Repainting/Repairing 4runner Fiberglass Topper
 

Hey guys,

I wanted to ask for some advice on the best way to repair a sun damaged/faded 4Runner fiberglass top. I have never worked with fiberglass before and I am not sure what the proper steps would be to get it properly repaired and painted. Based on the texture of the top, I believe that the 'gel' coat that was on there from the factory has mostly been stripped off by the sun. If I plan on colormatching the top and having it painted in the end, is it necessary to reapply a gel coat the fiberglas before priming and painting, or would a good primer and paint be just as protective to the fiberglass?

Thanks!

Congrats on your new 4Runner. How bad is the top? Is there cracking and crazing? If so I would get a kit of epoxy from a boat supply store and skim coat the whole thing. At that point it might be cheaper to find a better used top. The stuff they sell for auto work is polyester and has bad fumes and is not as easy to work with IMO. It's cheaper though. Other wise for small damage you can probably use a little body filler keeping in mind that it should be kept under a dime in thickness. You can even cut up some fiberglass cloth or mat into threads to add to the filler if the repair needs to be thicker. To paint my top I intend to "roll and tip" satin finish Rustoleum. I've never painted the top since it's been off for two years. Look at videos on YouTube for rolling and tipping technique. I did it on a boat and it looks sprayed. If you need to restore the texture you can use bed liner and then either go with it or paint over top of it.

Thanks for the heads up, I will try to get some good pictures of it this weekend and report back to get your opinion.

Thread link

Gelcoat damage should be fixed with gelcoat. Gel coat from my understanding is just the resin with no reinforcement, most time colored.

Mine needs it, getting itchy nasty stuff on you sucks.

Pretty sure I have seen some YouTube videos of it being refilled out of a 2k spray also.

. Go online and look at West System videos. The epoxy systems are not itchy or smelly. Epoxy and fiberglass mat is incredibly strong. Gel coat is a shiny top coat. No boats are made of gel coat alone. I promise you there is fiberglass beneath it. I'm planning to put a fiberglass shell on top of a 30 year old sailboat this winter. Done correctly there is no point at which I have to sand the fiberglass. I have never gotten all itchy doing this stuff. I haven't had to use a sprayer either. I've watched them build high money fishing boats in Manns Harbor and Wanchese. NC and they use Awlgrip these days instead of gel coat. Gelcoat cracks after a few years which you can see in old fiberglass boats and our tops. I used Awlgrip on my 1972 Boston Whaler and it shines with no maintenance. Awlgrip isn't needed on our tops. They just need paint. Here's a link to a Total Boat system. It is cheaper than West but people seem to like it. https://www.jamestowndistributors.co...3A1+Epoxy+Kits If you buy from these guys go online and look for a code for free shipping. I'm on my second gallon kit from them.

What we have here is...
 

Failure to communicate ..

Random oriented fiber mat is what is used in these, actually in just about all structural fiberglass and resin structures, ever sat on a park bench or school chair and wondered why you got an itchy bumm? yep gelcoat worn thru, fiberglass exposed. Same as working with fiberglass insulation. It's really.not.good for you. On a similar note USE PPE, you really don't want to acquire an epoxy allergy.

Thanks for the extra links! The boat guys have vast quantities of knowledge and hands on with this stuff :bow:

I was finally able to get some more time on the new 4Runner over the long weekend. Here are a few pictures of the top. Curious what you all think of the condition:

The texture if very rough!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...5cb4fd614a.png
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...d88c57d51b.png

Edit
 

EDIT: Pictures work now! :great:

Did they show up yet? They should be up, I used the direct upload to yotatech.com feature instead of trying to link out to my google photos (which has some sort of bandwidth cap i think). Thanks for the heads up!

Still Google links, here is a snippet of the URL.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/
It's not a bandwidth limit, it's a permission issue they might show up (depending on your album settings) if we were to login to Google but this makes us work to help you..

You can help us help you by, you save the image to your pc, you then attach the photos "from device/PC". They will then be stored on the yotatech servers.

I think I spaced out when I uploaded them and just pasted them directly into the text field of the post. I just uploaded them to the post now using the inset image feature. Sorry about the confusion, should be fixed now!

Much better, well images anyway. That's pretty typical for exposure damage after all these years

You can seal it with a polyester or 2k doesn't matter which type, brand(topcoat, gelcoat, awlgrip), or application (spray, brush, roll) method (to me, it's not my profession or something I do on a regular basis).

I would go with 2k (epoxy), pretty sure thats what it was originaly done with. You do not want to use a filler (Bondo, everkote ect), these are poly/2k with inert solids. What is important is you get it dry(fiberglass wicks moisture), sealed (glass covered to several mils), then preped for the topcoat of your choice. Keep in mind that's a lot of flat surface and a gloss coat will show any waves, it's why you mostly see them with hammered or other textured finish (the man hours of sanding).

And yes that's definitely exposed glass avoid touching it, unless your into that sort of thing.

Thanks for the reply. And no, touching exposed glass is not my kinda thing! I am pretty paranoid about fumes/inhalents and honestly the whole idea of refinishing it is making me uneasy about the process.

The gel coat is the outer layer of a fiberglass structure. Co 94 was not implying the entire thing was made from gel coat. In a female mold, the gel coat is the first layer applied.

You don't want to use epoxy resin if there will be a gelcoat applied either. You can get gelcoat additives for the epoxy, but it'll be pretty expensive compared to just applying a gelcoat. Epoxy resin doesn't sand very well. It's too tough. There are additives to make it more sandable, but it'll have to be painted and that's more steps. Just doing a colored gelcoat would be the easiest and cheapest.

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