I would never trust some old primer of unknown origin to be a base to work off of. In your first pics the mud looks a little iffy? Dunno, just gives my a weird vibe. I have nothing against skimming a car, as it has been said most of it comes back off. And a lot of those cars that looks so good in TRJ bare metal studio shots get SOME filler or at the very least High build layed on them. I love High build.
The red oxide's not old, it was shot just 10 months ago. Idea is sanding it like in the fender pic, then working over that.
God nooo. I would have leave it as it was before doing that. Up in my 2nd post with the pics is the sanded fender pic I was talking about.
I had my quarter panel crunched in on a 1968 Bird in 1982. The bodyshop did a repail and 21 years later and 300,000 it was time to redo the whole car. The bodyshop in 1982 used over an 1" of Bondo and you couldnt tell. I was amazed that there was no sign that there was this amount of filler. This is when I figured that filler could, in some applications last forever even when caked on. I chipped and ground it out and spent alot more time to where it only needed a skim coat.
Ive stayed at a Holiday Inn Express too! Ive tried Metal Finishing parts too, and soon learned that with my budget and tool line-up........ Well........... Read the mixing instructions on the can........ Sand......... Repeat.
I have no problem with the all over filler to get it perfect. Looking at your pics I feel you have to much on it due to the fact there is very little to no metal showing. 1/8 to a 1/4 in the smallest of spots is fair. But To cover it solid in filler and leave it that much on it is wrong. My .02cents. Oh, and the tig and vixen file works for only the few and far between in the smallest of spots, unless your Marcel Delay or Ron Fournier.
I, too, question the appearance of the filler in your first pics. It just gives me any uneasy feeling. To me, it should look more uniform in color, and not so "blotchy". Have they done multiple layers and sanded them down? That's kind of what it looks like. I hope they are using a long board to sand it down, and end up with a nice smooth panel (at least on the fairly flat areas). If you can, run your hand down the side of the car few times and see if you can feel any waves or imperfections. That can be a better test than just looking at it. Malcolm
I painted the rear quarter panel on my wife's car that had areas close to 1/8 inch thick of bondo on them. My wife got rear ended by a guy (no insurance) bad enough that the rear quarter folded up like an accordian (about 5 folds). None of the bondo cracked.It was impressive. So if you don't have the metal finishing skills to do a perfect panel beating I see no reason to feel bad about using the stuff.That is if it is used correctly.
I have a good friend who used to work for a shop that prepped Dodge Viper bodies when they were popped out of the mold. I know, they are fiberglass not a apples to apples comparison. Every body panel was skimmed heavily then all blocked sanded. It didn't matter how thick just as long as it was straight and smooth.
Yup, I wanna see the arrow straight paint jobs done by all of the bondo haters here. I think many hate it just because they want to jump on the "bondo sucks" bandwagon. A long wavy car sucks a whole lot more than a full skim coat of bondo.
The last guy who objected to me using plastic filler changed his mind very quickly, when I told him the filler was guaranteed for life, and half the cost.....which was several hundred dollars.
I think the best answer's pretty much been stated - it depends on your ability and budget, ideally you want it under 1/8th inch anywhere on the car, but you can get away with a little more here and there. If your budget doesn't allow the time, or the skill, to finish the metal perfect, go with what you're comfortable with. Just don't use 2x4s and bondo to sculpt out whole new tailfins and crap like that. My '60 Pontiac turned out to have the left side of the hood where it comes to a point punched in in a half-dollar sized dent - which the repair shop filled with bondo. The top front of the door had filler, too - it cracked. Who knows when or where that was done, but there was no rust under it when I ground it out of the hood and that lump was like an inch deep and an inch across. To metal-finish that part of the hood would have required cutting out part of the inside bracing and welding it back on afterwards - or else replacing the entire hood.
I use body filler and am proud of it. I see nothing wrong with what your shop is doing. Assumption that it is going onto a good surface and that most will be sanded back off. If you don't, you will end up using fill primer to do the same thing in the end. Only thing that I do not understand, why isn't the truck lid handle removed before they started to do any work on the the lid? Kinda gives me a little question about their work. If you are going to go through the work on making it straight, why work around something that can be easily removed? Now, my two cent on bondo or no bondo. There is no way possible for me to ever get metal work straight enough to not use filler. I look at other cars. If they are straight, they probably used a full coat of filler. For those of you that are anti-filler. What do you use, fill primer? So, it is o.k. to build up the surface with paint but using filler, which is designed for that application, should be avoided. It sounds more like bragging rights than what is the best product for you to fill minor imperfections. I agree to be careful on door edges and the like. Watch so you do not get too much of a build up in those areas. I am sure that there is a small group on the HAMB that do have the expertise in metal finish to go without skimming filler but the rest are the typical internet forum experts. Again, this is my guess but 90% of the cars that are straight and painted a dark color have alot of filler used on them. Those that wave and look like crap have the bragging rights to no use of filler. Neal
Well you asked for it... There is some metal glaze in the small pits around the weld in the 1/4 panel. This shot is the door. Did the heat/file deal on the door dings. Only works on doors that have "out" surface tension. At least for me it does.
Im not lieing, im gunna do a post on the stuff he's got in his shop, i bought a vixen file for $25 and its actually a miracle tool, its un real... filler still sucks!
I have listened to this "It doesn't need any bodywork" thing for 42 years, and I have followed some really good metal fabricators, so I know the difference. None of them are 100% paint ready, and I've done literally hundreds of custom jobs to back up that statement.
Looks nice. Just asking to learn, what was the procedure used? Fill primer or just sealer and then shoot the paint. Could you show us a 3/4 side shot of the car? I always like pictures of cars. Thanks. Neal
Body filler saves time.... I worked with a gentleman who was is 60 years old and from Italy, and was the best metal finisher I have ever seen... Every body shop around knew who he was... He would finish with no fillers and use lead on late model vehicles for repairs... Eventually he was convinced to use glaze and lightweight filler just to be more productive.... He has a '69 Mach I and a '72 Cutlass with no body filler.. They are both as straight as arrows.
That is beautiful. I'm not saying such a car doesnt exist here (I knew at least one does, the Foster built 36). But I know that there are a lot of bondo shit-talkers ive read posts from, and I have a strong feeling a lot of the bondo-haters out there dont have work like this to speak of.
Grasshopper'some day, bondo will be your friend.Listen to what their sayin, "Your being groomed" Only time will tell.
highlander, how many coats of primer and blocksanding did you do? also, when things are in bare metal, they can look straight but really not be. its when you ad the color and look at it in the sun from a couple of feet away that really says if the car is straight or not.
none if you can get away with it... lead ,check out the tovars work. they dont even use bondo on the final coat... all lead, which will last forever. i screwed up when i did my chevy ten years ago(first car i painted) and used bondo, no more than an 1/8 or maybe 3/16 in some spots. it lasted about 6 years but now i gotta redo the whole thing again. with lead this time
ferrari used bondo and thick build primer back in the day so it cant be all bad http://redlinerennsport.com/Ferrari.html
I just don't mix enough catalyst in and the filler actually stays flexible, never cracking. When I get rocks flying on the freeway, no chips! Just little dents that swell back out in the sunlight. Plus, I can dig my fingernail into it whenever I want. Ha ha ha. I actually did mix my first filler batch this way. Hey, It was a learning experience!
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