How hard is it to fill holes?

xr8d302 · Mar 17, 2007

Body work, people....automotive body work....

the shop that's painting my car is telling me that it's going to be a lot of work (and extra cash) to cover a few holes in my car, such as the spoiler mounting holes, the ford badge on the trunklid, and the fender emblems up front...

any validity to this? Is it easy enough that I can take those parts and do it myself before they paint?

Any experience on this topic would be greatly appreciated...TIA

wytstang · Mar 17, 2007

xr8d302 said:
Body work, people....automotive body work....

I was just about to ask if she was a virgin..........little guy we know what happend in cold weather and Canada is cold.

reddy351 · Mar 17, 2007

I did mine. If you can weld, you can do it yourself. The holes can just be MIG'ed shut. The bigger ones should have metal plates welded in, then smooth them all with a small grinder. A thin skim coat of body filler and a little sanding finishes the job. Not too tough and no reason to charge a bunch of money.

Blackened302 · Mar 17, 2007

what i did was fiberglass the hole from the underside, then fill w/ putty a couple times, then sand smooth.

xr8d302 · Mar 17, 2007

hrmm.....how long does this stuff usually take? Could I do this in 4 hours or less?

1TallMF · Mar 17, 2007

No reason the small holes should take time and effort. 5 minutes with a mig and a small grinder should be all they need. Are you shaving the antenna?

Blackened302 · Mar 17, 2007

brotha, are you sure you want to go w/ a body shop that seems to have a not-so-good attitude about routine body work?

doing it my method, the decklids holes can be glass, filled, sanded, filled, sanded in about 45 minutes total, including drying time.

xr8d302 · Mar 17, 2007

Punisher302 said:
brotha, are you sure you want to go w/ a body shop that seems to have a not-so-good attitude about routine body work?

doing it my method, the decklids holes can be glass, filled, sanded, filled, sanded in about 45 minutes total, including drying time.

haha, i see what you mean about the shop, but this guy has 30 some years in the business and he's giving me a pretty sweet deal for what he promises me will be a showstopper paintjob

I'll give them a call on Monday to see if I can work on the holes myself....I'd rather do the extra work and have it done the way I want it the first time, then have a gorgeous car that I'm going to have to destroy with a sander down the road

Stephane, I'll let you know what's happening as it goes on

Edit: And yep, the antenna is getting shaved as well

xr8d302 · Mar 17, 2007

Paul, using your method, is there any downfalls? Just curious because if I can do it in 45 minutes, I'm on it

xr8d302 · Mar 17, 2007

wytstang said:
I was just about to ask if she was a virgin..........little guy we know what happend in cold weather and Canada is cold.

hahah, i just got a chance to actually read this...

trust me, I don't need the cold weather to be little....

trav_19 · Mar 17, 2007

well the small ones can be welded as said the antena will need to be filled just make sure if you dont do it its done right a lot of body guys dont wnat to mess with extra work they just want to shoot it.... you will find he could just mud it up and shave it down i found this out the wrong way on my 88 s10 blazer when i had it all shaved and then **** started cracking and sinking i would say do it yourself all the emblem holes are a super quik fix not sure on the wing maybe need to have it patched but you will need the antena hole patched regardless

Blackened302 · Mar 17, 2007

Aaron, didn't mean to insult or diminish his work in anyway, looking out for you, buddy =)

there is a downfall with my method: the putty shrinks as it dries, especially in colder weather. you're gonna have to add 2 or 3 coats to make sure it's even. just give it a few good minutes to dry completely. after that, sand it smooth, add another coat, and let it dry completely.

i found that with putty, it's always better to have more on there than you need so you can just sand it down---rather than having to repeatedly add and having it shrink and shrink as it dries.

xr8d302 · Mar 17, 2007

hey, now this is good info! thanks alot fella's...i'm sure we'll dig into it this week

95opal · Mar 17, 2007

Have the holes welded, filling them with fibral and fill is garbage. It will shrink and crack. When I had the badges and holes done on my car the guy welded them at no extra charge. He said it was only a couple of minutes of work. I didt delete the antenna though. Tha badge holes are nothing INMO. Maybe he gave you such a good deal on the original quote that now your going a little further than he can afford to give you?

trav_19 · Mar 17, 2007

putty putty on thick is a terrible way to apply it

serveral very thin coats is the best way to make sure it lasts and looks correct down the road

blksn955.o · Mar 17, 2007

If you just have NO way to weld them, I would at least grind the area down to 80 or so grit and take a ball hammer (with the ball on the hole) and hit it with another hammer to make a dent. fill the back with fiberglass and with THIN coats of filler (and dont make the dent 1in deep either). The grit marks left on the area that is now dented alows for a better "hold" as if put over a hole it has FAR less area to grip. The fiberglass backer will also help hold the area that was the hole.

A welder would be best though but your going to have filler on it no matter what.

The car is going to need a sand or scuff to paint anyway and a fill job on something as small as what your talking about should not be "a lot of work and cash".

xr8d302 · Mar 17, 2007

blksn955.o said:
If you just have NO way to weld them, I would at least grind the area down to 80 or so grit and take a ball hammer (with the ball on the hole) and hit it with another hammer to make a dent. fill the back with fiberglass and with THIN coats of filler (and dont make the dent 1in deep either). The grit marks left on the area that is now dented alows for a better "hold" as if put over a hole it has FAR less area to grip. The fiberglass backer will also help hold the area that was the hole.

A welder would be best though but your going to have filler on it no matter what.

The car is going to need a sand or scuff to paint anyway and a fill job on something as small as what your talking about should not be "a lot of work and cash".

Y'know, it's posts like this, that I almost feel like showing to this shop to show them that i'm not just walking into this blindly....i appreciate your help man, it doesn't sound like it's too hard at all, i'll be talking to them tomorrow or the as soon as i possibly can

blksn955.o · Mar 17, 2007

If anything, see if the est. for extra work is more than buying a good entry level welder? If it is cheaper for you to buy a welder and after some practice do it yourself and take the car someplace else (screw that shop in this case) that gives you a close est. (best if est. is had before so your not out welder money and price diff. from shop to shop).

The hardest thing is getting over the fear, just like with a motor or anything else...when I was 16-17 I had a 66 chevy caprice (think impala with the vert roof line as a hardtop line). I talked to some body guys and they all said no matter how much school you have it comes down to if you have "it" or not, and that some of the best bodymen they have seen just jumped in and did it teaching themselvs. Thing came out AWSOME body wise, the paint was a learner deal but I got ALOT of compliments about how straight as an arrow I got it. Yeah your going to make mistakes but your also training yourself to fix those mistakes.

Just an idea...you get a welder, the satisfaction of doing something like this yourself to some extent, learning something new and VERY usefull, and you would still be out the same basic money (with the overpriced shop anyway).

Blackened302 · Mar 17, 2007

didn't mean to say to apply putty in thick coats--what i meant was it's better to be able to sand more putty off after it has already shrunk in order to avoid forgetting that putty usually shrinks. sorry for the mix-up.

How hard is it to fill holes?

xr8d302

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