Filling LX450 trim holes

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DanMedeiros said:
My question is this, does anybody know a shop in the Bay Area who could handle this at a reasonable price. Is their a cheeper/jankier way to handle this myself?
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You can use panel bonding adhesive to cover the holes. Place an overlapping panel behind the hole and use the panel bond adhesive to adhere it then fill prep paint. Marine epoxy also works well. Otherwise, use MIG welder.

DanMedeiros said:
planning on taking a welding course ASAP
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That is a good decision because you might solve this issues with the basic welding. It becomes easy to enroll for a course as there are many welding programs available. I found in an online portal. they are offering 4 days certification course for the tool and die welding. Such courses are really helpful for the hobbyist welders and skilled welders to upgrade their knowledge.
 
Buy a cheap 110 mig welder and spend a day playing with some scrap sheet metal. You will be welding your holes shut quick. Welding is way better than tape. Tape is half assed. I just finished welding mine, I cut tiny little squares of sheet metal and held them in the hole with a magnet and welded them up. It was a lot easier this way instead of trying to completely fill the holes with weld.
Or you can bring it to me and I will do it for $500
 
leonard_nemoy said:
Buy a cheap 110 mig welder and spend a day playing with some scrap sheet metal. You will be welding your holes shut quick. Welding is way better than tape. Tape is half assed. I just finished welding mine, I cut tiny little squares of sheet metal and held them in the hole with a magnet and welded them up. It was a lot easier this way instead of trying to completely fill the holes with weld.
Or you can bring it to me and I will do it for $500
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HA! Wish I had talked to you a few months ago! I still need to learn to weld but I ended up filling all my holes with Steel Stick. In every place I could reach I added stainless steel tape behind the hole then filled it.

Here is the finished result

IMG_2571.webp
 
Get a cheap mig welder on craigslist. Watch a few youtube videos. Practice a bit. Then lay down some snot covered booger welds. Then use a grinder. If you're good with a grinder then even the worst booger weld with become smoother than a baby butt.

Just dot get cocky and do structural welding after. Using tape is seriously half assed. Do it right the first time. This is great advice coming from someone who halfasses quite a bit:flipoff2:
 
I just finished my LX's holes and discovered 4 big rust holes that needed cutting out and patching. All total, probably 70 hours of welding, cutting, grinding, body hammer and dolly, filler, rust proofing. I ended up cropping the quarter panels up about 6" too. I'm glad I did it because after 140ish (I didn't count) holes patched and welded, I have a lot of confidence welding body now. it was fun until the last 20 or so... when it was just work. :-)

..If you weld, here are some suggestions.

1. Rust treat the back side of the body panels with something quality that make the work easy... like Transtar Amber.
2. Be super aware of what's near your weld and what'd in the vicinity of heat and spark. There's a really good chance of setting something on fire with all the holes in the LX. ..Be particularly aware of the gas filler.
3. Keep your ground clean and close to your work.
4. clean the patch metal with a wire brush before welding it. It'll probably come with a corrosion resistant coating that will make the welds crappy.

...I used flux core for the entire project and had zero spatter issues with a clean and close ground, low power and high wire speed.
 
Al's bedliner with metal tape. Self leveled and NO evidence of holes at all.

IMG_0333.webp


IMG_0334.webp
 
The Al's bedliner self leveled and blended the edge between the tape and body panels perfectly. I also had a few door dings that the Al's was able to fill and blend. Instead of just sticking to the top of the surface and emphasizing what the surface underneath looked like, Al's was able to self level and produce a level finish. Its good stuff! I am pretty picky with things and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
 
So on my new rig, the PO who did the liner work used bondo on the holes. One some of the holes, it didnt stay and now I have about 5 total holes in my truck. I have no idea how to fix this though as I am not sure how to "sand and respray/roll" the liner in order to put some alum or steel tape there. Any insight here would be good.

Also for those of you who use U Pol Raptor liner...how is that tinted? You can buy black or tintable. My liner is like a desert sand color, like many I have seen, but I have no idea how to buy a new can of it to have it match my existing setup. Does a local paint dealer just tint it for you or do you have to have U Pol tint it to your color when you buy it?
 
There's a ton of advise already written. Use the search feature. You have to decide for yourself how much work you want to do.
 
Its definitely bumpy. You can make it a bit smoother depending on how you have your nozzle set up and air pressure. There is also an hardener that is mixed with it that can depend on how it sprays out. Lots of variables and options. I liked it thicker because i could be a bit sloppier. I sold the truck a few years ago, those are my only pics....
 
450LX said:
The Al's bedliner self leveled and blended the edge between the tape and body panels perfectly. I also had a few door dings that the Al's was able to fill and blend. Instead of just sticking to the top of the surface and emphasizing what the surface underneath looked like, Al's was able to self level and produce a level finish. Its good stuff! I am pretty picky with things and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
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That's really cool. I may redo mine. I don't like the results from the Rustoleum bed liner... I decided to use that because it's easy to touch up. Problem is that application is really tricky and it doesn't look even. ..looks like spray paint, imagine that
 
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