The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop How do you find body putty ?

My truck was originally resto'd by some 'dude' in the deep south...Shade tree kinda guy..or so I've heard. I've found no end of BS in this truck and spent thousands replacing it. I know there's bondo in certain areas but I find that a magnet does not tell you all you wanna know. So..just what is the way to find it all ? Not sure I really want to, but would like to know if I can.

Its not easy of the paint job was done right. If you see cracking anywhere, or take a flashlight and look in the rear cab corner cavity, but really if the truck is straight and there is no appearance of a problem, I wouldn't worry too much.

The alternative is you can be OCD like me and just tear the truck clear down and sandblast everything. Then you are in for a minimum of 2 years of work. It reminds me of when I was much much younger and picked up an absolutely stunningly gorgeous girl in a bar. Funny how different she looked in the morning! Of course that never happened, but you get the idea! Sometimes looking too hard is a bad thing.

They do make devices to check the body filler thickness. Never tried one though. I've heard of them as filler detectors and paint thickness testers.

Dennis

The Filler Detective

Decades ago, I bought a $10 magnet-gauge for this purpose.

Jeez and here I thought thats what those refrigOrator magnet biziness cards I get in the Parts orders were for

If it sticks, no filler... if it doesn't there's either filler or too much paint!!!

Since magnets are not magnets, this is hard to do these days. Since the rare earth mineral market has been taken over by the Chinese, yesterdays magnets are not the same as todays magnets, which over time, yesterdays magnets have gotten weaker when todays magnets have gotten erroneous. In other words, its not a good indication *but better than nothing* of bondo depth.

Its common practice on body parts to skim about an 1/8th inch of filler on the part, then sand to smooth perfection. I think the moral of the story is not to gauge the quality of your truck by the amount of bondo, but the smoothness of the work.

The reason as I have found many times over is that fenders, hoods, cabs, etc from the 1950's have lots of very very Unnoticeable hail, rock, USE damage over them that you simply cant see but when you skim coat the entire surface, then sand properly, you wont even believe how necessary the skim coat is.

Bondo is your friend if used properly.

I seem to remember growing up around a bunch of body men who knew how to use a hammer, a dolly, a vixen file, and a tiny bit of lead, and they produced perfectly metal-finished surfaces without cheating with body filler. High-build primers didn't exist, and thick baked enamel paint was only used by cut-rate body shops. Lacquer paint just didn't tolerate anything but a perfectly smooth surface.
Jerry

There can be telltale signs of body filler in a panel, but if this guy did a good job & blocked everything, you wont find it.

if you are going that far with it & redoing everything, then just strip it down to bare metal & start over, at least you'll know what you have. & then you can correct any mistakes the previous guy made.

I agree with CASO. I've bought and sold vehicles for years and take a little credit card magnet with me whenever I'm going to evaluate a car or truck. Does it stick, stick slightly, fall off--it seems to work every time to tell if it is just a skim job or put on with a trowel.

Yeah but its a little bit insensitive to not support the economy by not spending stupid money on high tech solutions... You better watch out!