I was at a buddies house last night, he is using jb weld to fill the trim holes on his 54 chevy. has anyone else tried this.
Not to hi-jack, but I have been told that JB is the filler of choice for parts that you want to powder coat. Everything else melts out in the heating process. But it's a bitch to sand down so sculpt it real close to the look you want first.
I used it on trim holes for a car about 15 years ago. It worked ok for a bit, but after driving it around a couple years the JB seperated from the car and fell out.
Yeah, it'll pop out, it won't last. Even if it doesn't fall out, it'll create a shadow below the paint after a short while. My suggestion to him is to either weld it up properly or don't do it at all.
Eaiser then that is to grind awaythe paint surrounding the hole and then tap the hole down slightly. Cut a piece of tin or beer can(must be real thin)into a square about the size of the hole. Fold the square 90deg. once across the points to insert into the hole and flatten it . What you wind up with is 2 points outside and 2 points inside which bridges the hole and gives support to the filler. Yes I know that this is bad bondo work,but for some that dont have a welder or real metal working expirence,this will work better than loading it up with just filler.
Not that somebody hasn't done it , but I would be leary of powdercoating over JB weld or any epoxy, unless it is the ultra expensive areospace stuff....most epoxy lets go at 375-400 degrees F, which is about the same temp the powder coaters cure at... which means the epoxy is loosing it's bond while the powder coat is melting....shawn
I think that they meant Lab-metal. I believe that Lab-metal is the only epoxy that will hold up to the curing process. There have been a lot of quick and dirty ways tried over the years but welding up the holes is the only thing that lasts. We used to braze them up in the early 60s but that was not the easy answer either. There is no easy answer. Learn how to weld or get a pro to do it for you.
weld is the best but i have seen 1/2" holes pounded in and filled and would have never known except we were stripping the car of it's 25 year old paint job to repaint. bondo is our friend. sometimes you do what you have to to keep the car on the road and out of the scrap yard. if that car had not been fixed on the cheap, it probably wouldn't be here today. weld it if you can.
OMG .To answer the question though ,i wouldnt use JB Weld to fill holes in a car body.Thats what welding is for.I do however use a product called "All Metal" to cover my weld seams.Its an epoxy made for this application from body shop supply stores ,but it aint cheap.Its about $30.00 a qaurt.Once dry it will not allow moisture to pass through and have never seen it crack or fall out ,but it stinks like Hell and is hard to work down.I have been told that it can be used on metal to be powder coated also ,but i have never tried ...
Don't use it on the drain plug of your Cadillac. It'll cause you to drive naked through the desert & post incoherent rants about offing yourself. (I assume very few people will know what the hell I am talking about )
Crap, I just used it on a crack in my exhaust I hope it holds. It's a short time, temp fix, we'll see. I was getting tired of breathing exhaust fumes
did the j/b on powder coat. don't work that sweet. unless you coat it once. block sand it. then coat it again. some times it gasse's out it's a 50/50 chance it will work. just weld the holes. id trust good ole bondo over j/b anyday.
hopefully pic of frontend is some type of mock up. as for JB weld, or most other like fillers, they will separate from things like sheet metal. did tried this idea years ago with tape behind hole, but looked terrible in the end. Yes, in many cases JB Weld is good stuff.
We fixed some water pitting in a pair of MOPAR heads (head gasket mating area) in '98. Smeared the JB weld over the pitts, let it set and milled it off smooth. They are still on th car and still holding. Haven't removed the heads to actually see how the JB weld has held up and its only got about 80K on it. I guess we'll find out when its time to freshen it. I probably wouldn't use it on a car body just because I think the vibration would get it.
"We used to braze them up in the early 60s but that was not the easy answer either. " I've only seen it done by somebody who knew how to braze, but wouldn't that be a good system for trim holes and installing plates to cover door handle holes etc.? Seems to me that brazing a piece on the back side of where a door handle used to be would be a lot less heat. Yes, the patch would be behind the level of the door skin, but wouldn't bondo fix that?
I would never trust any filler to do the job that metal should be doing, Do it right and you'll only do it once.
i have used jb weld to seal up trim holes on my 69 stangs rusty trunklid i filled all the holes for the mustang letters that go acrross the lid it was a cheap quick fix and since the trunklid is pretty much junk i figured whats the harm its been about 4 years and all the holes are still filled but i can see cracks around some of them these holes were about a 1/4 in diameter , i wouldnt put it in larger holes with out some sort of backer material i also sealed up some trim holes on my t-bird only to keep the weather out while i had it stored outside jb weld will shrink down so you can still see the hole (unless you put a couple layers on ) so all i got to do is drill the stuff back out later
When you fill your body holes with a non metallic filler you place a compound in the hole that does not match the same heat sync factors as the metal. If you never park in the sun and heat up the exterior of your car, maybe you will be ok for a little longer. You would also be better off not to start it, let a loud noise occur next to it or any type of vibration. The metal transfers harmonics at a different rate as well. All of this equates to cracks and separation of the two different materials. And bingo your paint looks like a shit.
We always had trouble with bondo or paint sticking to the brass. I found brass on cars that I bought and I ground all the brass off the sheet metal to get a surface that the finish work will stick to. I was a steamfitter and was quite familiar with brazing. The finished repair bondo and paint would pop off leaving the exposed brass.
Read a step by step article on autobodystore.com (home page/body shop/working with fillers/materials) about filling trim holes using aluminum tape and fiberglass fillers. Had some holes on the rocker panels I wanted to fill so figured what the hell they are so low no one will ever notice it if doesn't work. That was 4 years ago, they are still perfect. Would not hesitate to do it again.
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