Originally Posted by DAYCLONA
[quote=PhillyRag]
Quote




Seems to be that to determine IF a shop does "good" body, Check out what/how much "bondo" they have in-house.
If gallon cans >>>>> Run Forest Run.



The west coast "technique" for decades has to been cover the entire vehicle in bondo even if it's not needed, and carve it to shape, personally I'd rather spend some hammer/dolly time to straighten panels, along with time spent to align/tweak panels as well, then block several coats of high build primer to "straighten" the body, but for the majority, time and money is their concern, so bondo, putty/fillers/creams/etc are their short cut to "perfection" to hide hack work...that's a shame when you try to make a name in the hobby, I see it in almost all the "big name" shops/restorers, some more than others


I work at a custom car shop. The body shop we use charges us for metal work, body work and paint work well over $100,000 for a “nice” job. All the big name shops cover the cars in filler and sand smooth. There is no other way to get the body perfectly straight. If you say that is not true then your using you filler primer incorrectly. Every time you strike metal with a hammer and dolly your altering the thickness of the metal making it thinner in spots. That extra metal needs to go somewhere and that is what creates waves. When you sand down the waves you create thin spots in the metal and that is even worse than .015 thick layer of filler.

....there is nothing like driving my 1968 Hemi Dart around town and having people looking at you like you're nuts!!