Bondo is Traditional! 1955-The first batch is made in an old dough machine. Timeline - http://bondo.com/about-us
Bondo!!!! That is what paint shops put over an all metal repair..... 3M has purchased Bondo corp. and is re marketing it for the next century of our enjoyment...MMMMMMMtastes like chicken!
It is sad but true that "Bondo" is, in the auto industry, as generic as Coke or Kleenex. It drives me crazy when these t.v. shows are doing a "restoration" or build & when it goes to the body shop they cover the entire vehicle with filler! They make hammers, dollies, files, spoons, & shrinking discs for a reason people!
There was some used wrong and used right. So here we are many many years down the road,bitching about Bondo,guess what,there would of been very few full customs ect. for you to look at in old mag.s with out it ,or a like stuff,and it did not have any bad history at the time,we were just trying to make cool mods in design,even the top shops did use it. No one know the stuff they were doing was going to be around all that long anyway. Pre prep is way better now,bet with it that type of custom body work would indeed last a lot longer,yet the fact is for some cars lasting is more about how they been taken care of,then if they are turly all metal only.
there is alot of body filler out thete now that works damn good.i dont mind some filler on my cars as long as you dont use it to replace fixing the rust the correct way.i dont use it to fill in a big ass dent. but i will use it to smooth out the dent when im done bangin on it. ive used in on mycars for yrs. but sparingly. like it was intended.and ive never had any crack or fall off either.oh yeah, bondo is a brand name...lol
Have to thank the people that used it, if i haden bought some Bondo rockets and crap fenders i had never learned to do metalwork....
"Used at home, in the garage, by the dock, in sporting arenas and even art studios" Sporting arenas? Is there some sort of Bondo sporting competition I don't know about? 'Cause that's the sport for me. Everyone mixes up a batch, a car drives by and you try to hit it a target on the side using a putty knife. The Bondo Olympics.
I'd say that 1% of guys who do body and metal work can actually achieve a filler free panel. This is true tallent for sure !!!!! I have not decerned if this is a God given talent or if selling of souls is part of it. I've really really tried and can't get there. I'm not selling anything but I'd be willing to pay for some one on one instruction. Just imagine if there was no filler or even lead ,,,, There would be a lot of lumpy junk to look at. Maybe more guys would have passed this on or learned it . All professional refinish instruction is prefaced with filler used as the final surface completing the repair. Metal work goes only as far as achieving acceptable filler levels. Be nice if it were different.
My dad was a "metal man" as bodymen were referred to in the 50's. I used to think I was Superman bending his bars of lead (after chewing on lead painted windowsills). Of course he had to go with the flow but never really liked "Bondo". In 67 he fixed the roof on a rollover Cougar with no filler just to show he could. Pick and File, repeat as required.
using bondo to smooth or to take care of chicken peck's is kinda what its for....I don't see any bitch'n bout plaster show cars here....and you guys paid to see them....if a guy is trying to pass of shiny paint over a body that's been completely "restored" with Bondo then that's a problem...if you have a project and it's DIY and can live with the minimal use and a like the outcome then you have done a good job..can always be blasted and worked better as your skill set improves..until then...if it's not yours and they are not trying to sell it to you as a huge investment in the Bondo corp. live with it because they enjoy it..and it keeps the hobby going and allows for entry level skill set.
They do need a good ad slogan. Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Bondo BONDO - Look Ma, No Cavities BONDO - Good to the Last Drop Maybe Biffle said it best: Rumor is a bidding war for this can ensued between Miracle, Maaco and Sheib.
Body shops around here want around $4000 to $8000 for a good paint job with a year or so back log. That's why I try to do most of the work myself. I would hate to hear the price if the shops used no body filler and only metal finished the whole car. I would guess around $30,000, what's your guess? 28
Biffle was right...DW's 1991 Daytona wreck is/was on display at Darlington - the amount of bondo in the car is impressive, 1/4" thick in some places.
ok lets get this out of the way.... Bondo is one of 2 things, a name brand of body filler or generic name for all filler....good filler done right will last for a long time and is fine.....yes it has ben abused but so has angle iron and rivets..... I'll bet there are a handfull of cars on here with no filler at all, the rest will have some, and guess what??? that is ok.... ok back to beating the dead horse
$75,000? $100,000? Used properly, there's nothing wrong with polyester body filler. I have cars that I finished using polyester body filler, and catalyzed primers 30+ years ago?, and they still look like new today. True "Metal Finish" can be done, but the time/reward scale goes WAY off...it's that LAST 1/8" of a wave that's the killer. That last pick mark. I'm not talking about someone trying to finish their baby without using filler, that's a labor of love. It would cost far too much in a commercial environment to metal finish most body damage, and most vehicles don't warrant the time spent. Spraying on multiple coats of high build primer is no different - we used to call it "the straightening gun" - the same components are used in both primer & "Bondo"-a binder, filler, and catalyst. And I've done some repairs on vintage vehicles that were "metal finished" by pick & file men back in the day, and believe me, the standards for what passed as an "acceptable commercial repair" were WAY different than they are today...most pick & file & lead work from yesteryear would get you fired from a shop today...my experience is that lots of them looked like a sack a walnuts... Surfs up! Eric PS: Oh, and see above post-well said!
It seems that before the Bondo name became popular, there was Black Magic. Anyone remember that? I worked in a Ford dealer body shop and every one was afraid of the Magic. Of course lead was not without it's problems mostly with wax or oil from the paddles in pinholes lifting paint. Times have changed, careful and minimal use of Bondo lasts a long time. deChrome
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