As many of you may know, those of us in the auto body biz are forever harping about not using excess bondo when you have bodywork done to your Mavericks and Comets. The results will be disappointing. This is an example of what happens when bodywork is done incorrectly. In this case, the car in question is a 1967 Chevy II Pro Street that we painted a few years ago. The cars owner bought the car already tubbed out and wanted a few small dents removed and a custom paint job applied. The car had two major problems: both quarter panels had long cracks in them which baffled the cars new owner. We explianed to him that they were most likely caused by too much bondo or poorly installed tubs. The only way to know for sure was to grind out the bondo and see what was causing the cracks. Keep in mind the cars owner knows absolutey squat about bodywork. The owner insisted that the previous owner had put new panels on the car after it was tubbed, and he just wanted the cracks puttied over. His choice. He spent a small fortune on the custom paint job, only to have the cracks in the quarters return less than a year later. Now the car is back in our shop and the owner is still baffled. This time, my hubby took a grinder to the one quarter. Underneath that pretty paint job was 3/4 of an inch of bondo and the seams were the quarters were split were not welded together and had started to rust. And that was the GOOD quarter. Now the guy will have to spend another small fortune to have the quarters redone the right way and repainted. Let his misfortune be a lesson to anyone of us who are planning to either have someone do your bodywork or are planning to do it yourself. use as little bodyfiller as you possibly can and do it right the first time. It will save you a ton of money and frustration later on down the road.
Jean, AMEN!!!!!!!!! That is abuse of bondo for sure. How can people live with themselves after doing that?? Dan
You know what the scary part is? We haven't dug into the other quarter panel yet and the cracks are worse on that side. The car's owner stopped by today and we showed him why his quarters were cracking. He had the strangest, blank look on his face. He had no idea at all of what he was looking at. Don't get me wrong. The man is by no means stupid. He just does'nt know anything at all about bodywork. We told him the first time around that the quarters would most likely crack again, but it just didn't register. You could say he is going to get a very expensive education this time.
Looks like a little fiberglass under the bondo and putty. Body filler isn't a bad thing if done properly. As far a puttying the cracks "the customer is always right".. We get people like that too, don't want to spend what it'll take to do the job right sometimes.
I have read that Bondo brand body filler dries much harder than other brands and cracks easier. Supposedly even cheaper body filler from an auto paint supply house is better than using bondo since it will retain some flexibility and prevent cracking.
I found 1/2 inch of bondo under the front of my rear wheel well along with about 30 holes where the guy must have used a dent puller. I don't know why he did that when he could have just pounded out the dent from the inside of the car. I wish I took a picture. I ground out the bondo and my whole garage was covered with dust. Anyways, I welded all the holes shut but the dent is pretty bad so it's gonna need body filler. I don't want to have to cut and weld a patch or replace the quarter so I'm gonna have the shop pound it out as best they can and then use body filler. I think it will be OK... it's only gonna be a racecar anyways. If it was my Grabber, I'd fix it right. My other dilemma with the race Mav is that it has a cheap paint job over the original paint. I don't want to strip the whole car down before having it painted. Any other options like roughing it up and applying primer?
What do you expect on an old Cheby!! I thought that's how all of them were put together from the factory!!! J/K
I saw the forboding you had about that Chevy when we stopped over. Seems that you were right. When I had the PoliceMav painted, we went over the body first. There was a LOT of Bondo in the driver's quarter. There were cracks everywhere. The stuff should be banned!!
Wes: I had always wondered how much bondo the previous owner had put on that quarter panel of the Texas 4-door. I had always assumed replacement would have been necessary. I'm sure it was a mess. Any pictures of the car during the restoration or after? Hint...hint
Some people should be banned from doing body work. I pulled the front end of my 57 Ranchero and found that and worse. The lower fender mounts were rusted away so whoever did it, put long sheet metal screws through the lower fender, into the cowl side panel to pull the lower fender in. Then he bondoed over the screw heads.
Call me backwoods, but I still think fillers are amazing. When used correctly they will last 20 years or more. My Stallion is proof of that, but the primers and stuff are shrinking now and the body is getting wavy. Someday will give into painting it. Dan
