Body fillers

[teddy]

This is partly rant, partly informative, so read it with that in mind.


First of all, Bondo is not it's name. It is body filler. Bondo is a brand name, and as far as I am concerned, a brand name of crap body filler. Many people have success with it, I personally do not like it. No need to start an argument over it.

Secondly, there are many different types of filler available. Labeling them all as 'bondo' does no one any favors when you are trying to tell them how to do body repair for a specific project.

A common question is 'which filler should i use?'. I am going to lay this out using the brand of fillers I prefer, which are produced by USC.

Depends. Really, it does.

If you are doing custom fiberglass work or a heavy repair where there are some serious gaps/leveling to be done, I would recommend a product named Duraglass. It is a heavy plastic filler with fiberglass hairs impregnated in it along with actual fiberglass resin. Great for the base coat of a custom cowl, or filling the unsightly edges left on the tank after removing fairings for a fighter. Evercoat also makes one called Glass-Lite that I have used which is very similar to the Duraglass.

Light repair? Feather-Rite is another good one. I tend to use this on plastics that have small gouges after I have done plastic welding(when needed). Sands great, minimal pin-holing. Martin Senour's Micro-lite is a similar product for less money.

Need to touch up a pin-holed filler spot or have a very minimal scratch to fill? Icing is the BOMB. Super lightweight, stupid easy sanding, NO pinholing at all.


I'm not a body man by trade, many of you guys are and probably have different ideas and reviews of these and similar products. Feel free to post up if so. I just wanted to get something like this started so people had a direction to start with.

[steves]

I've also talked to people who have had good results using ABS Cement to repair plastic panels.

I have done plastic welding using ABS rods.

They also sell a two part epoxy type of stuff for it too.

Make sure you pick a repair material that matches your original surface!

[teddy]

I've also talked to people who have had good results using ABS Cement to repair plastic panels.

I have done plastic welding using ABS rods.

They also sell a two part epoxy type of stuff for it too.

Make sure you pick a repair material that matches your original surface!

Last line says it all. Plastic welding is the best way to repair cracked and broken plastics, then you can go with a filler to finish off whatever may be needed after the initial welding is done.

[Kreylyn]

Last line says it all. Plastic welding is the best way to repair cracked and broken plastics, then you can go with a filler to finish off whatever may be needed after the initial welding is done.

+1

Krey

[steves]

Light scratches are easier to fill with body filler... and I'll admit to having used it in the past. But I've never had any problems

[loudnlow7484]

I've had a lot of luck with regular Bondo body filler. I've also used Dynalite Gold (I believe that's the name), but I hated it. Hard sanding, zero flex..... it just doesn't fit the things I do with it. I've only used Duraglass (kitty hair, bondo-glass, and many other names people call it) when I need to fill something BIG! I've used Bondo brand spot putty with moderate success for filling the pinholes left by Bondo brand body filler.

Bondo brand fiberglass resin is ok..... just ok. The best stuff I've ever used came from a marina in town here (from their bulk drums of it), and if I was doing something serious I would trust a marina to provide good resin since they've got a lot riding on it. I'd probably spring for epoxy resin if it's for something that will contact fuel on a regular basis, but I've never had a problem using polyester resin (what most fiberglass resins are). The 5 gallon drums of resin that Select Products sells are good stuff too, but that is pretty much my reference for resins since I've used probably 80% Select Products bulk resin, 15% marina bulk resin (which oddly is kind of a blue/green color... dunno why), and 5% Bondo resin.

[kevin2502000]

Ever coat is the shiat.

[bob393]

Plastic welding is the way to repair plastic cracks! Period!

I have had great success doing it on a Colman canoes which some people would say is un-repairable!
The trick on a bike is the top filler so you can prime and paint it. I used to use a product called Nitrostan, I think that's the right spelling, it comes, came in a yellow tube? It's a red spot putty but I don't know how flexible it is. Anyone else familiar with the product or used it on a bike?

[Mojoe]

my favorite filler of all time is White Lightening by Marson. I have been using it for...oh....maybe 30 years now. not each and every time because for some reason the local sellers don't carry it from time to time, so when I am buying and find it, I usually pick up an extra can. It is a 3M product and works on wood, fiberglass, aluminum and steel. I have also used it with great success on plastic fairings. however, this is sandblasted plastic...not smooth plastic.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Marine/Home/Products/Catalog/?PC_7_RJH9U5230GE3E02LECIE20S4K7_nid=F97Q7S04RGgsS38K155C5RglSR81JF51G8bl

Feather-Rite is also great stuff.

Also, Bondo makes a pretty good plastic repair that is designed for car bumpers and such that need flexibility. Like teddy, I am not crazy about their bondo. I find it sets to hard and and is not easy to file. imho, that is the key importance to any filler.....how well it files. you don't notice so much with small spots, but you certainly do when doing a fairly large spot on a quarter panel or something. my guesstimate is 2x the work compared to Marson or feather-rite.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Marine/Home/Products/Catalog/?PC_7_RJH9U5230GE3E02LECIE20S4K7_nid=VNHPQFB7GBbeS38K155C5Rgl

there are several decent brands out there.....except for Mar-Hyde. I stay away from that crap. it always created a headache of some sort whenever I used it.

btw.....pretty much all of it is 3M. they are the parent company of most of these brands.