Got to love the guys who every time this comes up swear that a full bodied steel assembled car can be metal finished with zero filler of any sort and have a straight as glass show finish. Someone post a pick of the side of a black car done this way. First be able to prove that you also painted the car and that you didn't drop it off at painter who then laid on a layer of filler end to end or used 20 coats of high build primer. If your idea of straight is a 50s show car then maybe. Do not bash me and go on and on just show the car. It is impossible to have a full bodied car by todays standards be done without some sort of filler. Besides the amount of years if at all possible how do you deal with braces? panel to panel fit? panel to panel level? long straight panel, etc, etc???? Guys see someone wheel a flat piece and say see you need no filler. That isn't going to happen with a full bodied car and honestly would be questionable on a 32. Again do not show me bare metal shots as they mean nothing in regards how the car looks in paint. This is a 50 year old car with panels that are not brand new and besides the metal damages also have corrosion somewhere on the metal you are fixing. Prove me wrong?? I am 100% into metal finishing and do quite a bit of it. But I am not going to BS anyone and say that I can get a 59 Cadillac 1/4 so straight that you can go straight from primer to color.
Great respect for all the art in leadwork - but! Can't see why anyone would use the stuff other than nostalgia. Tried it myself and man the silly putty is so much easier!
Lead won't crack?? Check out any G.M. roof to "A" pillar. Body filler will flex until the metal folds, Nether will compensate for poor metal work.
Nicely said. I try not to use body filler but I still do.I try to get it as close as I can first.There is nothing wrong with body filler.The only problem I have with it is when it is used to fabricate a 1/4 for a 59 Cadillac.
These threads always are a good laugh. A fucking new guy starts another thread and asks a question that could have been answered by using the search function the hamb is full of info but you have to "search for it" Then a guy like like me makes a statement like this Then guys jump on the band wagon and yeah, yeah what he said. Then guys like Garrycarter and Chopolds make very good points. Then Guys like Gotwood know exactly what hes talking about and makes several points that are totally valid. I am not going to take Gotwood's challenge cuz he's right a perfectly metal finished car that is "straight" will need multiple coats of primer and tons of blocking that's a given primer is what makes it straight. I have seen polished aluminum cars, cars made of copper and oh yeah steel cars that are amazing ect that dont need any filler but those cars have hundreds of thousands of dollars just in the sheetmetal you will see them at places like pebble beach not our crowd. If you read between the lines of what I initially said it wold be something like find someone that can metal finish as much of it as possible less filler the better period. Then again this is someone who asks a question about a car that does'nt really make sense 750HP in custom whatever. I made the statement just to throw rocks at the hornets nest of the hamb! It looks like it worked. Not interested in an argument over a thread that is a duplicate of so many others you guys all had good points well taken. Later Dave Hitch
Hey slimed8, I can't tell a thing 'bout stuffin' 750 horses into anything, but I think I can tell you alittle about lead, its' use, and "Fender-In-A -Can" and metalwork. Lead as a filler, has been around for as long as the automobile. It was traditionally used to fill small voids and weld seams in metal bodies. The term "Leadsled" was not known as a term of endearment, originally, but usually used to describe a vehicle that had alot of lead, used to cover some very marginal metal work. I'm told, in the early days of the collision repair trade, that metalmen had to provide their own lead, so this served as an inducement for the metalman to do top quality work. Lead, as a filler does have its' drawbacks, aside from the health issue. Most guys can learn to solder a flat, horizontal panel, but try runnin a repair across a roof or hood, or up a long flat door skin, not as easy. The damage a guy can do with a torch who's not sittin' on a good deal of experience with leading, can really add up! A leaded repair, when done properly, will have a good deal of ''flex'' to it. And than there's plastic (Bondo)! Plastic filler was invented in 1948, and has been around in some form ever since. The first plastic fillers were a real bitch to work with, either wouldn't harden completely or harden like cement (Black Knight Brand). They sanded poorly, or were covered with pin holes requiring more coats. By the 1960s plastic fillers had come along way. Sadly, this kinda also marked the end of "real Metalmen" except in restoration shops and high end sports car work. Almost overnight, any guy who could mix putty could call himself a metalman; the colision repair trade has never been the same! One of the few good things I can say about plastic filler is that it enabled alot of guys to keep from having become shoe salesmen, because if they had to earn a living as a "metalman'' as the trade was praticed in the 30s, 40s & 50s, they'd have starved! The use of plastic filler, if used in minumal amounts, will yield great results, provide some degree of flex to your repair area, and require very little actual skill. Whether you choose to take the time to learn how to metalfinish a panel, hammerweld a seam, lead up an area of the body that can't be metalfinished reasonably (double panels & panel edges) , only you can answer. These SKILLS will take some time to aquire. Or, you could jus' trowel filler and high-build surfacer from the nose to the ass of your project and learn to use words like "impossible" when describing skills you don't want to take the time to master. It is sad, but paint really can hide a multitude of sins. Good luck with your project, Swankey Devils C.C. " A little putty & paint makes a bodyman what he ain't"
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