In the next couple of weeks im gonna try my hand at doing some bondo and painting i've learned a little bit from helping my dad. anyone have any tips for me?

 

watch as many youtube videos as you can. and read as much as you can.

 

I like to mix my bondo on a piece of flat glass. I use an old piece of a window.. It will not absorb any of the bondo - don't use cardboard! and is easy to clean. I put a ball of bondo on the glass and a proper length of the hardener next to it. I use two of the yellow spreaders about 4 inches long to mix it. Use one and then use the other to wipe it off the first back onto the glass until mixed. After putting the bondo on the car I scrape any left over off of the spreaders and the glass with a 1" wood chisel. Then I take some paint thinner on a paper towel and finish cleaning the glass, spreaders, and chisel. If you keep all of this clean you will do a better job. If not you will get chunks of old bondo in the new on the car and if your spreaders aren't clean and straight edged you will drag grooves in the new bondo as you spread.

Hope this helps a little!

 

body filler is very tricky and be sure not to apply a ton of it. IIRC it shouldn't be more than 1/8" thick

 

Be sure to spread the filler flat on the mixing board so you have more time to work with the filler. Heat will make the filler cure faster, letting it sit in a ball or in a big thick puddle will make it gel up faster. Start with a tight coat on the panel first and slow apply filler to build to the desire height. mix 50 parts filler to 1 part hardener.

 

Use a cheese grator on your first hand of bondo to get that first even layer and it will show you any dents left..

I use cardboard all the time, it's not the best but it works when we don't have the disposable mixing paper. Blow off all areas before applying bondo and if your left with the little pin holes, you can fill this with a very thin layer of metal glaze. Final grit I'd use before shooting primer is a 180. And after you lay the primer down, get any rattle can paint and feather on a guide coat to know how much primer to sand (Really help).

If its a silver or gold metallic kind of color, you gotta at least finish the primer with a 600 grit before paint, and when painting, between ever coat of paint (besides the last) you can lightly sand the paint to remove any dust in the paint or w.e (really helps too)

 

Cardboard is fine, that's what every body shop uses. It can be up to 1/4 inch thick. Best filler out right now is 3m platinum plus, it has great adhesion you can even put it over paint in a skim coat or to fix a small imperfection or rock chips. It puts evercoat rage gold to shame, and it's cheaper!

 

Watch the YouTube channel McQueenpaint he's a good teacher

 

Bondo SHould be a max of 1/8 thick, and applied over a 80grit sand scratch. Cardboard is crap as there are wax's and nastyness that can cause issues with bondo. Plus you can get a bondo board for a few bucks. I personally like the bondo brand bondo spreaders as they are more giving and allow alittle more control. I use PPG products alot but have been looking into Dupont products for price. PPG is a far better product but since dupont has been steping up their product line alot so I am going to have to run some test on them. Pick up a metal file some dura blocks, 11" and 6", one 5" soft bock for sanding. You are going to need PSA 80 grit, 180 grit, and 320. Get wet 400, 600, 800, 1500, 2000, 2500. I like meguires cut and polish..

 

NNEEVVERRR use cardboard as a mixing board as Hidenplanvew stated. with the wax they put on cardboard, you may get some fish eye developing when you paint.

 

You might want to re read what I typed... like the part about cardboard is crap and has wax...lol

 

lol, sorry, meant to say...*as Hidenplanvew stated*

 

its cool, just wanted to give you a little ****

 

to each his own, I've used both boards and cardboard and never had a problem, and of coarse the surface must be prepped first. my advice is to go with an entry level base-coat and clear-coat. since its your first paint job it wont be perfect and thats fine you'll learn from your mistakes as far as what will end up showing and what wont[if you can feel it then when you paint it you'll def be able to see it]. and get a set of durablock sanding blocks, they're worth their weight in gold lol.