whats the best way to smooth the rear door handles??

 

also what about the boot lock ?

handles really need to be welded but bootlock can be fibreglassed from the inside and then filled.

handles really need to be welded but bootlock can be fibreglassed from the inside and then filled.

 

 

i agree,there may be other ways but these ways will not end up in dissapointment,i've smoothed the keyhole out of a bootstrip with filler before and that works really well

any easier ways of doing them for the handles , its a mk5 btw

Well whatever you do dont just fill the hole with filler... you could prob get away with that if it was a solid panel but with it being a door it will just crack and fall out lol....... you could probably try and do some bodged method by using fibreglas and either drilling some holes or cutting slots into the handle recess for the fibreglass to bond to the internal side of the door, i suppose if you spend enough time that method 'might' hold an not crack but i would say welding is the best option.

just weld it, use some 2mm plate, prep the area around it (sand back to bare metal) spot weld it in place then weld all the way around it. grind back so that weld are flush, thin layer of filler to make all smooth prep and paint doors.

oh and use a MIG welder on a very low setting or youl just burn holes through the doors

if you do use just filler/fiberglass it will just fall our eventually and then itl look really crap.

rules of modifying are do it cheap, eventually you will weep.

so do it right, first time, every time.

problem is i cant weld

 

also the rear doors will be used very rarely , but i spose theres no point in doing it if its gonna be a bodge

Edited December 6, 200717 yr by E5CORT-0WN3R

mate if you do all the prep work i.e. all the sanding down to bare metal etc just go down your local industrial estate and find a place that does metal fabrication and they should be able to do it for you for about £30 it will take an experienced welder about 5-10 mins each side. then you drive car away and do all the painting etc.

if you havent done any bodywork before tho then either pay someone professional to do it or dont do it.

the rear doors on mk4 have been done and you really cant telll there were handles there before because the prep work was done so well but on some peoples cars it sticks out like a sore thumb.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j171/fonfe123/S1010601.jpg

Ive used a very high resin concentrate fibreglass method before to blank out handle recesses on a pug before now but if you opt for this option Id have to warn you its a lot of arm breaking hand sanding to get it spot on...

 

before anyone go's "no thatd just crack and fall out with the doors constant flexing and vibration from closing", thats not entirely true, in the case of merely splatting a blob of fibreglass and resin into the recess hole and sanding it down, your right eventually it will work loose and the actual weight of the "blob" itself will eventually cause the edges to break free leaving cracks.

 

the only method involving resin of any kind, be that a poly or fibre based is to increase the size of the recess you filling when its handle recesses, this involves using a ball hammer all around the circumfrance of the original recess to create a second shallower recess around its perimetre that gradually tapers back to the doors original surface height, the inner surface of that recess will have to be totally devode of paint,primer or surface debri of any kind, beyond that the actual metal will require extensive scaring with something along the lines of a flat screwdriver to give the resin a "key" to bond to....

 

the actual real trick to obtaining a future crack free surface tho lies within the mixture of the resin you use and its amounts, were as in a normal situation the makers will advise you to layer resin....then resin soaked fibreglass sheet....then resin...so on and so forth till you obtain desired build out in this situ your main bases would actually be the resin and not wholey dependant on the fibreglass sheet.... the recess must be entirely coated in the resin mix(which Id advise you add additional harderner to over the manufacturers guidelines to aid time required and also as you wont be coating fibre but merely painting it on directly).

 

next one layer of diagonally laid strips of fibre glass sheet.... roughly 1" wide and not getting any close than 1cm from the recesses edge(the fibre in this case is only going to be used to add strength to the resin not vice versa as is often the case), layer them ina cris cross pattern (like a apple pie crust lol) then another gnerous layer of resin followed by one last layer of criss cross fibre.... at this point youll note your no were near the build up your after and this basically is why this method using resin works.... the remaining build up required will be totally comprised of layers of resin alone, each layer allowed to dry then another added ontop until you surpass the height of the recess itself and also the height of the recess you created with the ball hammer...

 

anyone who's used fibre resin style products will tell you its pretty workable stuff once its gone hard, so youll be able to sand it back to desired shape and height once it has eventually hardened, pretty much in the same fashion as filler does, the only difference between the to is the flexibilty in the final hardened product...were as filler is a stiff compostion once hardened and therefore prone to break and crack under stress and movement, resin isnt so... it retains a great deal of elastication within its compound even when it has completely gone off.... its elasticity is almost comparative to that of automotive paint....which is handy...as thats what youll be slapping ontop of it.... the reason it wont crack if using this method is a due to a a acumalitive effect of the resin having a greater area of grip as appose to the small recess, the lack of to great amount of fibreglass sheet which adds to much rigidity and therefore abiltiy to snap and move as a whole and finally the flexibility of the resin used in larger than normal amounts....

 

christ even I cant be arsed reading that back to myself for spelling mistakes.....if theres any live with them<chuckles>

The best rule to stick with is using like materials, as fibreglass tends to flex a bit obviously the door doesn't and over time will leave an outline under the paint or crack. fibreglass is ok on plastic however so boot strip would be fine