what is gelcoat ?

[andyastra]

my bumper has a crack in it, where i knocked it into the kerb at mcdonalds, and the bodyshop reckon the gelcoat is cracked, so i need a new bumper, as they say there is no point in repairing the
small crack in this one as it will only crack again.. is this true or am i being blagged her, its just i dont trust them 100% as they quoted me £200 a side to do my sills, sounds a bit expensive to me.. what is this gelcoat ?

[Vauxnova]

rubbish the jell coat is the white stuff the bit that makes the fibreglass smooth

with some fibreglass on the back (it won't be neat) it will be jsut as strong as it was

[andyastra]

cool, exactly what i thought, i think im going to attempt this myself, whats the best way of reparing this, its a lotus carlton front bumber, and it has a crack in it on one side, how would i go about repairing this ?

[Vauxnova]

take it off
get it level so the crack is streight
buy fibreglass kit (with matting) not P40
use as instucted
do it fairly thick
skim crack with filler
blast with paint
done

[andyastra]

is it worth spraying myself or should i get it done at a bodyshop, cwhats the best paint to use, i want it done properly not just make do

[Vauxnova]

If you do it well enogh and the crack is clean you could proably just touch it up and polish the paint after a few weeks (drying time)
Or try someone like dentmaster - scratch repair i bet they dcould do it fairly resonably
if you arn't good with paint don't bother its too much hassle

[cav boy]

when i crashed my mondeo (showing off to me mates) i put about 3 cracks, 2 to 4 inches in the bumper. Its an R-reg, you know the big bulgy couler coded bumpr. They managed to "plastic weld" it. Only cost something like £50

[Vauxnova]

Yea but its a fibreglass bumper you can't plastic weld it

[Andy McS]

im sure youve read lax power or fart car in the past?
Do these garages realise how silly they sound.obviously you take car of your car but when you see all these one off bumpers,nine times out of ten they are just fibreglassed.
When i fitted my mk3 reiger bumper to my mk2 Astra i had to cut an old bumper up .then cut a recess and fitted it and smoothed it in.If you fibreglass it fair enough but dont put std filler on it buy SMC it is a plastic and fibreglass reinforcing filler,Upol make it but dont go to hafords or that,go to your local paint supplier as they should have it.i wouldnt even bother buying fibreglass this stuff is the best,trust me

[Andy McS]

and get some pics of your car up mate,never seen a mk2 with the carlton bumper