How to Repair a Rust Hole with Fiberglass - No Welding! 

A nice repair. My father and I ran an autobody repair business when I was growing up. It was in Nova Scotia and rust repairs were a large part of our business. I used fibreglass products to repair rust holes on a regular basis. In general, the fibreglass approach lasted much longer than cutting out rusted areas and patching with sheet metal. The approach that you used doesn't burn off the paint and coatings on the back side of the repair area which will will minimize rusting later on. Fibreglass is excellent in that it is not affected by salt or moisture. Thank you for the video.

You have no idea how many times I reference your body shop videos, exspecially this one. Thank You!

Just ran across this channel. I have a 2004 Audi, and a 2003 Durango. Both have mid range millage and minor rust from Minnesota winters. It's been years since I've done any rust repair, but I still have some Bondo Hair and fiber glass, & tools, left. I've always loved patching up all my old cars since I took a body shop class in H.S. when I was 15. So I think I'll warm up the garage and get my 80 yr. old ass out there tomorrow and have some fun! Thanks for the great video!

Excellent repair Bud!! I fixed my 57 Chevy quarter panel just like that back in 1975, it's still holding up 45 years later!!☺

Jerry, I am obsessed with your videos. I learn a new technique or two everytime you are so easy to follow that gives me plenty of time to take a note or two. Thanks again.

Pretty sweet video from a very experienced, veteran professional. Much success to Lakeside Autobody!

Thanks for showing. I've got some rust spots around the back of a truck cab I want to try this on.

Would really like to see you do the finishing red paint and clear coat blending. Very good video!

Wow, that brings back memories.

Great video can't wait to get to work on my '59 Studebaker!

I always learn new tricks and tips from your videos! I don't know why bondo has a bad wrap. I've never understood that way of thinking. It works great!

You do great practical work and your passion is still there !! ❤️👍🏻

I could watch these videos all day. I've always wanted to be a welder and body repair man. Another great video. Thank you.

Beautiful video genius of a repair a joy to watch a true craftsman at work loved it mate bless you .

I just dip my already cut piece of cloth in the resin then apply. I also after about a week after job is complete I get up behind the patch and soak with oil. Helps so it takes along while for rust to come back. I did my ranger in same spot really similar over a year ago and still hasn't bubbled yet! Great video

You should try soaking the fiberglass cloth on a flat work surface first then pick it up and place it on the damaged area. I think you will find it will go much faster and easier. You still have to work it into the surface but now your cloth is loaded with resin and you're not having to try to soak it upside down. Gravity is your friend. :-)

With your assistance I'm repairing my Ford E 250 2006. I live in New York and the snow caused serious damaged on the bottom of it. I've been learning with your video. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

I mentioned this on another one of your videos but I used this technique on the rocker panel of my son's 2007 Yaris. It results in a very very durable repair. Four years later and still solid.

Jerry, Your video's are superbly executed, with your easy to follow directions coupled with a delightful personalty. You have inspired me to repair the old vehicles in my driveway rusting away over the years. I only wish it was springtime as we are headed toward the winter, and the work will have to wait. thank you, and all the best from New Rochelle N.Y.

Bro I appreciate your channel! Just picked up a ‘94 E350 Club Wagon with a high top and your channel is going to be a game changer for me. It’s got the 7.5L engine but it’s got some rust on it!

Thank you for teaching this technique. I had zero idea how to do this but im certain ill be back to rewatch this when i get a chance to restore my 1946 Dodge D24 Sedan.

That was the most correct way I have seen yet. Specially when you hit them with the cheese grater. That was old school and the gun. Good work!!

Wow! Really nice job. Thank you for the tutorial!

Excellent repair! I used to cut and weld patches because it was the old school way. Now this method is all I use. It’s a better quality repair for daily driver vehicles.

thank you for all your videos, this is much better and more practical than all those restoration youtubers.

