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Let me here your ideas... Patching holes in my doors from old mirrors.

76k5blazerr

76k5blazerr

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Alright guys, need some ideas here. So when I got my 72 C10 a few weeks ago it had 73-87 mirrors on it, they were very unattractive so I bought OEM mirrors, got the driver side installed tonight, they look much better but now their are two approximately 3/16ths holes in my door from the old mirrors. Obviously I would rather them not be there. Now for the tricky part, this truck has nice paint, it was repainted less than a year ago. So, does anyone have any ideas for patching the holes and then getting them to blend in. I have a welder and could easily weld the holes up but then I would have to find someone to color match and paint both doors. This is an option but I'm wondering if anyone has any tricks or any ideas other than that. Thanks ya'll. Pics of the holes will be up tomorrow.
 
If it were me,I'd just put a pop rivet in the holes with a dab of sealer like seals-all,or butyl rubber caulk,not RTV,which can rot metal, to prevent more rusting and just touch it up with some touch up paint...otherwise you'll end up re-painting a large area,maybe even the whole door,and getting a good match might be tough..

But then, I'm just a hack basically when it comes to body work,and none of my trucks have a decent paint job,they aren't even worth waxing...:crazy:
 
After thinking about it I think I'll just take a 12 gauge to the truck, make it look cool. But really, what I think I'm gonna do is just weld up the holes, skim them with filler and get them flat and then take the truck to my buddy's body shop and have him match the paint and paint both doors. Then it will be right and paint will match.
 
If it's base/clear, the paint can be blended easily. Once they match the color, they can just blend the paint over the repaired area and then clear the whole door. Then there's no color match issue.
 
76k5blazerr said:
After thinking about it I think I'll just take a 12 gauge to the truck, make it look cool. But really, what I think I'm gonna do is just weld up the holes, skim them with filler and get them flat and then take the truck to my buddy's body shop and have him match the paint and paint both doors. Then it will be right and paint will match.
Click to expand...

That's the right way to fix it. I had to do a couple on mine, hardest part was holding the spoon to back the hole in that location.
 
I JB Welded the trim holes on mine after several attempts to weld just blew bigger holes.

possum
 
I just put a couple of stainless bolts in the holes left on my Toyota pu
 
I think the easiest solution to your problem is to find some rubber plugs with a very shallow head to stuff in the hole.


I can see you have some rust developing from the perimeter of the old mirror not being insulted so if you are going for paint than just weld the hole up and get it painted and be done. Just be aware, the repair area is always going to be larger than you think. Welding that hole up smack in the middle of a door skin is going to make that area pull down. You'll wind up with filler work to make it flush/even again and probably a 8in x8in repair area for paint.

That being said you could clean behind the hole from the inside and panel adhesive a small patch over the hole and than fill it with all metal. That will give you zero warpage and you could probably use some touch up paint if you wanted to attempt it.
 
Stomis said:
I think the easiest solution to your problem is to find some rubber plugs with a very shallow head to stuff in the hole.


I can see you have some rust developing from the perimeter of the old mirror not being insulted so if you are going for paint than just weld the hole up and get it painted and be done. Just be aware, the repair area is always going to be larger than you think. Welding that hole up smack in the middle of a door skin is going to make that area pull down. You'll wind up with filler work to make it flush/even again and probably a 8in x8in repair area for paint.

That being said you could clean behind the hole from the inside and panel adhesive a small patch over the hole and than fill it with all metal. That will give you zero warpage and you could probably use some touch up paint if you wanted to attempt it.
Click to expand...
Enlighten me on this patch process you are talking about.
 
Basically panel adhesive is just insane glue. Body shops use it to put quarters on cars where the frame work of the vehicle and the panels are dis-similar materials. Its also been adopted to just hang quarters and other welded on panels on cars in general.

If you pull your door panel, rolled the window up and, cleaned with like a wizz wheel on a die grinder the back of the hole lightly, lets say 2in around. Than you took a 1in x 1in metal square and glued that from the inside of the door to cover the hole, this will give you a base to simply skim the hole over with filler because you cant skim and open void aka a hole with filler, it will eventually just crack. And I would recommend all metal, not bondo.

O you'll also need to cut some sort of little scrap piece of something because the panel will need to be propped against the door skin with a little pressure while it dries.
 
76k5blazerr said:
Enlighten me on this patch process you are talking about.
Click to expand...

I think you need to either put something behind the hole as you weld it, particularly with it being in that location so that the back side is clean and so it doesn't droop on you because inside a door is a hard place to get to to clean up a weld blob. I used a bodywork spoon, but there are probably other things that work...I think somebody even glued a penny in on the backside of a hole while welding up the front part of the hole. If it is welded smoothly and cleanly, you may not need any filler...just sand it flat.
 
You just need a dis-similar metal piece of something on the inside, and a way to hold it there while you weld the hole from the outside. I like Stomis's panel adhesive plan best though. No heat to warp the door...
 
there is another option...let the paint shop plug them for you and paint it
 
I hear ya...I just noticed that is metal-flake paint...that probably won't be easy to blend in just a small spot.
 
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