fender repair

[Chris S.]

i noticed over the weekend the inner fender to the fender bonding has cracked and it is basically running from the cowl to the front? There is a gap from the inside that appears not to be filled, was thinking a bead of bonding compound could be put in this gap and then resprayed from the wheel well? any advice on how to repair. I would rather not touch the engine compartment side and deal only in the wheel well area.

PS living in the cold climate can some one recommend what temp to keep the garage? I am wondering if the coldness of my garage/shop caused this? tonight it is -10 and i keep the garage at 40 min. When i am working in there i raise it to 50-55. Propane man loves my place!

thanks

[Chuck S.]

Re: fender repair

i noticed over the weekend the inner fender to the fender bonding has cracked and it is basically running from the cowl to the front? There is a gap from the inside that appears not to be filled, was thinking a bead of bonding compound could be put in this gap and then resprayed from the wheel well? any advice on how to repair. I would rather not touch the engine compartment side and deal only in the wheel well area.

PS living in the cold climate can some one recommend what temp to keep the garage? I am wondering if the coldness of my garage/shop caused this? tonight it is -10 and i keep the garage at 40 min. When i am working in there i raise it to 50-55. Propane man loves my place!

thanks

Chris, C1s are not my primary interest, so if what I offer seems wierd, just ignore the source.

As I understand your description, this is a bond joint between the fender and the inner fender. Bond joints are structural, not cosmetic. You can make a cosmetic repair, but it won't last long. If a bond joint is cracked, it's probably cracked all the way through, or will be soon. To repair it properly, the old bonding adhesive has to be removed and the joint bonded again with fresh adhesive...a proper repair is going to be a much bigger job than it first appears.

Before you remove ALL the old adhesive, try to determine how close the parts were originally (i.e. what is the thickness of the bonding adhesive between the two parts by closing up the crack and eyeballing a cleaned area. Then you'll have to come up with some kind of rigging to hold the parts in that position while the adhesive is curing.

Examine the gap you described closely. Some C3 "gaps" in the fender bulkhead area are built in from the factory; i.e. the bond is not continuous. If the gap is clearly resulting from the crack, a proper repair of the bond joint would likely close up the gap without additonal steps.

My opinion is that the temperature of your garage is completely unrelated to this failure. Decades of residual stress in the bond joint, plus proper use of the car, has finally caused the aging adhesive to fracture.

[Randy R.]

Re: fender repair

Chris,

It's nice to hear from someone who knows what real winter weather is like.

Randy

[Chris S.]

Re: fender repair

amen heat wave today 25 for the high.