How strong is fibreglass? Accident related.
Discussion
So an idiot in a Panamera just pulled into the side of the Chim out a of a junction, I was on the major, him the minor.
It was a relatively light impact as I was braking hard and steering away from him as he was turning onto the road. I have already reported it to my insurance and taken all of his details.
I've attached a pic of the worst bit of the damage. My question is, do you think this is just paint or is the fibreglass broken?
I'm supposed to be driving to Cornwall tomorrow for a stag do (that I have organised) and while the car is driving fine, is it safe? The impact was just in front of the drivers door.
I also posted in General Gassing, but thought I'd cover the bases.
It was a relatively light impact as I was braking hard and steering away from him as he was turning onto the road. I have already reported it to my insurance and taken all of his details.
I've attached a pic of the worst bit of the damage. My question is, do you think this is just paint or is the fibreglass broken?
I'm supposed to be driving to Cornwall tomorrow for a stag do (that I have organised) and while the car is driving fine, is it safe? The impact was just in front of the drivers door.
I also posted in General Gassing, but thought I'd cover the bases.
It's not that strong and the fibreglass will have been damaged. The way/area of impact is one of the ways that you have the least protection in a Chim/Griff. There's not a lot you can do about it although fitting a harness cage helps usually.
The flip side is that when repaired you'll barely have any more protection so I would just drive as usual.
The flip side is that when repaired you'll barely have any more protection so I would just drive as usual.
GRP, particularly with the compound curves on the Wheeler era cars, is pretty strong.
However, the stress cracks van travel quite a long way....that is the nature of the material in that it dissipates the forces of impact over a large area.
Having said that, the photos show relatively light cracking, so I think it fairly safe to drive - and a few days to allow the shell to 'settle' will show up any further damage away from the impact site.
A good grp repair/spray shop will have it looking like new.
Nick
However, the stress cracks van travel quite a long way....that is the nature of the material in that it dissipates the forces of impact over a large area.
Having said that, the photos show relatively light cracking, so I think it fairly safe to drive - and a few days to allow the shell to 'settle' will show up any further damage away from the impact site.
A good grp repair/spray shop will have it looking like new.
Nick
what looks small could be large.......
the cracks can migrate in the gel coat under the paint work, and will have to exposed and probably have the ends drilled to stop them spreading further......
to give an idea of the extent... I had some stress cracks on my rear between the rear lights, which were visisble due to exhaust fumes filling the with nice black sooty fumes
.....
when the body shop stripped it back for repair the stress cracks in the gell coat were all the way round to tops of the rear wheel arches on both sides
as said make sure it goes to someone who understands GRP and gel coats...... it shouldn't be quick process either as fillers need time to shink and be topped up.... I've seen some repairs which look initially good, but in time as the job was not done properly filler have shrunk leaving obvious lines in the paint work
the cracks can migrate in the gel coat under the paint work, and will have to exposed and probably have the ends drilled to stop them spreading further......
to give an idea of the extent... I had some stress cracks on my rear between the rear lights, which were visisble due to exhaust fumes filling the with nice black sooty fumes
.....when the body shop stripped it back for repair the stress cracks in the gell coat were all the way round to tops of the rear wheel arches on both sides
as said make sure it goes to someone who understands GRP and gel coats...... it shouldn't be quick process either as fillers need time to shink and be topped up.... I've seen some repairs which look initially good, but in time as the job was not done properly filler have shrunk leaving obvious lines in the paint work
Hoover. said:
as said make sure it goes to someone who understands GRP and gel coats...... it shouldn't be quick process either as fillers need time to shink and be topped up.... I've seen some repairs which look initially good, but in time as the job was not done properly filler have shrunk leaving obvious lines in the paint work
FWIW there isn't a 'gel coat' and there shouldn't be any filler, save to fill pin holes, so shrinkage shouldn't be a problem.Thanks all. It is off to the repairers today, thankfully the other party has admitted complete responsibility and their insurance company is dealing with everything and are happy for me to take it to my preferred repairer (PR Wood in Southend).
It was fine on the trip to Cornwall, except for an unrelated fuel pump issue.
It was fine on the trip to Cornwall, except for an unrelated fuel pump issue.
Make sure when your repair agent looks at the damage they look "out" from the impact zone quite a long way. As has been mentioned fibreglass can distribute the force of an impact really well (one of the reasons it was selected to use to "bulletproof" some of our planes).
