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What Brand Paint?

Those door side moldings would be more work than its worth to remove and reinstall on your project IMHO. Double face taped just like the lower door moldings which are yes, just like wet cardboard. In my experience, any cracks or tears will open right back up during installation when pressed on. Repairing it on the car is arguably a better approach depending on the damage. The type of plastic its made of is not great for repairing. I believe GM intended them for one time usage, and outdoor exposure and age has pretty much ruined them all by now.

The freak show that happened with the paint was from applying it too wet. The solvent in it penetrated the primer and featheredged existing finish, and swelled and lifted wherever theres an edge. Catalyzed products don't do that as bad but its a big issue with air dry products. Spray super-light for the first couple or three coats and let each coat flash dry for a lot longer. You can dump enough on with the later coats to smooth out the dry coats but you still gotta keep it like medium wet not full wet when the substrate is as sensitive to solvent as yours. If its cold in your paint spot... thats killing the paint working like it should. Stays wet too long and causes what you're seeing, solvent penetration. Paint can't dry right under about 60 degrees. Thats air temp but just as importantly the temperature of the part being sprayed.

Curious if you followed instructions on the mesh tape and epoxy because normally for a repair of that nature a bed of repair material is applied first over an adhesion promoter coat, then the mesh is pressed into that and then buried in another layer of the goop. In any case, on the face of the part, your filler should extend well beyond the repair area.

Soooo yeah you have work to do. Study hard and stay with it!:th_thumb-up:
 


Those door side moldings would be more work than its worth to remove and reinstall on your project IMHO. Double face taped just like the lower door moldings which are yes, just like wet cardboard. In my experience, any cracks or tears will open right back up during installation when pressed on. Repairing it on the car is arguably a better approach depending on the damage. The type of plastic its made of is not great for repairing. I believe GM intended them for one time usage, and outdoor exposure and age has pretty much ruined them all by now.

Damn that sucks never seen anything this rotted out this bad on the exterior of any car before, I guess we don't have "winter rust" down here but there is "swamp rot"? lol. I ordered a new lower door panel it seems to be in pretty good shape so this crazy bond mess was only temporary. I was never planning on doing that big of a job at all and you where absolutely right
Curious if you followed instructions on the mesh tape and epoxy because normally for a repair of that nature a bed of repair material is applied first over an adhesion promoter coat, then the mesh is pressed into that and then buried in another layer of the goop. In any case, on the face of the part, your filler should extend well beyond the repair area.
The bondo I had purchased is a multi step process I was not ready for. I just ordered some real bondo and hardner to do the rocker panel, I had no idea how much of this stuff I was actually gonna use completely under estimated. Also I was using an old credit card to smooth out the bondo which was a real pain and the biggest reason why I didn't extend it beyond the repair, It makes a lot of sense. I just jumped into this without any preperation so all these tips are really good. I looked up some videos and forum posts and realized now all the mistakes where totally fixable, its still fixable but I'm just gonna apply my new knowledge to this rocker panel. I also ordered a small mask this stuff stinks hard!

Let's see how round 2 comes out
 
your bondo looks like its kinda red....not so much hardener next time. I'ld imagine it set up pretty quick.
 
your bondo looks like its kinda red....not so much hardener next time. I'ld imagine it set up pretty quick.

Ya it's spot glazing bondo, normally used at the end of the whole process to get a super smooth finish or to fill tiny whole not whopping cracks of DOOM! It just comes out of a tube this color. I just ordered some "real" bondo that uses hardener, I'm ready, I'm ready! It's very exciting to see something you work on with your hands come to life really satisfying, its all up to you and how much time/skill you have to put towards it.
 


Maan, so that was lacquer glazing putty? Oof. I never really investigated your product stash. But no wonder. Get it all off there!

You don't want rego bodyfiller for this crumbly plastic stuff. Something equivalent to this-

http://3mcollision.com/3m-automix-ez-sand-flexible-parts-repair-kit-05895.html

Find and read instructions on stuff before buying then walk yourself through the process. As you said, theres a whole webful of examples out there. Brush up on identifying automotive plastics. Repair procedures for steel and plastic are completely different...

http://www.bodyshopbusiness.com/proper-plastic-repair-procedures/
 
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