My tail fairings off my F3 are messed up and I would like to fix them. I tried using plastic epoxy weld and plastic weld putty. The putty is a pain in the *** to sand, and it cracked easily. I tried the epoxy with some fiberglass mat, but same thing happened, it cracked. I used the epoxy with the fiberglass cuz I was being cheap and didn't want to buy resin. If I use the resin and fiberglass do you think I will get a better result? The fairings are cracked in some places. What other suggestions do you guys have as far as fixing them? I don't want to buy new or used fairings.

 

I've used fiberglass (with resin) to repair and reinforce fairings on my bike with excellent results. Make sure to sand the area first with a coarse grade to get good adhesion, and obviously follow the mixing instructions closely.

 

If fiberglass works for you man, use that! On small cracks, with no material missing, you can fuse the crack together with a soldering iron and use pvc plumbing cement as a filler.

 

As far as sanding goes, if you haven't done much of it before you're probably going to be pretty bummed about how much work it is. It sucks, but its the right way to do it.

As far as the fiberglass resin, I don't think epoxy is made to work with fiberglass cloth due to the tight weave and I'm not sure epoxy is any better with the cloth than by itself. (depending on the epoxy)

IMO, fiberglass with the appropriate resin is king for these repairs. I'm a bit biased having done a few dozen surfboard repairs in my life, but it's semi-flexible and very strong and it's what I use. I tried some plastic welding on one of my side covers that snapped once and it just seemed brittle compared to my end result with fiberglass.

It's one of those things that is going to be very messy and seem very difficult the first couple of times you do it, but is made many times easier with a good amount of preparation.

-make sure you've got your pieces trimmed/cleaned up before you get the resin going

-clean and sand all surfaces well

-if you're mating pieces together, be sure you know how you're going to hold them together while you wait for the resin to set up and cure

Prep in this case is 2/3 of the work.

Good luck!

 

I was checking online yesterday and found fiberglass mat, fiberglass cloth and fiberglass tape. Which one is best/easier to use. I used fiberglass mat and its kind of hard to handle. Would the fiberglass cloth or tape be any better? thanks for the help

 

It depends on your application, the mat is good for filling in small crevices or tight little areas, while the cloth is good for general repairs (as pictured), and probably stronger.
Make sure you follow the resin/hardener mixing instructions carefully and precisely.

 

I'm gonna go with the cloth, my damaged areas are similar to incognito's. So I should put the fiberglass on the inside of the fairing, then on the other side I use body filler to fill in the cracks, right?

 

Definitely the cloth. It's uniform, so it's easier to cut and work with and stronger for a one-layer repair. Just go to auto-zone and get one of the auto repair kits there. Comes with cloth, resin, hardener -- everything you'll need.

 

thanks for help bros

 

I've been doing this on Corvette's for years, and cloth is far and away the way to go. Mat is so bad to work with that if that's all they store has in stock, I'll go saomewhere else. sand the hell out of the application area (I persoanlly use a dremel) and be aware that the resin can set REALLY fast depending on how you mixed it, so work quick. Also, it gets HOT, so don't put it in a thin plastic cup or anything. Don't leave ANY bubbles, or the whole thing will be a waste.