Technical Cost efficient alternatives to Evercoat Filler and Polyester Primer?

I don't want this to turn into a "you get what you pay for" thread....

In 2021 Rage Ultra was $56/gallon. It is now $107/gallon. This my favorite filler, I like to mix it with Rage Xtra for the extra set time. I have been considering switching to 3m platinum but even it is in the neighborhood of $80/gallon.

I am also looking for a substitute for Evercoat Superbuild Polyester 4:1.

With all of the rebranding in the marketplace, has anyone found rebranded items that compare to the above items? Eastwood maybe? Wurth? Omni? Martin Senor? Tamco? I'm hoping to hear from someone with specific experience of the above items.

 

Look up Morton's Eliminator. I haven't paint a car for a while but used it in 1980 on my Model A and later on my 62 Vette and some OT cars and it has held up well
Looks like is is now about $75 per gallon.

 

I use 3m platinum, not cheap, but it works. What are you paying for your fill primer?

 

That Evercoat superbuild is 150-175 per gallon, Catalyst is $45.00.

 

No secret, putting up with this avenue of cars for a too long time. Have I tried ALL other products? No, but enuff including everyone's go-to Rage. Yet I always go back to this, and I'd put against anything else.


$28 to $35 bucks a gallon, easy, light wt, pinholes are a user/operator issue in all of em. It clogs less, mixes well with Metal Glaze for finesse (you lifers know what I mean). At the end of the day they're all polyester resin and cabosil.

 

I spent nearly two years painting my pickup including all the body work/blocking and wet sanding/polishing. I know those evercoat products are spendy but I paid it and I could not be happier with the end result. That 4:1 polyester primer of theirs (and months of block sanding) made my panels as flat as hell. I would have hated to have saved a few bucks and ended up with an inferior black paint job.

This isn't a "you get what you pay for" response, it is more of a "I'd rather spend more on items I don't want to do over again" kinda post.

 

well said !

so how many gallons would you use per car ?
So you are saving $ 27 per gallon (plus the extra hardener cost) to change to a product that you are unfamiliar with.
Will this mean that you have to spend more time getting used to a different product ?
What’s your time worth ?

or try @theHIGHLANDER ’s suggestion.
.

 

I cannot emphasize this enough!

Nobody should ever consider their time to have zero-value!

Your employer gets 8, at a certain rate. If they want to intrude on your personal time for a little while, the owe you 1.5x the agreed labor hour value. If they want even more, they owe you 2x the agreed labor hour value!

If you are performing work for yourself, outside of a regular job, your labor is worth no less than those two numbers.

For me, any time working that takes me away from time with my family is worth WAY more than that!

I do have questions for the OP:

Are you doing body work for other people? If so, pass the costs along to them.

In either case, might I ask as to why you are buying filler by the gallon?

I buy it by the gallon, but I am a shop. The last gallon that I bought is not yet empty, and it, in part, has been applied across four cars.

 

Clausen z-chrome polly. DTM. Works great in my worthless opinion. $200-$250 a gallon to use it.
PPG 2050 epoxy filler primer. $325-350 fir 1.5 gallons. I like it
ppg shopline etch and urethane. Cheaper than the above. Works well.
We use Autobahn primers at school
etch, urethane primers/sealers and epoxy. High build and regular primers.
Cheap. Does the job.

 

I use and love usc fuzion, about 1/2 that price.

.

 

I think some of you guys misunderstood....

I'm specifically looking for rebranded similar lesser name products.

For instance Eastwood....someone is making their filler. Im not talking about going to walmart and pulling a gallon of Bondo off the shelf....

 

For anyone thinking I was offering a "cheap alternative" to these monolithic ultra products? Well, in plain shop language you're as fuckin wrong as you can possibly be. I've been slaggin on 6 and 7 figure cars for decades. Literally decades. Nothing, NOTHING, I've ever tried has been soooooo much better I should pour $$$$ down the toilet and switch. Then again, maybe it's because I've never been the one to spread a qt at a time with a fuckin 24" trowel then carve a panel out of it. I mean, use what works for you but this shit is nothing more than a finishing aid for final surface development. Period. If I had a choice of putting my hard earned final finish over polyester or a low-mil urethane compatible substrate I'm taking the latter. But again, y'all do you, I answered a question with over 40yrs of dirty fingernail experience. I will give in on one score, my choice surely lacks the glamour and bragging rights.

