Why is it that everyone always wants a car with "no bondo". People always want a 30+ year old vehicle with no bondouzzled: Most of these cars were bought for daily drivers when new. Dents are bound to happen sooner or later unless you park your car in a bubble and never drive it.:boring: I personally think bondo was one of the best things invented for autobody repair. If you know how to work with it, it keeps your car straight and you can't tell its under the paint by eye. Now don't get me wrong, original cars that have never been painted or touched up are nice too. But theirs not many like those left. My car has had 13 owners before me since it came to Canada in 72:shock: So naturally, theirs some bondo in it. But wouldn't you rather have a straight car with bondo than a wavy car with no bondo? I once completely re did a body on a car for a guy, and it razor straight when I finished with it (with some help of trusty ole bondo) Then a couple months later(after I painted it) he tells ME theirs "no bondo" in his car!:shock: Sorry for my rant:rant: but sometimes it bothers me how little people understand autobody repair. I feel better now:laugh: :beer
Nothing wrong with bondo as long as it's used correctly. Using it to fill rust out on a nice car is the worst application I can think of.
Bondo Hi Joe - I don't think anyone has a problem with Bondo, I don't. Its in how it is used. Many repairs are made with too much bondo which as you know can fail and cause problems down the road. Its ok when used as a thin filler on solid metal. The issue I have is that it can and is used to hide many more serious problems, (RUST!!!:blast: ), accidents blast: ), or mis alignments blast: ). Its the dishonest representation when used to hide imperfections and advertised as "no bondo, rust, etc" to increase a car's value and price on the unsuspecting that is the issue. :af: If you find out there is bondo you begin to suspect bigger problems. Thats why I believe pictures are important when repairing and painting a body! - Bill
Naturally, bondo gets it's reputation from over-enthusiastic and under-skilled use. The secret is to remove the rust first, lol Vinyl filler was standard on some cars, like the Superbird, as I recall- it used a different rear window, and a filler piece was fitted, then feathered out with body plastic.
Easiest way to detect Bondo is with one of those plastic flexable refridgerator magnets that looks like a business card. Wipe it with a clean rag, and stick it to known problem areas like rocker panels, rear lower fenders, dog-leg quarter area....etc. nothing wrong with a skim coat to hide imperfections in the metal.....using it fo cover holes over mesh is another story ou:
Corvette owner don't seem to mind a Bondo car... I think it's when the bondo looks as if it was used to put out a car that was on fire. 4" thick and splattered with holes, shrinkage, or cracks... With a fiberglass base, then a skim coat of bondo, it's as good as a fiberglass body.
When you got to paint a car black it's a good good thing to have. One or two skim coats of this stuff over the enter body and block sanding it down produces one of the finest finishes a man could ever want . Go Bondo ! I do agree with the fact that some people do use " newspapers / screen / mesh / socks / and a numerous amounts of other items to fill there rot holes. WHICH IS WRONG OF COURSE! but you know some people do it anyways.
Yes, I agree its neccessary to remove all rust and patch all holes before applying bondo. Actually, I had an 88 S-10 and i kept the bottom of the drivers side fender as a conversation piece on how Not to use bondo. Theirs 2 small strips of metal on the edges and the rest is about 2 1/2 of bondo lol! If its used as it should (on small dents or waves) I think the stuff is great. It just has a bad rep. (probably from over-enthusiastic and under-skilled use as Chris said) It just agitates me when uneducated people claim their car has no bondo(when it really does) just because they think its a bad thing. I've seen my share of cars tho, and I realize where the rep comes from now:bglasses:
On the whole, I have no problem with bondo. The problem is when the whole car is Bondo. And that happens a fair bit.
Before I met the body shop owner that restored my car, only type of body work I knew of came in a can! Mike insisted he wouldn't take the car unless I allowed him to replace any hidden damage with new steel. He proved to be a real craftsman, welcomed me or anyone else to review his work. Glad I stuck with him. Minimal use of bondo as a skim over a repair area, 99% removed during the block sanding.
whawhawhat I had several Corvettes and I hated bondo. Never used (Bondo) in my repairs always Fiberglass and were necessary bonding adhesive like the factory. Always built out the glass with glass and or SMC resin depending on the year. Clyde
Speaking of "incorrect uses of Bondo": I had a buddy that owned a 280z. One day while he was driving down the road he hit a bump and the frame over his rear axle just broke and collapsed. Apparently the frame had rusted out badly before he bought the car and the former owner had patched it up with Bondo and repainted it so it would look like new. Once he started looking for bondo on the body panels, he realized that aside from the engine, tranny, and interior, the car was a total loss. - Freed
We always say that at any car show around here, every car in attendance probably has some Bondo or plastic body filler (with the possible exception of Corvettes and late model cars), and if there is a car there that doesn't have ANY...well it probably needs some! The chances of a mass produced producion auto having 100% perfect straight sheetmetal is pretty slim without some filler somewhere. The problem with body filler is that many (most) times the metal isn't properly worked first to minimize the amount of body filler required. If used properly, the vast majority of plastic body filler should end up on the floor in the form of sanding dust!
i heard about a guy that bought a " restored " rustang up at carlisle a while back, and come to find out that the subframe had rusted away, and some jerk just filled it up with bondo and made it look great. anybody who uses bondo for structural repairs on a load bearing part like that should be put in jail. lucky it didnt kill somebody. lots of scammers out there. henry
What really swells my 'nads is 75% of the idiots that say "I don't want any bondo" either have no clue what it is or are too young to remember what the original problem was with bondo. Most bodymen old enough to remember when it first came out thought it was the miracle filler and you could load it on as thick as you wanted. Problem was the early plastic fillers were garbage and even worse when applied too thick. It would crack or fall off in 6 mos due to miss use. I keep a magnet in my desk so when I get the famous line, I put the magnet on the sail panel and watch it fall off and say "see, you've got it from the factory!" Their jaw always drops. Another thing I tell them is "does your home have sheet rock?" and of course they all say yes. "Well, bondo is to metal like sheetrock compound (mud) is to to sheetrock. It's a filler for FINISHING repair work!" If that doesn't work I resort to the old "Okay......we don't do this for everybody, but we can use this ultralite plastic filler with space age microspheres (showing them the writing on the can)" ou: :spank: :rant:
