Fibreglass bodykit - preparation for paint

[savage1987]

What's involved in preparing fibreglass for painting? I've been quoted around $1500 to prep and spray (two-pack heron white) a VX ClubSport bodykit for a VN. If I can do any of the preparation work on the fibreglass myself, I'd be glad to as I'm happy to spend time working on car stuff.

Not knowing much about the whole process, is there much/anything I can do, or should I leave it all up to professionals?

Cheers
Sam

[PaRaDoX]

prep = filling holes, smoothing it out, sanding ect to get the best possible finish you could if you wanted to save some money but just let the professionals do it

[xcop5l]

if you want to find holes/low spots get a cheap can of black spray paint(if its white) and give it a verry light coat (so you can see little spots of paint not a full cover) and rub it back, either by hand or with a sander till bost of the black is gone. where it stayes thats where you need to use body filler.
be carfull with fiber glass its bloody itchy SH*T

[Cootie]

at work we just did one of these kits for a VS, try 2 put it on the car 1st, every1 of these aftermarket conversion kits we have put on cars, neva line up exactly and are out in places and all the holes u need are all rarely there, but yeh $1500 is about right, to get the body kit lookin perfect b4 u fitted it... the one we just did at work, we had 2 reprime a couple of times because we kept finding problems with it and parts we needed to fill in or repair. im not tryin 2 turn u off it, just telling you wat i have experienced with these.

[savage1987]

Thanks guys - I'll leave the preparation up to the pros - don't want to wind up with anything less than perfect

When it comes to test fitting, what kind of shop should I approach for this, or should it be a part of the prep and paint process??

Something else I was wondering about . . . how structurally sound are these kits? For example - should I be aware of the air pressure building up under the car against the rear bar at high speeds? (I'm talking higher than highway speeds . . .) or are they fairly good?

[PaRaDoX]

sounds good man, i did my own repair work on mine, got lazy in some area's and it didnt come out as good as i wanted, oh well got the paint job for free, ill sand back the crap parts later and repaint it

[Cootie]

ask whoeva is goin 2 prep and paint it, if they can fit it b4 they paint it so u can see what it looks like, or do it urself, and ask them if it sits properly or if it needs 2 be changed somehow. also we had a side skirt that wasnt long enough on 1 body kit.

[savage1987]

OK thanks Cootie. I'll ask at the paint shop. I'm still looking for a front bar - somebody recommend a shop in Sydney for me - I don't know where to look, or who makes quality kits . . .

[Cootie]

www.ssv.com.au
i dunno about n e other places

[savage1987]

SSV can supply a front bar unpainted for $650 (not including freight) . . . is this too much? It's the only offer I've had except some cheap dude who makes his own . . . $220. I'm staying away from that one because it'll probably be cheap stuff that'll get a hole in it the first pebble that comes my way . . . *hmm*