repair

[Forester]

 I have taken the bike rack off the back door of the van, It leaves 8 small holes.

What is the best way of filling/masking or what ever the holes without going to a garage, is there a trick of the trade to do this? 

[Mel B]

I'd suggest a good quality sealant/silicone to ensure that the whole of the length of the hole is filled and let a little bit overspill the outer edge of the hole. Then get some small red reflectors and use the silicone to stick these over the holes, they will mask the holes and also give protection to stop water etc getting into them. We did a similar thing on an old Elddis coachbuilt when we took a back box off. The dealer didn't bat an eye lid as they just looked like additional 'warning' reflectors.

[howie]

Hi Wayne. Is it possible to leave the brackets that the rack actually bolts on to on the doors. This will avoid a lot of time and effort, and if you keep the rack, then you could include this as a accessory when you trade the van in. Howard.

[Guest peter]

Whatever you do, do not use silicone. As once you use this nothing will stick to it and it's rubbish as a long term sealant.

Basically it all depends on the material the outer skin of the van is made of. Please indicate this and you will get more specific remedy information. But as I've said don't use Silicone

[Forester]

peter - 2007-01-12  Basically it all depends on the material the outer skin of the van is made of

Peter, it must be me for i cannot understand the question!  the van door is sprayed over with paint!. By material what do you meen. 8-) 

[howie]

Forester - 2007-01-13 9:23 AM

peter - 2007-01-12  Basically it all depends on the material the outer skin of the van is made of

Peter, it must be me for i cannot understand the question!  the van door is sprayed over with paint!. By material what do you meen. 8-) 

Hi Wayne. Seeing as its a van conversion I take it the doors are metal. Apart from the previous suggestions, the only way to cover the holes is to use body filler, sand it down and respray the affected area. I doubt if you can get a decent match and most probably the whole door will need respraying.I still think your best option is to leave just the mounting brackets in place and store the actual rack somewhere until you need it or come to sell the vanYears ago on a old coachbuilt, I done the same thing when I found the bike rack was obscuring the view through the rear window, and as we were not using it, this proved the easiest way way round the problem and only took a few minutes to do. Howard

[Brambles]

Assumming it is a painted metal panel door, you could always just get some small stainless steel coach bolts (flush round heads) to fit the holes. Buy a small paint touch up with brush, and paint edges of holes, paint heads of bolts same colour as van, insert bolts witha little mastic sealer and job done.

 

If you are trying t disguise the holes completely and fill them it is a much harder job. Usual trick is just to fill the holes and carfully get filler flush with surrounding paintwork and apply stickers or logos of some kind to hide the filler. Motorshops usually sell an array of stickers and decals and with a bit of artistic thought usually something will work that does not look out of place. personally I would just put Stainless steel coach bolts in the holes.

Just an idea for you,

Jon.

[Forester]

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll go with Howard on this one and put back the holding brackets.

Cheers Wayne.

[Guest peter]

Forester - 2007-01-14 4:21 AM

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll go with Howard on this one and put back the holding brackets.

Cheers Wayne.

Just make sure to put mastic behind them before tightening up the fixings.