I had a knock in February, it looked similar to yours but it was the rear quarter - I found a very large crack under the wheel arch... It has all been repaired now BUT this weekend when I had the car up on a ramp I found a VERY large spilt under the floor, directly under the driver's seat.
Thinking about it now I'm sure that was the loud "CRACK" i heard when he hit me.
I've decided to repair this myself, the company that did the rear quarter did a magnificent job but we are currently in the process of sueing the other driver as he hasn't reported it to his insurer so they won't play ball.
The final bill for the repair work was £3750, on top of that now will be the lawyers/court fees so I am guessing ~£5k all in.
I don't want to go back to my insirer to get this other damage repaired for fear that they'd write the car off as I suspect we're talking about another £1k or so to do this.
The impact in my case was ~5mph (although both cars were doing around 25MPH we were travelling in the same direction until he (for some reason) turned left into me).
Stress fractures can travel quite some distance under the paint, get the whole panel painted, preferably get it sanded back to bare fibreglass first...
Good news that you got to pick your repair agent.. My insurer (Flux) made me go to Nationwide, who (thankfully) refused to even look at the car..
Good Luck..
Oh, while you're there, you may as well get them to do any other paint work you might have been considering, they'll have to mix your colour up anyway so it'll work out cheaper too, clearly you'll need to pay for that seperately to the work they do for the repair but it'll still be a LOT cheaper as a lot of the prep work will already be done as part of the repair...
I had a knock in February, it looked similar to yours but it was the rear quarter - I found a very large crack under the wheel arch... It has all been repaired now BUT this weekend when I had the car up on a ramp I found a VERY large spilt under the floor, directly under the driver's seat.
Thinking about it now I'm sure that was the loud "CRACK" i heard when he hit me.
I've decided to repair this myself, the company that did the rear quarter did a magnificent job but we are currently in the process of sueing the other driver as he hasn't reported it to his insurer so they won't play ball.
The final bill for the repair work was £3750, on top of that now will be the lawyers/court fees so I am guessing ~£5k all in.
I don't want to go back to my insirer to get this other damage repaired for fear that they'd write the car off as I suspect we're talking about another £1k or so to do this.
The impact in my case was ~5mph (although both cars were doing around 25MPH we were travelling in the same direction until he (for some reason) turned left into me).
Stress fractures can travel quite some distance under the paint, get the whole panel painted, preferably get it sanded back to bare fibreglass first...
Good news that you got to pick your repair agent.. My insurer (Flux) made me go to Nationwide, who (thankfully) refused to even look at the car..
Good Luck..
Oh, while you're there, you may as well get them to do any other paint work you might have been considering, they'll have to mix your colour up anyway so it'll work out cheaper too, clearly you'll need to pay for that seperately to the work they do for the repair but it'll still be a LOT cheaper as a lot of the prep work will already be done as part of the repair...
Julesprivate said:
Good news that you got to pick your repair agent.. My insurer (Flux) made me go to Nationwide, who (thankfully) refused to even look at the car..
I believe you are in your right to tell them where to stick that.. You can take the car where you want. Regardless of any deals/agreements they might have in place.Well, some odd developments. The inspector saw the car last week and made some very odd and unprofessional comments about me (who he has never met) and the car.
To the point we (myself and the garage) are likely to make a complaint, although after we get the auth for the repair etc! Not prepared to elborate on the comments made as yet, but suffice to say they are shocking and not something you would expect at all.
It has also been a struggle to get the repair agreed, although that looks like that is sorted, although I may need to make a contribution to get it to the standard I want it to be.
To the point we (myself and the garage) are likely to make a complaint, although after we get the auth for the repair etc! Not prepared to elborate on the comments made as yet, but suffice to say they are shocking and not something you would expect at all.
It has also been a struggle to get the repair agreed, although that looks like that is sorted, although I may need to make a contribution to get it to the standard I want it to be.
Monsterlime said:
Thanks all. It is off to the repairers today, thankfully the other party has admitted complete responsibility and their insurance company is dealing with everything and are happy for me to take it to my preferred repairer (PR Wood in Southend).
It was fine on the trip to Cornwall, except for an unrelated fuel pump issue.
Hope all works well Phil will do a great job as always say hello to my Taimar when your in there and tell them to get a move on It was fine on the trip to Cornwall, except for an unrelated fuel pump issue.
Andrew
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