The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop plastic fillers

not all of us have the talent to metal finish everything.and yes my all most 60 yr old sheet metal has its share of battle scars. there just seems to be to many choices in plastic fillers i un derstand you get what you pay for in things.but what is good enough and not just throwing money away or paying for the brand name.is the bondo brand any good? i just bought a little less of a quart of dura glass and the same of rage fillers and it was $35.00 now its obvious this isnt going to do my whole truck.so i'm looking at my options.went to autozone and they carry bondo brand which to my understanding is a division of 3m .they have a professional line called dynatron which is half the price of the rage.$42.00 for.8 of a gal vs $18.00 a gal for the dyna-lite whats your opinions.has anyone used this dyna-lite or am i just overthinking things as usual...................dave

I am not a professional body man by no means. My wife and I restored a 66 mustang coupe about 4 years ago and used bondo. Now we are restoring my deceased grandmother's 61 apache, our middle son, while in high school worked w/our son-in-law at his body shop. He suggested using rage. It made a believer out of us, bondo is not very forgiving after it hardens and is harder to work, and appears to be more brittle. I personally would suggest rage now. easier to apply and work. Costs a little more but our project was spread out over everal months and the additional cost did not hit our finances at once.

i used evercoat light weight filler its around 25.00 a gallon
i also bought a small can of bondo gold its their so called premium
filler with the red hardener its hard to tell when its mixed well.
the evercoat is white and the hardener i used is blue worked great
for me. if you are a newbe like me on filler work get a bunch
as most of it will end up on the floor.

I'm partial to the Dyna-Tron brand. Same company as Bondo, but it's their professional line, much better product. Dyna-Lite for the basic filler, and Putty Coat for glazing/spot filling. Both work very easily and finish out smooth. Bondo also has a catalized spot putty out that comes in a tube (like the old red glazing putty that takes forever to set up), it's somewhat like regular Bondo, but is much thinner in consistancy and applies much smoother.

Body Fillers that I have had a lot of success with are Z-Grip, Everglass (short strand fiberglass filler), and Rage Gold. Z-Grip is my first choice for building and smoothing small dents that can't be hammered out or pulled out. It sands great, no pin holes if you mix it properly and sticks to everthing very well. Everglass, I use as a first coat over any weld areas, just in case there is a slight pin hole in the weld, Everglass is waterproof. Z-Grip and Everglass can be applied to bare steel or over cured epoxy primer. I'll use the Rage Gold like a glazing putty, applied very thin. Or I use Icing (catalized) spot putty. The prices of all body fillers have gone sky high over the past couple of years. I was never happy with Bondo brand, Dyna-Tron, or Dyna-Lite, because I found them hard to work with and sand. But everbody has their own preferences. I would rather pay a couple of bucks more for a filler that works and sands easy, because it saves time and labor.

well i went and bought a small can of dyna- lite,i like the rage so i figure if i dont like the dyna-lite i'll chuck it. it was cheap enough..........dave

I have used various brands of plastic fillers over the years. I have found that for the money Z-Grip. I sands eazy, non clogging and no pin holes(when mixed correctly). I also use the BLUE cream hardener. The red will bleed through primers.

I have tried RAGE, but, felt it was no better than Z-Grip.

I have used Dyna-lite and thought it was hard to sand, clogged the paper and had a lot of pin holes. Besides, Z-Grips doesn't cost that much more.

Frank