I am removeing the bondo from 47 ford fenders (top) outer and inner.Guess the splice was filled with bondo in order to form a smooth surface.Thickest part was 3/8" on drivers side and feathers out over halve of width .What kind off B/S is this.Is this the normal Mod on the fat fenders,fill with bondo? Had to vent a bit.
Back before time it was a popular custom trick to "mold in" the rear fenders with mud up to a 1/2" thick. Fortunately your fenders were not welded together and molding the fenders has gone the way of the dinosaur.
Bondo? Whats all the fuss? Bondo has been used by the best builders all over the world. I don't get why so many people expect to not find it on old cars that have been restored. Yes there are a few old cars restored without it but they are very few. We the avarage car guy prolly could not afford one of these. I won't use names but we all have seen it used in famous TV builds. Some compleatly covered with it and then sanded straight .......GOT BONDO!!!
the newer stuff ( light ) is great nothing beats metal fineshing but in truth not alot of folks have that skill. Lead is very costly these days its used by everyone from winfield to barris to foose.
John, first off, THANK YOU. Plastic , Bondo, or Fibergl*** filler , what ever name you give the stuff has come a helluva long way since I first saw the stuff in 1963 . When I think of all the automobiles I have seen saved through the years and have used the product , ( THE WAY IT WAS DESIGNED TO DO ), it's a miracle some of the vintage tin has survived . Look, I have Emphazemiea due in part to Body lead . yes , I was diagnosed years ago now . Still, I'm thankful to have apprenticed under a fellow from Brazil who used to do a lot of Jaguars and Bentley s . Thats where I actually started Body and fender in the sixties . scrubba
Do yourself a favor go to harbor frieght and get some of those puple wooly scootch brite looking grinder disc the are cheap fast and wont grind the metal found some at Lowes that were norton brand but they are like 8 dolllars each cheap one from china 3 bucks last a long time work great bondo eaters
Go ahead and vent. I hate what it gets used for and how it's pimped on TV shows. WRONG!!! WRONG!!! It's a FINISHING AID, nothing more. It's not a cure, not an appropriate repair method, not intended for structural parts. I've seen so much bondo abuse it makes me sick. I've seen fenders on 6-figure cars with over 1/2" applied. I've been told what a waste of time and money a hammer and dolly block is. Do I use it? ****in eh right I do. Abuse it? Maybe when I was a kid schleppin used cars, but even then I hated it. Knew it wouldn't last. Did I ever say on this board how much I hate bondo? So much that my goal is to do something without a speck of it being used on anything. Lofty idea? Maybe, but worth a try.
Awww, if it weren't for "bondo", half the trad rods/kustoms on this site wouldn't have been built...not everyone can sling lead or work metal. Yep, there's a right way and a wrong way for everything just like there's a right way and a wrong way to "build" a rod/kustom...fortunately, we live in a world of varying opinions. R-
Saw a guy at a cruise-in in Alabama one time with a '30 Model A 2 door sedan. He had molded the rear fenders to the body with bondo to make the fenders appear one piece with the body. He was proud of his sculpturing skills but couldn't understand why the bondo kept cracking along the joint between body and fender. Bondo was probably 1 1/2 or 2" thick at that point.
I don't understand some of you guys, sometimes. A car that is completely (and supposedly) metal-finished without ANY "bondo", before getting finished with paint, will get sprayed with a few coats of primer first, then blocked. Well, in reality, that primer is for all intents and purposes, an extremely thin coat of "bondo" isn't it? It is being used as a "filler". Whatever you want to call it, there is gonna be SOMETHING between the final finish (paint) and the bare-naked body, that will get blocked. Call it whatever you wish, but it is simply the degree of thickness that should be of any concern ....
I sold paint for 30 years in 4 different states and have ***** stories about bondo. But like Roger said there is a right way and wrong way. Can you all tell me you haven't seen lead coming off because it wasn't tined right?
