OK.....I'm pretty green when it comes to body work......but I am a welding fool, and not scared to dig in. Anyway, I have just started stripping the paint from the car and have noticed plenty of filler/bondo on the roof. When I remove it

and get down to the bare metal, there is no rust, or noticeable uneven spots. Keeping in mind this is from the untrained eye viewing sandpaper scratched metal. This car has been repainted at least once in its lifetime, and it was not a prestine job. Is this common to find filler in this area on what seems to be healthy metal? I am not talking quarter size spots, it seems to have been spread evenly over large areas. Probably a dumb question, and this may be the way its done......just clue me in. Thanks people.

I don't know if it is normal. Just sanded the top of my 70 this week end and it also has filler in it. A couple of places I can't see the imperfection but, I can fell it when I run my hand over it. Body guys are like the rest of us they don't do work that is not needed. Putting filler on a panel is alot of work.

Scary part of mine is it has up too five coats of paint on it in different places. This is a car I have owned since 1975. I had it repainted in the early 80's. Part of them could of been from that.

Jim

As I have sanded my car down panel by panel, I have noticed what I would consider a little extra bondo here and there too. Why is there bondo on top of perfectly straight metal??!!

My car has had at least three paint jobs in its life. That's red primer, blue, dark grey primer, blue, light grey primer, red. SIX coats in all.

It seems that the "unnecessary" bondo is in places where the paint is thin - only the last coat, then bondo, then metal.

Maybe a deep scratch in all that paint is easier to fix by sanding out a small area and filling with bondo back up to paint level. Several coats of paint is pretty thick. You cant just sand to bare metal and prime the metal. You have to fill the crater.

That my 2 cent speculation.

Perhaps someone sat on the roof and caved it in a bit.

My car had bondo in a feiw places in the roof too. But it was also wrecked really hard so its not the best gage. I took the bonda out but their was no damage underneath.

I was silver then red then blue then brown. 4 coats

Hmmm....thanks for the responses. At least it does not seem to be a rarity. Maybe since the roof is such a large spanse, slight imperfections are harder to see on the bare hazed metal than they would be after painted. So far there is no indication of someone sitting on it as mentioned above. I am using stripper to remove the paint and it is actually working very well. I have noticed scratches on the metal that seem to have been caused by a heavier grit sandpaper. Obviously the previous paint guy did not work his way down to a finer grit. Still, the scratches I would think are light enough that the primer would hide them. We shall see. Maybe I'll use a short straight edge after I get all the crud off, and get a better idea where the imperfections are. Anyway, you all have eased my mind a bit now that I know this is a more common finding. Thanks again.

My opinion is that the car's 30 or so years old. Over the years there may have been several different owners. There have been purses placed on the roof, grocery bags, boxes, probably people leaning on the roof with their elbow & upper arm. It probably been sat on too! Of course, I could go on & on.

They're low cars anyway so it's easy to put something on top when you go to unlock the door, especially when there's no sentimental value in the vehicle, they just thought it was their car. When someone got it repainted, there were indentations throughout several areas of the roof. In order to get it even, they out body filler on it. Just my opinion.

Last month i removed all yhe paint of my 260 and there was bondo on the roof.It was really thin more like a glazing putty.The guy i bought the car from was the orginal owner and he swore that it only was repainted once with a really ugly dark green.The car only had two layers of paint which leads to believe that the factory used plastic filler to smooth out small waves.You got to figure that even in the production of the big, really thin panels there will be waves.I ran into the same thing with a 240 i had in the early 80's it had the factory paint and was always parked in her garage. Also there seems to be a myth that california cars are rust free.I can tell you that out three S-30s that i have owned and the dozens that i have checked out not one of them was rust free .All of them had rust in the fenders 1/4 panels, and on the drivers side hatch area.Granted it might be less severe than east coast cars but all the same is no such thing as a early 70's rust free Z. Unless of course it was never driven.

P.S If you find filler somewhere the odds are really good that it was there for a reason,Just because it is thin DOESN'T mean that it shouldnt be replaced.I've learned this the hard way.Make sure you lay down a least 1 guide coat before you spray on your finish.Even the best auto body guys have sprayed on the color and found a "how did i miss that".Good luck

Ah, the dreaded skim coat strikes again.

Well watching car shows on tv such as american hotrod and overhaulin' a skim coat is actually for dents you cant see until the car is painted, oh and I know this from experience too.

I am using stripper to remove the paint

How much does she charge per hour?

How much does she charge per hour?

haha.

Btw someone told me that nissan used bondo from factory. i dont know if its true but thought i should mention it.