Thanks for posting this. Again, HIGHLY educational for me. I can tell you that had I not watched this, I was headed for a major mistake with the fiberglass netting/resin. Thanks also for telling us specifically what supplies you're working with. ,👍

First off, you provide great content! I am knee deep in restoring my jeep to give to me son. Frame, floors and ALL driveline, suspension and steering has been rebuilt or replaced. I have just started laying into the body work and am having serious issues with all types of fillers due to heat and humidity. Polyester glaze sets up too fast wasting silly amounts of money. Metal 2 metal putty was doing the same so cut the harder in half and it never set. With sadness and frustration I spent 5 hours removing it all. I was forced to by original bondo to continue tomorrow but am worried about its durability and longevity. Wish things went as easy in diy as they do in the videos lol

Great work, Great video angle, Great teacher! Thank you.

This reminds me of going to the dentist, job well done, you are a real artistisan.

Looking good for DIY.

Perfect explanation and perfect video for what I need thanks for sharing.

This is a great method for people who can't get patch panels, and don't have the skills or money for press brakes, English wheels, MIG welders, etc. In other words, people like me. Thank you!

Looks like a good way to fix it.

Thanks for sharing. I like the detailed step by step approach you show.

Great video as always Jerry you have the best bodywork videos on RU-vid hands down!

Dam this dude makes it look so easy. I just want to go do it for fun. Great video very inspiring.

Thanks for this! My Bondo Glass did not look green after adding the red hardner, but it seemed to go on and harden well

Thank you for sharing your knowledge! I know it's time consuming making these videos! Thank you!

Some day I'm definitely gonna try this!

Great video. Really helped. Thank you Jerry.

love this guy

Nice work would like to see you do rocker panels cab corners and Fender rust in the same manner that video would be good

Thank you so much for sharing this.

Thanks for another great video

You sir are awesome, thank you so much, nice concise videos with all of thr details we need and non of the fluff.

Nice work

Your are truly an artisan!

Thanks. That was very clear. It’s gonna help me with some repairs to my 22 year old LandCruiser. 👍

Very nice. And the repair was in a very convenient, accessible spot, too! I used the other type of fiberglass (free-strand?) the first time and it is HORRID! The stuff gets EVERYWHERE! lol Thanks for all of your videos. :)

my truck in the picture had the same spot on the fender rusted out but much worse. so i made a metal repair panel and glued it in with short strand fiberglass . it has been over 7 years since i fixed it and painted the truck and not one bubble . i have been using the same kind of 7 inch cp grinder since around 1973.

Man oh man that’s a blast from the past, when I was young I had many rust buckets and that was my no.1 way of fixing them. Now in my older years still use that method once in awhile but now been using West system epoxy now, does take longer to cure. Far less brittle than fiberglass resin and if you can get to the back side and coat it with epoxy it encapsulates the rust better. Good stuff buddy I just subbed to your Channel.

This is Art 👍

Naval jelly or Maradic acid love the stuff

Nice work! Would be interesting to see how it holds now.

I've used Bondo with chopped glass to repair a large rust hole in a hood at the front lip. The local auto body shop wanted $2k to replace the entire hood. They claimed that anything other than replacement would fail "in a year". My repair hasn't failed, eight years later. Still driving the car. Even funnier, or more disappointing, the hole in the hood was the result of a failed professional repair about six years earlier that rusted away under their filler, which was in turn under one of those clear plastic hood protection films. My driveway repair has lasted longer and looks fine (for an old well used car). It's barely noticeable unless you lift the hood and examine closely.

Amazing repair !

This takes me back to the 70's LOL!

Nice job. I like your sandblaster.

Smart Idea, quick fix thanks for sharing the video 😊

Very nice work! It helped a lot. Getting started on my vehicle tomorrow.

Good job dude. I like clean work. You could even fill the craters with cat hair or short strand fiberglass. We always use fiberglass for many of our crumpled areas that are so bad we just can’t dolly the metal back. Customers prefer it over replacing expensive body parts! Like quarters and fenders. Doing Fiberglass repair is like having a proven to work cheat sheet! What sits next to our gallon of filler on our work carts? A gallon of dyno glass!

