How bad is my gel coat
 

Well I am starting my own threat for some wisdom, I'm a big lurker but for some reason I couldn't find to much. I'm trying to bring back the shine to my old supra. I removed the cover snaps in the fiberglass and 90% of them have spider cracks and at least 10 of them have chunks out of the gel coat.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g7...18ACBEAA62.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g7...E67DD823DE.jpg

It doesn't appear that who ever installed the snaps chamfered the holes and that is what is causing the spider cracks. IDIOTS!!!! so now I need to deal with this problem before it gets worse. The plate that obscures the hole for tower lighting was drilled correctly, which makes me think that the snap cover wasn't factory installed.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g7...A8B4BA4828.jpg

Think I could use that in a low speed drill going counter clockwise to not catch the start of chip that is already there? In my line of work when we have cracks in steel we drill the end of the crack so it doesn't continue, could I do the same to the layer of the gelcoat? What about sealing up everything? Would some 4200 work? Thanks in adv guys!


BOWZ

You could use a lot of water and go very slowly; that might work, but the stone may easily foul with gel. Use a proper reamer, or try a larger bit in reverse to take the edge down. Even a lot of factory work is not very good under the shiny parts.

I hate those snaps.

Look into Grant_West , he has a really good gel coat thread from a few years back.

Thanks guys I went ahead and did it with a larger dia stone with a more of a steep taper. Went real slow and didn't have a problem with stone getting clogged up. Yes I also hate snap covers, kind of pointless, but beggars can't be choosers I suppose. Moto817 I already did it before i seen your reply, I will go ahead and check his out and see if he has and info on stopping the spider cracking from continuing.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g7...6E14DCACDC.png

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g7...E9E673F891.png
Hope this is a proper chamfer.

Bowz

Yes nice chamfer...but its like closing the gate after the cows got out...

Haha that's funny. Just hope to prevent new ones.

David, have you considered filling them? I think that is what grant did but i cant remember...

I would consider getting the chamfer face smoother if you really want to mitigate future cracking. Maybe grab some smoother stones that are the same shape.

Color matched filler. Pre sand down so you can blend it. Then 2 or 3 stages of wet sanding the patch, and polish to finish it off. Looks perfect when done correctly. Can match gel by make and year I think.

Buying a new cover too?

Grants thread is great but pretty old. Might have to search for threads by white chocolate! Lol :D

Here you go... It's old but not white chocolate kind of old.

http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showt...highlight=coat

Nice. Gonna mark it