I've always thought that molding fenders was a re-friggin-tarded thing to do to a car. You can never remove the fender again for repairs without doing major bodywork. Whats the point? It doesn't make the car look that much smoother to be worth ****ing it up. At least those weren't welded.
Well there are at least two schools of thought that come to me on the subject..... 1- It did need welded maybe he couldn't weld. 2-you didnt see it before yo sanded it off,maybe he did a good job after all 3-Bondo is better that all the thick primer all the "no bondo" guys use instead of bondo......By the way did you guys know 3 M bought the Bondo plastic company and are now the main supplier? I remember a post on here a few years back where a guy was whining that a customer had not paid him for his no bondo metalwork on a pair of doors for him..... turned out the bill was 12 thousand dollars......Cant say as I blame the customer there....
The main cause of failure of "Bondo" is that the underlying metal is either flexing or is porous and allowing water to get under it, causing rust, that lifts the bondo. I bet that if you applied Margl*** (fibergl*** reinforced resin) 5” thick and then put a finishing coat of Bondo over it, it would last a life time.<o></o> <o> </o> The only time that I see thick Bondo on an old job is when it is hit or rotted under it.<o></o> (I do limit my use of it though, I never buy more than four cases of it at a time.) (;-)
I'm not seeing the problem here. It looks like the metal was fine under it, it wasn't cracking, and you couldn't see the bondo work in the first picture. Molding fender seams is a old trick, used on a lot of cl***ic customs.
There is a lot of ******** about Bondo by people who never worked in a body shop and have no idea what they are talking about. The guy who demanded metal finished doors with NO filler of any kind, and got a bill for $12,000 should have paid it. The bodyman gave him what he asked for. If you don't want to pay for brand new parts, and don't want to pay for 100 hours of skilled hand work at $120 an hour, your car is going to need some kind of filler.
I worked as a cabinet maker for 35 yrs. When an apprentice would put wood filler on his job, I would ask "Whats that stuff?" He would tell me "wood filler" I would go over , pick up the can,look at the product quizzically and proclaim '' Well, I guess it`s okay,... never used the stuff myself''.
How many old cars would be around today if it weren't for these "temporary" repairs? I salute the miracle in a can that has parked many a ****box in a garage.
Personally I see where you are coming from there on some level- Rusty,but Actually any professional who would do that amount repair[ that is in gross excess] of the parts value is a con man ....
Whoa, now Kenny This is a subject that comes up in the antique/cl***ic restoration business all the time...............client say's '' I wan't it better than perfect!" -shop hourly X what it takes to metalfinish ( no putty & hi-build ********, here). Client is given invoices/estmates for various segments of the project ( no cards up the shops sleeve, here). At any time the client can say "STOP, cost is more than I wanna/can spend", game over! Who's the bad guy, here? If the shop did work not authorized by the client, the shop is SOL, if the client didn't insist on a full account of costs (contract) that's an expensive education, or possible legal matter. " Life ain't no Disney movie "
What was said may seem a bit harsh but in good concience we all know that when a part is worked on to the tune of twelve times its value somethin is just wrong with that picture... And better than perfect is a good definition for the un obtainable.....I believe all want good work by themselves and by shops ,but most folks have a budget and have to do what they can afford.....
I agree enfatically. Bondo ain't what it used to be , its much better. But welding the seam first is the proper way to fill it..therefore nary a crack. Been there and done that
I dont see what's wrong with welding fenders on.... I welded the rear fenders to my moms '47 Chev. Filled with lead, then a thin coat of filler ( we used evercoat fibre gl*** stuff) and it looks good. If the fender needed to be removed it would be no different then a later model car... And I would hope it would never need to be removed again anyway.
Bondo--Brazing----Lead----is what we all should be doing now ----instead of typing are little ***'s off
Hey, in my defense, it pouring down rain where Im at... I was gonna go fill in some trim holes on the Packard and get ready for a repaint before my show on the 20th. Man, not having indoor workspace blows!!
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