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pet peeve (bodyfiller)

1K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  deadbodyman 
#1 ·
I've been in the body trade for 34 years and counting. You name it I've probably done it. I help the young ones that come in the shop to learn how to do bodywork paint and most of all of it. Get frustrated with some but that's that. Now my pet peeve. We get a bodyman or woman in that is suppose to have years of experience but don't grind the repair area to do body fill. BODY FILLER IS NOT MEANT TO BE PUT OVER PAINT! Please grind or DA the paint off down to the metal.If DA use 40 grit paper the filler needs a good surface to bite into and squeeze the first coat of filler on.
 
#2 ·
I remember being a high-schooler, laughing with my buddies at a car where a whole section of heavy bondo had dropped off of the relatively-flexible portion of the rear quarter behind the wheel...

Later on I figured I'd like that to never happen to me (starting by, doing better metalwork). The theory being that bondo and steel are dissimilar materials and the only going for the bond is physical "tooth", I would grind into that steel with sharp coarse paper and push a first thin coating into it as hard as I can before following it with any bulk at all. Paint is thin stuff meant to protect metal and look good, it's not going to hold body filler very well but it's amazing how many people just go with that. Getting back into old repairs when it happens, you find out what worked and what didn't.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Theres many (right ways) to do filler work ,it just depends on the car.
restoration work or any car that get stripped to metal gets epoxy primed before the filler .personally I would NEVER grind the paint off a car (for many reasons)its chem strip only followed by 80 grit da sanding Then epoxy and filler.
You wouldn't want to do this on production or insurance work though. If you have a big dent like a 1/4 panel that isn't getting replaced (cheap) THEN you would grind the paint off do the filler work then 2k prime.
for small dents you can certainly scuff the paint with 80 or 180 then do the filler work over the paint.
All said Ive also been doing this work for many ,many years (40) and the one thing I do know is there are many right ways to do a job and the right way to do one job is completely the wrong way to do another. but they are both right ways you just have to know when and where to do it which way but you need to know them all regaurdless or whats the sense in having all this experience if your only going to do it one way. funny thing I just noticed the pic of the frontier (top of my page) is my personal truck and that is a scuff with 180 and filler over paint, job. Nothing big just small to medium dents and dings I had a hard enough time spending 500 on paint why in the world would I do a 5000.00 paint job on an old truck that isn't worth 5,000.00 heck its barely worth the work I did do but I love this truck.
 
#5 ·
I haven't done bodywork half as long as any of you but didn't want it to seem like I missed this post so throwing my two pennies in. Theres not a question mark in the post anywhere.

2K glaze putty is OK over paint. Bodyfiller is OK over steel or epoxy. They can be mixed. My approach is to level the metal with filler then level the paint with glaze. I agree with the OP but rarely use a grinder or skip epoxy.
 
#6 ·
Yeah, polyester putty over "OEM cured" paint and of course 2k primers at least with Evercoat is recommended.





But it's also recommended to not use anything coarser than 80 grit at any time in the process.



Brian
 
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#7 ·
That's why filler edges are finished with 180 on a DA in my stall. A good featheredge after shaping is as important as prepping the steel underneath, in pursuit of invisible bodywork. Just an opinion. Lots of guys don't mind straight line or rotary sandscratches but whether expanding a surface for adhesion or preparing for the next material layer, IMO... orbital wins.
 
#8 ·
I look at it like this... Filler suck's up moisture from the air like a sponge.... (I know here anyway).. I spray epoxy primer first.. Because I DON'T want a Wet sponge against my bare metal.. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN !!!!:nono:

The epoxy first protects the metal from this...

(Filler put on bare metal)
I know filler has been done this way for many years, :pain:
And just maybe that is why we are FIXING all the RUST on these cars TODAY !!!:smash::smash::smash::smash::smash::smash:

People can do what they want, How they want.. I'm NOT doing it that way !!!!!:rolleyes::nono:
 
#9 ·
Filler on bare steel started long before there was a primer to seal the steel nobody in their right minds would ever use lacquer primer BEFORE filler so it was filler on bare steel.things are different these days ,theres a better way, epoxy on steel then filler on epoxy. Gotta change with the times as long as the change is better. one advantage is epoxy can be guide coated and blocked to find every single imperfection BEFORE doing the filler work not easily done on bare steel. Theres many, many other advantages to epoxy first, guide coating is only one
 
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