 

I’ve always considered ever coat primer a cheap alternative to big name products.
Not a dig on the product.
So a cheaper version of an “off brand” product?

Oreos, Great Value sandwich cookies from Walmart, Clover Leaf cookies from Dollar General.

I like cookies

 

Me too!!!!

 

And what wrong with that? It's always worked fine for me, but I don't do $10,000 paint jobs, either....

 

The metal work is much more important.
Cheap filler does the same as expensive filler
Some just sand better than others and newer versions don’t need a 36 grit grinder.

 

Bondo brand is fine, if you don't mind putting the time into it, and watching more hot the floor.

 

If anyone gets near any bodywork in my sight with 36-grit, there might be blood spilled.

 

Well.....I for one am gonna take theHIGHLANDER's recommendation for the USC filler next time I order some. I luv Rage Ultra but I was as appalled as the OP when I went to order a gallon and saw the price had doubled from a few months ago! If the USC stuff sands as easily as Rage...I'll be happy. I hate sanding!!

 

Most of it ends up on the floor, at least with my jobs
so I tend to look for the best deals

 

Sorry, I've spent a lot of money and time to find out what works and doesn't work. And in the end you will buy whatever you can afford or what you believe is the best deal for you. So It's useless for me to tell you to buy the best because there is always someone who is going to tell you the cheap stuff is the same as the high dollar stuff. Filler, oil, Filters, ect... Heck it all comes from the same place right?

 

*Except when it doesn't.

 

We use cheap stuff to practice with at school. Low end 3m and evercoat.
Last year I bought one of the premium fillers to be used on project.
Before the class was over, a student asked permission to make an off the record comment. He called me an A-hole for buying the cheap crap for them to learn with.
Kinda hard to appreciate the higher end products without suffering thru the cheap stuff.
I’ll try to keep both around

 

There used to be a company in Riverview Michigan (1980’s) that made body filler, you could walk in and buy it direct cheaper than anything else around. It was great stuff, sanded out nice. Don’t remember the brand, used it on my 31 and it’s been on it over 35 years.

 

It's good to understand the vast difference between cheap and good.

 

Well this morphed into a good spot to ask so, what is REALLY so good about $107/gal filler? I used it when it was like $60-some a gal. My same choice as above was $18. I won't just be an obtuse dickhead (I am anyways) and say I didn't see any difference. It did set up a little harder for fine finishing really light wispy fills, but I always kept Metal Glaze on hand for such finesse work. Metal Glaze is also a low buck product for quicky fixes in my view. As to build, pinholes, set time, tack level, I found no difference worth 3X the money. And last but not least my 1st piece of board or DA paper was a throwaway with the Rage which was my main reason for the switch so long ago to Kromate. And on that topic here's a trick from your ol Uncle Jocko. I hate bondo dust no matter what flavor. I keep a Jackson brush and dustpan handy, but dig this. I save the dust til the job is done. "WTF...?" is on your mind huh. 2 words, oil dry. As you get to those last fills the tack surface sucks so I sprinkle the bondo dust on it a few min after it hardens. Sucks out a bunch of the sticky (they're all sticky) and let's you get to final finish with less angst. By now ½ of you are saying "I'll be damned..." and maybe of couple of you do it too. Back to the start, sell me on the glam...

 

Tell the kid he is welcome to buy and use whatever he wants as long as the rest of the class can use it as well.

I do crappy body work about once every 3-4 years for a couple months at a time, on my own junk. That is the limit I can stand. The cheap crap I bought this last time was better then the cheap crap I bought the time before that. I think this last time I bought 3 gallons, and at least one ended up on the floor. The expensive stuff would just means I would be throwing away more of my money faster.

 

He probably would compared to the cheap stuff we use for beginners.
But as a pro, the cheap stuff probably doesn’t save any money. Probably cost more to use. Especially when the repair metal finished correctly.

 

So, for us hacks who do driver quality paint, which is better to use, cheap filler and higher dollar paint, or high dollar filler and cheaper paint? Not looking for any best paint awards, just a good quality finish that lasts a few years.

 

High-dollar filler, and cheap paint.

The finished result will look high-dollar, provided that you prepare it properly.