Body Work Tutorial

Next I will go into spreading filler. There are a lot of little tricks that can make life much easier for you. A lot of people just grab a wad of filler and slap it on as fast as possible. I do it a bit different and maybe it will help.

First off lets discuss two types of filler spreading techniques.

1. Tight coat.
2. Fill coat.

Your tight coat is the very first thing you should do. Take your filler and scoop some up with your spreader. Then very tightly press the filler into the panel, you can actually use a lot of force with this. The idea is to press the filler into the sand scratches. This does two things, eliminates any small air pockets under the filler, and second it helps adhesion by pressing the filler into the sand scratches to HOLD the filler to the panel.

Fill coat. The fill coat is the second process, (remember both of these all happen very fast and you do them both the same time you are spreading filler. The fill coat is where you lightly spread the filler over the top of the tight coat to get your fill. Just lightly glide the filler over the top.

Edges, I always like to taper the end of my filler spread instead of leaving a large glob or ledge at the edge. This will help you sand the area in the end. Remember the key to spreading filler is to make it as easy to sand as possible.

In the pictures you can see my tight coat, and then my fill coat. Sorry I didn't get time to take many pictures it all goes fast, you can even see that by taking pictures my filler started to harden at the end. After the fill is complete I spray some guide coat on the filler to help find low spots.

I also included one photo of how NOT to spread filler... If you are spreading filler over a large area, sand it, and find say a low spot in one area. Do NOT spread filler over only that area. Two reasons why, first it is very hard to get something straight by only sanding one area, and trying to get them to blend together... secondly.... take a look at the color difference of the two... yes that's right... nobody can ever mix two fillers alike with the same amount of hardener.... why is this a problem? The two different color fillers will have different sanding properties and actually sand differently than the other, this will cause one to sand easier, and the other harder... this will cause the panel to become harder to get straight.