Tiny cracks in fibre glass?

[TVR653X]

When I was cleaning round my TVR today with the hose pipe (removing road salt), I noticed a small crack on the edge of the numberplate 'recess' at the back. Is this going to be a big problem? I can't think what could have caused it, as my car has had some 'mishaps' happen to it, with no damage to the fibreglass, so what could've caused a crack? Surely it'd have to be a bigish impact? (the mishap I refer to was when a wasp attacked me in the garage and i accidentally knocked a ladder onto the rear of the car in my attempts to get away like a big girl....no damage done, thankfully!).

[Dave_M]

Hi you can get stress cracks in the gel coat, I've usually seen them in places you might expect such as over the wheels and maybe around doors. I'm sure someone will be along to explain properly but I seem to remember it depends how deep they are as to whether it's much of a problem or not.

[Barkychoc]

Gel cracks are pretty much a standard feature of fibreglass car ownership - caused by stress in the fibreglass.
This can be pretty much caused by anything - a minor bump some time ago can show cracks quite some time later - and general day to day running of the car with the chassis naturally flexing will probably make the odd crack show up here and there over time.

Unless you are going for concourse trophies & want to spend serious money to get rid of them then I'd learn to live with them, mine has a few small ones arond the number plate corners probably similar to yours.

[Steve H]

Mine too, just adds to the charm of her!