Repair Tear/Hole on side of cars aluminum body

[NBAJAM97]

Ran into something that a shouldn't have and my car paid the price. I was wondering if there is any quick easy fixes to this issue. That would be easy to do and cost effective without having to repaint the whole thing. Please look at my pictures and provide suggestions on anything you would find useful!

http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy282/Bishdog/IMG_0182.jpg

http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy282/Bishdog/IMG_0183.jpg


Your help is appreciated. Thank YOU!

[Max Luster Auto]

Ouch! Anything quick and cheap won't be perfect, but you COULD cut a clean hole to remove the peeling metal, fiberglass it from the backside, then bondo/paint the front side. Or, if you can weld or have a friend who can weld aluminum, cut a nice clean hole and a matching filler piece, weld them together, grind it smooth, skim coat with bondo, and paint.

[SameGuy]

Aluminum? Is it an old A8?

ETA never mind, I see the antenna. Yeah, what year, a 95?

[NBAJAM97]

Aluminum? Is it an old A8?

ETA never mind, I see the antenna. Yeah, what year, a 95?

Thanks for the responses and yes the Audi is an 98 A8

[FTD]

Ran into something that a shouldn't have and my car paid the price. I was wondering if there is any quick easy fixes to this issue. That would be easy to do and cost effective without having to repaint the whole thing. Please look at my pictures and provide suggestions on anything you would find useful!

http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy282/Bishdog/IMG_0182.jpg

http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy282/Bishdog/IMG_0183.jpg


Your help is appreciated. Thank YOU!

Let me be frank, This is some pretty bad damage. Aluminum is a pain in the ass to fix on cars. I am a fabricator and body guy by trade. I would recommend you take it to a local weld shop, have them weld it shut, go buy small can of bondo. have them grind the metal down where they welded it.

**After hole is fixed, Tape a 1x1 spot off and work in that area only!**

Step1: Sand around a 1x1 area removing all clear coat and some paint to level it.

Step2: Bondo bare metal areas that look uneven or off, let dry, and sand until even with the substrate (Alum). Spray water on it to check for leveling.
Step2A: Tape and mask the entire car with cheap painters plastic you can get anywhere, it looks like very thin garbage bag material, AWESOME for painting and avoiding over spray.

Step3: Primer the bondo and bare metal exposed, 2 coats. Lightly sand once dry so the paint has something to stick to.

Step4: Go get the paint code from your driver door jamb or passenger, bring it to a auto paint shop. Have them press it into a rattle can, or if you have a spray gun you can use that too.

Step5: Spray and wipe everything down with IPA solution (20%Iso Alcohol and water). This is to remove any oils or chemicals in any pores of the said area. Apply liberally 2-3 times, wipe dry with lintless cloth.

Step6: Spray 2 even coats of the paint. First is a tack layer, spray very lightly. Second will fill color in.

Step7: Remove tape before paint dries. Now Tape off a 2x2 or close to it area after paint is confirmed dry.

Step8: Let paint dry for about 5 hours. I suggest you wait 10-20 hours before anything, but if you want it done fast, make sure paint is dry to touch after 5 hours. You can put a radiant space heater near(5 feet) the area to help it cure faster.

Step9: Inspect paint before clearing, look for nibs and fisheyes (Little dimples in the paint, or wrinkles from foreign chemicals or oils. (This is why you IPA the area, to get rid of contaminants.)

Step 10:Once you have confirmed area is clean and dry, wipe with a mist of IPA solution again, then spray on the first "Tack" coat. Allow to settle for 5 minutes, then apply second coat to fill tack coat in. Allow that to dry for 30 minutes. Lastly the third coat is the most important. Spray on thick, but not so thick that it runs, just slow even patterns left to right, overlapping, blending it into the OEM clear in the 2x2 area. LEt this dry for 12-24 hours before working on it. Clear coat is very maluable in its curing period, so go very easy when refining it.

Step11: Inspect clear coat, wet sand any imperfections out, then remove tape and plastics. Begin to wet sand with 4000-5000 grit wet sanding discs or foam backed sand paper. The objective here is not to level the clear coat, it is to blend it with surrounding OEM clear coat. 3000 grit is acceptable as well. Make sure if your using a D/A palm sander that the sanding discs are FOAM BACKED! this helps tremendously. Make sure area is soaked when wet sanding.

Step12: Buff out with 3M perfect it, or another descent compound. Polish it with machine polish, then glaze, then seal, then wax the area. Make sure the area is level looking, and blended properly before glazing or polishing, more wet sanding may be needed.

Step 13: Congratulations, you can dance in victory, you have completed a repair for hundreds instead of thousands.

**NOTE It is important to know what stage your paint is. To me it almost looks like you have 3 stage pearl white, but if it is 2 stage flat white or off white, your golden. 3 stage is not an easy repair and usually requires the whole panel to get painted, metallic to be blended, and a bunch of annoying stuff.

**NOTE 2: It will be much better looking if you polish the whole car so the panels look uniformly clean, seeing that fresh paint job will most likely stand out if you don't.

If you lack the expertise on doing this, then i suggest taking it to a body shop.

Enjoy, hope you get it fixed up!!