A myth about Bondo

                                                     Rust underneath cracked Bondo

“ I want to make sure you understand,” exclaimed long time Burbank resident Charlie Miller while dropping off his late model Chevy Tahoe at Burbank Body  Shop for collision related repairs:” I don’t want any Bondo on my car and I want all original parts.” Charlie is not the only customer to express this sentiment about Bondo in recent years .What’s wrong with Bondo?

Major manufacturer of automotive related products, 3M developed Bondo to replace toxic lead filler used in vehicle repairs in the past. In the old days craftsmen who used to be called metal men repaired most metal panels on an automobile. They used a process called metal finishing to repair damaged panels. It took time and real skill to repair a panel by metal beating using special tools. At the end of the process lead filler was used to smooth out the panel before it was refinished. It was a laborious and hazardous to a man’s health process. A discovery of putty Bondo filler was a huge innovation in collision repair industry. You can compare it to invention of sliced bread.

Much easier in application Bondo significantly reduces time of repair and exposure to toxic hazards for body men. So what is wrong with Bondo?

Unfortunately because of the ease of application, some of the unscrupulous repairers decided to forgo Metal finishing process and use Bondo as fix it all method… In other words instead of repairing a metal panel first, they would simply fill the damaged area with putty Bondo.  With time and moisture excessive amount of Bondo on automobile cracks hence the term Bondo crack. It has become such a widespread problem that automobile resellers and some sophisticated consumers use magnets to check for Bondo on vehicles. Magnet will stick to metal but not to Bondo.

Just like with fine vine Bondo is great in moderation; abuse it and expect troubles, in other words to avoid problems keep Bondo use to its intended specifications.

Want to learn more check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bondo_(putty)