is there a painter in the house?

[cbartlett419]

Will traditional bondo effectively adhere to a painted surface? I have read some yes and mostly no. I have found some other 3m products that describe my application, but they are obscure and more expensive than traditional bondo from O'reily's. anybody have a thought?

[red baron]

body filler requires mechanical adhesion (a sandscratch) you sand where you want it to stick and it most likely will.


make sure to clean the surface BEFORE you start sanding.

I use 80 grit.


there is a problem though, due to the dissimilar materials, after painting you may see where the paint meets the filler (also known as the featheredge). if the featheredge is treated right this can be avoided but takes some time to master the technique.

so yes it will stick to a properly prepared surface.

[cbartlett419]

fixing featheredge just requires small steps in sanding, yeah? like 80 to 120 to 220 to 320 to 400

[Popeye the Sailor]

fixing featheredge just requires small steps in sanding, yeah? like 80 to 120 to 220 to 320 to 400

He can't tell you. It's a trade secret.

[red baron]

He can't tell you. It's a trade secret.

Nah, I just don't like filler on paint.

[Speedbag]

Filler over paint = bad. Unless you like bondoroids popping off at random.

Down to bare metal it must go.

[ducpainter]

Nah, I just don't like filler on paint.

Me too.

except...

on epoxy after an overnight dry...

and a sand scratch.

[cbartlett419]

  what about this stuff:



or

[mojo]

I really like Evercoat Rage filler.  If you know anyone from Finishmaster, they have a filler in their Smart line of products.  It's exactly the same as Rage, but it just has a different label. It spreads and sands really nice and feathers out excellent.  As far as putting it over paint, it's only when it blends into the featheredge of the paint.  I think I've liked all of the Evercoat fillers with the exception of the Z-Grip.  They make some really nice products.
If the 3M filler you found is the ZEBRA filler, I tried it, and it sands like concrete.

[Big Troubled Bear]

The only right way is to take it down to metal, and I think betweem myself Trouble and the master DP, there are consensus

[ducpainter]

I really like Evercoat Rage filler.  If you know anyone from Finishmaster, they have a filler in their Smart line of products.  It's exactly the same as Rage, but it just has a different label. It spreads and sands really nice and feathers out excellent.  As far as putting it over paint, it's only when it blends into the featheredge of the paint.  I think I've liked all of the Evercoat fillers with the exception of the Z-Grip.  They make some really nice products.
If the 3M filler you found is the ZEBRA filler, I tried it, and it sands like concrete.

You should try the rage gold...

even better.

[cbartlett419]

ugh....to the metal it goes, thanks for the insight guys.

[mojo]

You should try the rage gold...

even better.

Don't remember if I've ever tried the gold, but I have used the Rage Xtreme and that is a little too runny for my taste.

[red baron]

Don't remember if I've ever tried the gold, but I have used the Rage Xtreme and that is a little too runny for my taste.

Get the metal straight first.

[mojo]

Get the metal straight first.

  Whenever I used Xtreme on a large area of a vertical panel (door or quarter panel), it seems to sag a bit.  On vertical panels like hoods, it works great, and I'm sure it works just as good on smaller parts like moto tanks.