This is the most ambitious part of the bodywork I have attempted so far, but the process was just an advance on the bonnet-lip fix.
PROCESS:
I first removed the rubber beading from arch, which peels off pretty easy, and sanded round the entire damaged area, down to the bare metal in most places, particularly on the small rust patches. The rust was only very slight to be fair, but still took some sanding off to get to clean metal, which is essential to stop the rust from coming back underneath the paint. The arch was pushed in more than it seemed and the corner where it meets the bumper had kicked out slightly so we lightly pulled the arch-lip out by hand, then fine shaped it and knoc
ked the bump in with a ball-hammer.
I then covered the whole area in a nice thick layer of P38 filler [which was drying in the sun so fast it took about 10 mixes] and began to smooth the area down, trying to blend the filled dents into the line of the wing. Filling in the dents was easy enough, but as I sanded down each layer in contour with the body the filled patch got smaller and out of shape with the rim of the wheel-arch, so it took a few mixes to build the area out to match the arch line and flow into the body.
I held a straight-edge across the arch to check I'd filled out to match the other side of the car and when I was satisfied I sprayed the area with a quick coat of primer to get a better idea of the shape. The lip of the arch was wide enough, but the primer revealed it would need building out a bit more to be able to recreate the flat side of the arch lip. I repeated the process and built the lip of arch out a bit more in order to sand it flat for about 1cm before it curves off into the body.
Got the flat section looking pretty good, but still needs a little filling out before I get round to painting it. That may be some time as its back to work I go!
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