Great job. You have inspired me to go do it

Very nice. Done it just like that on my own rigs and for some buddies. Lasts very well👍

Thank you for making this great, easy to follow, instructional video. I'm fairly certain that untolds of folks will find this video very helpful, when they have a go at using fibreglass to repair stuff. I'm a '57 model, and I'm always learning stuff, especially from videos like this one. My Late father told me; (after I'd made a real mess of a job). I thought that he was going to call me a fool. But instead, he said. The only folks tat never make mistakes are those that never do anything.

Good job

Jerry, your videos are top notch! Love the way you walk through your procedures. Clear and easy to follow along. I don't have air tools.. but I do have the electric 7" HF polisher/sander (one of your top ten tools from HF) as well as the hand tools you use (cheese grater, hand block and medium length long board). What would you recommend in terms of which sandpaper grits I should keep on hand? Both for the circular type and hand block, long board?

Good job brother,it will last for few years ,thanks for the video, excellent,appreciate it 👍✌️

I want to say thank you your video are very informative to a diy once again thanks

Thanks that was really helpful. I subbed straight away. Cheers.

Really good informative stuff! Keep it up

Looks very clean! Great video

chopped strand matt cloth

Enjoyed your video vary much 👍

The din roller is for pushing out all the air pockets between the layers of glass.

When your compressor kicked on, it sounded like a drum roll, I was waiting for the big reveal.

Good stuff Jerry, thanks for teaching!! 👍👍👍

Excellent tips,thanks,I am encouraged to extend a similar lawn mower deck fibre repair,which worked very well,full ongoing adhesion despite heavy operational vibration,to my car,about which I have been hesitant till now. For sea salt, try coastal Cornwall,and for arch rust, try my 21yr old Vauxhall Astra,its only body issue. Good comment above about non burning retaining rhe inner paint and coating as it reduces further rust too.

Great Video He Knows What He Is Doing

Great teacher.

Thanks. I learnt a lot from this.

Thanks for your channel

Good work, can you do this on the area above the wheel or was that to big of an area for fiberglass? Thank you

Question: Can you drill a hole through this type of repair? I’ve got some rocker panels that are rusted pretty bad around where the running boards attach. Or would it be better to just cut the holes out of the fabric before applying the resin? Thanks brother!

Fantastic video I'm going to try this! Only thing I'm wondering is why you didn't use a rust inhibitor before the rest of the process

Thanks for sharing

Nice job, I was looking for an alternative to welding because I'm restoring our horse trailer and there's just so much rust I'll be there for the next 20 years chasing it all down, thankfully it's all cosmetic and the structural parts are all good still. Going to have a look at that Bondo Glass you used, thanks for sharing.

Brilliant!

Since you had holes large enough in panel would it be good ideal to spray some ospho or some sort of rust ecapsulator behind the panel. Surly its still has some rust and only will get worse with time from inside out???

Thats a great lesson. Thx. What would happen if you only used the reinforced filler without fibreglass layers?

Thank's very helpfull.Lot's to learn

Bondo Glass works out much better and takes less time. Depends on what your preference is. This is a great video!

thanks, my old truck needs some of this.

Yeah, yeah, this is the place. I got aboard barely a minute into the pickup wheel repair, the one with the glue on panel. My 21 yr. old pathfinder will shine again.

Enjoying your videos. If the rust is originating on the underside of the panel, shouldn't there be some kind of rust neutralizer & coating to protect it going forward?

Nice work..

Fantastic job 👍👍 Never seen the cheese grater used here in the UK. Nice one 👍👍👍

Excellent

Phenomenal video, thank you, im trying to get a 06 suburban saftied, and no one around can fit it in for 3 months, so im trying myself. May be great or i might have to just stick with electrical....

Great job!

Good job, thanks!