Gel coat

[eng622]

Had a good day at Stonleigh on sunday and talked to many Cobra owners. There is a clear impression that AK and Dax cars are normally painted and from my viewpoint the ones done by SMS stand out as the best. Now with the GD they are normally in gel coat, there was a nice mid blue one which was for sale. Anyway SMS told me despite advances in resin technology the gel coat will eventually go milky and you are then faced with an a up to £3K paint job, putting a GD car at a premium. Opinions sought, advantages/disadvantages of coloured gel coat v paint job outright

[tonym]

Richard (maxgd059 on this forum) has a GD in gel coat which is over 10 years old and still looks very shiny, perhaps sms were trying to get you to have one of their incredibly expensive paint jobs? I'd hate to spend that kind of money and find my first paint chip

[Happy Jim]

They're probaly right, in about 40 years of weathering sat outside the Gel may turn a little milky.

What a load of tosh!

When I got my GD in 2001 as a part finished kit the body had been sat around for 10 years, a good polish with Farecla had it nice and shiny. Naturally I got bored of the colour and had it sprayed a couple of years later, but that's another story.

Rgds

Jim

PS, would expect the same from anyones Gel coat to be honest.

[colin_c]

I've a GD in gel coat - it's been 5 years give or take since I first took delivery of it with flash-lines etc - I managed to get the gel coat looking reasonably good - been on the road almost 2 years now & took it back to GD last couple of weeks to get them to give it the once over - paid substantially less than an SMS paint job - you'd be hard pressed to know it wasn't a paint finish. I've posted a couple of pictures of the car at Stoneleigh. Chatting to someone there who was surprised to know it wasn't a paint finish. One other upside - gel coat is less of a concern if it gets a ding or two.

Cheers

[colin_c]

Sorry, one other point - I seem to recall reading posts some time ago that weren't too impressed with the gel coat on some other makes - maybe that's why they tend to be painted. Sure someone will corroborate or otherwise.

Colin

[Noel]

Cobblers, Pilgrim do one of the best gel coats and have seen many "old" ones to prove it

Mine, pre SVA

[JohnWoodman]

I have a gel coat body from Dax and it is going to require quite a bit of work to get it looking tidy. If I was going to paint it straight away I would let the paint shop sort out the blemishes but I'm not so it is down to me.

Once the flash lines are removed along the front and rear wings you will be left with some areas where the gel coat pigment was not deep enough. These are now a nice off yellow colour. The only way I can see to repair this is to grind it back slightly and re-apply some additional gel and get polishing.

The door edges and a couple of areas on the outer door faces will also require some work as they don't seem to have come out of the moulds very cleanly.

Regards
John

[craggle]

In my opinion a Dax can't be left in gelcoat finish.

My one had large flash lines that broke through to the glass fibre underneath when removed. The tops of the front wings were in no way smooth and had a lovely rippling effect along the length of them when viewed under strip lights.
The doors are deliberately supplied oversize to allow trimming to get a good fit. This will of course remove any thin gelcoat that was applied.

I think it is long overdue that Dax invest in getting a body professionally finished and make a new mould from it.

I always intended getting my car painted so didn't really have any complaints but I must have paid for it in the prep work at the paint shop.

Pilgrim and GD have very good quality gel finishes. I have never seen an AK gelcoat so can't comment.

Craig.

[maxGD059]

Thank you for those kind words Tony. My GD is infact 13 yrs old & the gel coat had loads of abuse from various things falling on it including stereos/kids bikes & even an engine block. It remains almost completely unscathed & a bit of 'Mer' once a year keep it in good nick. I have no doubts whatsoever as it being the best finish for me -oh & I've not got any stone chips.
(apologies yet again for that one I put on your car Tony )

[Sidecarbod]

My 2 pence worth....

Graham aka "Chez" has a Pilgrim that he has spent along time polishing the gel coat on, it looks the biz. Nobby has a Dax and I hope he won't mind me saying, but the gel coat is not as good and he had the problem of the flash lines leaving no gel coat once removed. I think he's saving up for a paint job.

(Makes a change me saying something nice a about Pilgrim! just to balance it up...I've been waiting 5 months for two overiders. Ah, I feel better now!)

Regards,

Pete