Good question... I've seen lots of questions about painting the top but not any about actually resealing the fiberglass. Sounds like you are on the right track though. Not sure how it would do with the surface already painted but its certainly worth looking up some products that may work. I'd say research it and let us know what you discover since it doesn't look like anyone else has ventured a guess so far.

 

I have a buddy that works for a boat manufacturer. He re gel-coated my top for me. It was just like you're describing. You might call up a local boat shop ( if there's one in your area) and ask about it.

 

My auto body instructor works on alot of corvettes. He just got done finishing up a front clip of one a couple days ago. What he did to fix his fiberglass front end was to take a DA sander and sand it down to where there's no paint on it. Then started adding more fiberglass to it. He used a fiberglass cloth and laid it on, then used the resin (like your talking about) to bond it to the body. After he did this to the whole body, he then sanded it back down with a finer grit paper to smooth down the resin. He did this about 3 times, and that thing looks great. I think it would be the same process with the top, since it's made out of the same material. What else he did that i thought was neat was that he took a can of black spray paint and lightly sprayed the top after each coat of fiberglass. Then he took a block sander and started sanding the front down again. When he was done sanding all of the spray paint off of the body, and if there was any left, those were low spot on it. This ment that he had to add more fiberglass to that part. You guys probably knew that one, but it was neat to me .

 

I've done sheet metal bodywork in that same manner...it's a great tip for finding low spots...never thought about doing the same thing for a glass job, thanks!

I've talked with a few others about the problem, and some say to just use the gel coat...but a few old timers told me it wouldn't hurt to use a few new thin layers of fibergalss to re-do the top. Well I am also thinking about getting a soft top for the Bronc for summertime...so while the glass top is off, that would be the perfect time for me to practice my glass skills!

Thanks for the input guys!
Mike

 

yeah, i was checking out those soft tops too, they look nice, and you can get them in pretty much any color. The bronco i'm getting has never had the top off, and i'm about half afraid to take it off myself. My neighbor has a bronco, and he just took the top off of his last week, I haven't got a chance to ask him if he'd done it before and if it leaks when he puts it back on. That's what i'm worried about, i don't want the thing to start leaking. The soft tops are nice, but i think you have to drill hole in the body to get it put on there, i don't wanna do that.

 

When I put my hard top on before deer season every year, it never leaks and never has, you just have to put the two seals at the front back on properly, I've been taking my top off every summer for about 5 years it still seals like I never took it off.