Rock-a-Lex

iTrader: (4)

I know this topic has been beaten up about a million times but....I have heard that to fill the holes on the trunk (left after removing the spoiler) it could cost as much as $700 bucks when all is said and done! Welding, prepping and painting.

Not trying to cheap out on my car but their are 4 holes the size of a pencil eraser and an additional one about twice that size (a lot smaller than the size of a dime though). What about just filling them with bondo (myself) and having a shop re-spray the trunk?

Please note that two of the holes (one on each end) will be covered entirely by my new lip spoiler. So There are only 2 other holes and the 1 larger one that is the issue. Any other suggestions? I am not looking for show (competition) quality here, just keep it nice and clean. Thanks!

excluesive

iTrader: (10)

i paid a lot less than 700, and that included closing up the holes for the inner tail lights too (welded shut)

MadTyte

find another shop or you can do it yourself with bondo but wont last if not done right.

excluesive

iTrader: (10)

i would pay to have it done right, but 700 sounds steep. make sure they paint the whole trunk and not just the areas they worked on.

GS300Rich

I would try other shops in your area. I dont think they should charge you much for welding 5 little holes and repainting the trunk

kamlung

iTrader: (8)

i did a 'ghetto' rig DIY for this when i shaved the emblems off of my Acura Vigor... the body shop wanted me to pay them $400 to do the shave and repaint... ...

there were two holes about the size of a pencil that held the ACURA in the top left corner... and then for each letter of V I G O R down the middle, there were pretty big dime sized holes...

basically what i did was try to find nails that were slightly larger than the holes and with a very flat head... cut the length of the nail in half so there was enough to just go inside the holes and not have the top of the nail stick out when you reach the bottom...

before i put the nails into the holes, i center-punched each of the holes in so that the holes were concave... this was so when i put the nails into the holes, the head of the nail would sit more flush with the body of the car...

sand around the holes and apply some epoxy or JB weld... then put the nails into the holes and try best you can to get the head of the nails as flush as possible against the body... otherwise, you will use alot of bondo/filler to cover the lump from the head of the nail and it will look ugly if you don't get it to even and smooth...

once the nails are dry sand and prep for bondo/filler around the nails... and then sand the rest of the trunk lid ready for paint...

total cost was like $50... home depot for the nails, autozone for sanding paper, bondo and body filler, i bought a pint of paint at my local body shop and painted the trunk lid myself...

here is the before...



the paint was peeling so it already needed some work anyway...



paint



sanding.



holes...



post nails

that is my friend in the background that helped me... we did it in his hangar... that is his plane...



after paint...





to be honest - it wasn't as smooth as i expected it to come out as good as i wanted it to... but for a 15 yr old car, it was good enough for me... almost 3 yrs later and it is holding up great...

carlos

iTrader: (1)

swap trunks with someone else maybe?

PHML

iTrader: (33)

If you're handy....go ahead and bondo your self...its pretty simple....the hard part is sanding it....unless you have an air sander.

ceelo

iTrader: (4)

Go to Home Depot or Lowe's and look for some plastic or rubber plugs to stick into the holes. You can ususally find some that will sit flush and will not be very noticeable until you're up close. That is why I used on my old Integra because I always want to leave the window open if I ever wanted to reinstall the wing.

Also depending on your car color you could use pieces electrical tape.

Rock-a-Lex

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, my car is black and right now I have two thin strips of black vinyl tape (like electrical tape but thicker and shiny) covering the holes temporarily. I'll have to decide what to do next.

excluesive

iTrader: (10)

if you are putting something that covers them completely, i'd think about leaving it as is with the vinyl tape

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

I had my holes welded and repainted the entire trunk. Was about $400 I think. Good thing about welding is it will always be flat, no shrinking, no worries about flaking body filler in the future, and if you sell the car the new owner will appreciate the properly done repair just as you would if you bought the car.

PaPaHoFF

iTrader: (19)

Yo if you do decide to go the bondo route lol hit me up. I just bought a big can myself because I was going to fill the 4 holes in my trunk from the badges when I debage. The only thing holding me back is being scared to mess up lmao. I'm debating on whether or not to fill the holes and use touch up as a temporary fix and try to blend it in by detailing techniques or get it resprayed. The shop actually wanted like $175 to fill the holes and paint the lower trunk panel.

Rock-a-Lex

iTrader: (4)

$175, That's not too bad! Is that for welding the holes? I might just have it done completely at a shop when I get my kit installed. I was just trying to save some $$$ and see if there was something that I could do on my own.

excluesive

iTrader: (10)

the problem also with the bondo is that the trunk actually takes some force to close, the impact may actually make the bondo crack...