body filler application

clementine said
Hellooooo FABO,
I have done a lot of body work on my car. It looks pretty good, but its my car. I now have a side deal that is going to require filler on someone elses car, so.......I am seeing different methods out there. Some say the paint must be removed, some say it just needs scuffing, and some are saying it needs to be bare metal then primed before filler applied.

What say you? its a rear quarter on a late model non mopar so Ill spare you the details on that, but only mention because it is a rust free situation with fairly thin metal.

Thanks fabo!!

My can of plastic filler says it can be applied over OEM paint. If you can keep from breaking into the metal you can skip the need for DTM primer or if the filler covers all of the bare steel, same deal. One drawback to doing it this way is that you have nothing to fill with the primer because your plastic is level with the topcoat. I do it all of the time. Sometimes I’ll fill a deep scratch with filler to keep the repair small instead of feathering everything out and filling with epoxies and polyesters.