trouble using bondo

you can get the filler honey at most paint supply stores....normally comes in a can.

you add it to your body filler and it thins it out and makes it more the consistency of "honey" .....fills in imperfections easier as it "flows" out.....and makes the filelr easier to sand when you use it in your final stages of body filler work.

for large flat surfaces you will want to try to use a long block to sand with or use a paint stick with sand paper wraped around it (stick sand) the more you do this, the flater it will get.

do not use this approach on areas with contour or you will end up with flat spots.

you want to make sure you prep your metal for body filler well as was mentioned above....you can either blast the metal or you can take a grinder to the metal and give it a slight roughing up .....this will give the body filler something to stick to so it does not fall off of the body in the future.

as was mentioned for your welds.....for example if you replaced a tail panel.....you can either do what the factory did and fill the seems with lead....or you can use a duraglass filler to fil lthem....which is basically a resin compund with pre mixed in fiberglass fibers for strength.

then you would grind that down as much as you can and you would want to go over the top of that with your body filler (bondo or whatever brand).

you need to take into account the temperature of the area you are doing filler work in though!!!! lets say you are working in 90 degree weather in florida.....you are going to want to use less hardener because heat/and or humidity will make your filler tack up and harden alot faster than it should.

lets say you are working in 40 or 30 degree weather in the north....you might want to add slightly more hardener to speed up the reaction process that the cold is trying to slow down.

normally I find that one good sized bondo paddle full of filler ( about a cup full) works great in about 60-70f weather with about a 2" long line of hardener squirted on top.

as always, make sure it is mixed well before applying.

you want to apply the filler to the areas you plan to work on.

let it sit for a few minuites.

then tapp the body filler with your finger to check if it is hardened up enough yet (should be sticky and almost rubbery feeling) at this point is when I pull out my cheese grater (saves a ton of elbow grease and sand time and sand paper)....you use the grater to knock down the body filler CLOSE to where it should be. then you can let it harden more for a few minuites after you are done....At which point you can THEN start to work on sanding the body filler.

(quick tip.....after applying your body filler....use your paddle to scrape off any remaning filler on your mixing plate and then squish you paddle into the blob of filler you scooped up. why do this? for one.....when the filler drys you simply pull on your paddle and it pops right out of the dried filler (which means no clean up needed on your filler paddle) reason 2 is.....you can poke your finger in the blob of body filler you scooped up to check and see how hard it is and it will give you a good idea to know if the filler on your car is ready to be worked).

after you have gone through the steps to knock down the filler on your car you may have to do 1 or 2 or 3 extra coats in spots.

mix up another batch and hit any critically low spots again and go through the grating process and sanding process again.

then you can mix up a honey coat or skim coat.....(smoother lighter easier to sand) and go over with a final coat and then sand it all off.

then if you are confident things are really close you can prime the car .

then you can either visibly see imperfections if any or feel them...you may have to do some minor filling with some more glaze or something to get it just right.

those are the basics...of course it all depends on how bad the body is,if you have expeirience in the area,the temperature of the area,the products you are using,when you feel comfortable that its straight enough to prime,if you use guide coats in between your work,if you run into and fudge ups lol....and there are alot of things to factor in......but atleast there are a few ideas for you to look over. good luck!