Alternatives to body filler

It costs next to nothing, so unless you're 50 miles from the nearest Halfrauds, it's best to get the proper stuff.

You also need to clean back to good metal and - probably - reinforce the repair with mesh or something, just to hold the filler.

Just stick some duct tape over it, its really not worth repairing if you are going to scrap the car in 3 months. (Take my word for it, you are not going to sell a K reg micra with no MOT)

Its an N-reg; K11 is the model range. Cosmetic repair to front wing. 12 months MOT. It should sell OK. I don't see why No More Nails wouldn't do the job...

Bruce

No More Nails needs one of the two substrates (if two are being bonded together) to be porous....

You micra will not be porous.... Thus you cannot use it.

Tom Burton

OK, everyone has told you that No more nails is not a good idea and that the proper stuff is cheap anyway, but you know better so do whatever you like and don't bother asking next time. Be sure to report back in 3 months and tell us all how brilliantly it all worked.

I was just wondering if I would be able to reuse any of the DIY products I have laying around for this. Save a trip to Halfrauds...

Bruce

Tom Burton ( snipped-for-privacy@freezingcoldmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I thought the whole problem was that it IS porous...?

Just any putty. Try wetted crumbled, torn shreds of paper (the more fibrous kind, the better) then layer on top more wet paper. Use superglue for the metal-paper contact. When dried the whole mass should be quite hard and can be smoothed down with fine sand paper. The hole is only small so it may work. This idea came from my modeling of oranges (wet paper on the fruit, then when dried, cut to remove the fruit, and put the halved paper ball together with more wet paper) back in my primary school days!

Another possibility is to use plaster-of-Paris. Years ago, before the appearance of any bandages for holed exhaust on the market, I used bandages impregnated with POP, the kind used in wrapping up sprained ankles in hospital casualty department, for my Mini broken exhaust. It was meant to be temporary, but it was good shutting up the racket, and this went on for months before the MOT. So if you can get hold of some, you can try that too. There's nothing to lose.

Just buy a bloody wing for it. Scrappies probably won't charge more than £20 for one.

Richard

I can't believe the penny pinching of some people. Are you in Yorkshire?

With name like Bruce Phipps? You are in/from Yorkshire aren't you?

lol, Papier mache bodywork repairs, I've heard it all now! Guaranteed to withstand a British winter?

Heard it? I've seen it. Great big whack of paint and newspaper that fell out of a Sierra sill, leaving a hole big enough to get a fist into.

Richard (G & R Grandison, Edinburgh. Anyone driving around Southern Scotland will know their bright yellow stickers and 'free' mudflaps, and their demographic of clueless OAPs who seem to thrive on the polished smile and crooked background that made the used car salesman stereotype what it is today. But of course, it'll see them out (and probably several other people, as it trots down the road at 25mph)).

RichardK ( snipped-for-privacy@NOSPAMbtconnect.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Sills on my brother's Triumph 1500...

When we dug the newspaper out, they were dated about 5 years previously, so

- yes - they will withstand a British winter. Or four. Until some pillock actually dares to use the jacking point...

lol again!, I'm familiar with the G&R G mudflaps, every time I see them and the sticker I always expect to see the silhouette of a flat cap driving. It serves as the oldies equivalent to L plates. If its anywhere near dark they slow down to walking pace every time a car comes in the opposite direction. If you dare overtake expect several blasts of the horn (if they can find it).

Still, it'll come to us all eventually, (just hope my alzheimers is so bad by then I won't know what I'm driving).

The mudflaps and stickers are a useful warning to other road users. Like a baby on board sticker, except instead of "I'm perfectly capable of noticing you, but I choose not to in favour of the squalling brats in my oversized hatchback", it means "Eh?! What?! Who?! WhereamI?!"

Richard

The message from "Tom Burton" contains these words:

I thought the problem was that it /is/ porous.

The message from Adrian contains these words:

Leaky-rays!