[Lizer]

I can't see this filling in an all-out hail dent however. Guess it depends how bad the hail dent it.

[John long]

I agree. Not what I would use.

John L

[swvalcon]

If you put enough of it on it will fill them but not the way to do it. This stuff when it startes to crack if put on too thick comes off in sheets.

[John long]

That is the point swvalcon. Years ago when lacquer was the material of choice novices would try to fill small dents with lacquer glazing putty in a tube. It worked.....for a few weeks. When we push the requirements for a product beyond their design capabilities we are asking for trouble. It just takes to much time and money to prepare a car for paint not to do everything possible to guarantee long term success.

John L

[jcclark]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

This stuff FILLS just about anything you want, but like any product it has it's limits. You could literally tape a dime to a fender and bury it with five or six coats! BURY it!

I did a test one time and as I remember I got 14 mils with three coats.

Brian

So if you spray a panel with enough to fill hail dents
(which is less than a dime) and sand off everything exposing only
the dents that are left filled, wouldn't that be fine?
If it's not durable enough at the thickness of a hail dent how
can you use it anywhere? It would be a useless product.

[tech69]

that would be a waste of money to fill hail dings with SS and you'd have to apply multiple applications cause it would be too many coats. I personally don't think of poly primers as a way to hide bad bodywork or imperfections. I go about my business in the bodywork stage as if it's getting primed with one coat of lacquer primer. I use it to get a lazer straight finish with less applications of primers. To me, that's the major difference between a 2k and poly. Just one less prime n block session. As a bodytech I started in restoration and started with poly primer, so when I worked at a cheap insurance ran company that wanted to only put one coat of waterbase primer on everything you quickly get a wake up call. That job was a blessing cause it taught me to keep my work extra clean so now when I use the poly it's a cake walk, but I don't think it lends a hand at keeping your body skills polished, that's for sure. In any case, poly primer is not a substitute for filler. It's a primer.

[MARTINSR]

Very good way to look at it Henry. You have a good head on your shoulders.

Brian

[John long]

Ditto... JL

[deadbodyman]

You can actually make molds with slick sand...Back when it first came out they had little model cars they filled up with it they were about 2" high so you can actually go that thick without it cracking ,,,WE ALL thought it was Gods gift to us body men ..I do believe if you built a box around a car then filled that box with slick sand all the way up to the roof ,then removed the box when the slick sand dried you would have a car that looked like a block with wheels....then you get out the chesils and belt sanders and you could sculpt any car you wanted out of this stuff... hell, you could make a Lambo out of a geo...or a pinto
That'd be pretty fly for a white guy

[MARTINSR]

I saw examples of it sprayed on plastic at NACE once that you could bend pretty tight and it didn't crack.

Brian

[Lizer]

Like an alligator, it can fully digest a turtle shell!

Anyways, I figured I would report back that I very much DO like this stuff now. I hit it with my 180 block and it started coming off in sheets, even with my 220. I found this was a case where trying to cut it down with 80 initially was absolutely pointless. That 80 grit would just bounce right over the top of it and not bite at all, even my '80 grit-turned 100 grit'. It blocked awesome with 220 even though I sprayed it several nights ago.

The other really cool thing is you can literally block the low dark guide coat spots away if you just keep sanding...this stuff builds so much. This was after just one coat. After the first round of blocking I had a lot less guide coat spots than when I started. I've blocked the first coat almost entire off now.

I'm planning on shooting another 3 coats today and I'm guessing that's probably all I will need.

[Lizer]

Now for the important update...I shot two more coats without the filter in the gun. Made all the difference in the world.

I pretty much only have time to shoot 1/2 a quart a time and then it's used up. I blew some lacquer thinner through the gun, mixed up another 1/2 quart, then shot that for the second coat. Two coats and I still hadn't filled some of my 80 grit scratches... You have to go SLOW when spraying this stuff on, but still. I went over and over those scratches in some spots.

Anyone see any reason why you can't just shoot the low guide coat spots once it's all blocked and then block again?

[John long]

Josh, I assume you have touched bare metal at the high spots or close to it. When you begin your final blocking if you touch bare metal you will begin to build a lump since you will be sanding the low spots around it but will not be able to. bring down the high spots below the level of the bare metal. You can shoot extra build in the low areas but you had better shoot some all over if you have hit metal anywhere. Remember this is your final block and you want one consistent primer coat for you final color coat.

John L

[MARTINSR]

You have to remember "Filling" scratches requires sanding off the top. There is NOTHING (generally speaking) that is going to "fill" scratches when you sand over them making it unable to see them without first sanding it flat.

BELIEVE ME that polyester primer WILL fill 36 grit scratches with two or three coats EASY! I have done it, I have did tests where it was abused! I did some dents on an friends car with his permission as a test. I sanded filler with nice new sharp 36 grit sandpaper and feathered the paint around it with 120. I applied three coats (as I remember it was 3, it may have been 4) and blocked it with 180, then 320, then 400 then 600 and painted black basecoat clear coat over that. Six months later I saw some of the 400 grit scratches that I missed and the bs/cc shrunk up a bit. But the 36 grit, NOTHING.

Brian

[Lizer]

Oh I believe you. This stuff has quite possibly been the best $90 I've spent on this car in a while. I NEVER would have been able to get it as straight as it is with this stuff. It's amazing. My driver's door is blocked completely flat now. My roof (which looked like a dairy cow) is blocked flat (well half of it), my trunk lid is almost flat, I need to work on it some more. It's really done wonders to that roof. And my hood scoop...well that's the show case today because it was most impressive.

It's a fiberglass part so you are all too familiar with how wavy those are. Everywhere there is a support ribbing underneath you could feel it on the top, and your hand would just go up and down as you ran it over the top. I really thought I was going to have to skim it first, but I wanted to try an experiment with the slick sand. This thing looked TERRIBLE when I sanded the epoxy before shooting the Slick Sand. Low spots galore.

The first two pictures below is after two coats of slick sand and blocked. Still some pretty big lows. The next two pictures are after another 3 coats and blocked as much as I could before I was going to break through. ALL the guidecoat was sanded off and the scoop was completely flat to the hand except for 1 or 2 small spots on each side. I'll probably glaze these but they are shallow. I spent so much time blocking it I don't want to have to block that slick sand off again.