How to Bondo Car | 16 Pro Tips by Professional

Bondo is a filler that fills various voids, dents, worn-out areas, fissures, scratches, and car dings. All the car holders must have faced certain situations at least once in their lives where their beloved cars suffered the brunt of their actions in hideous scratches. To a great extent, brand-new products and technology have put us out of our miseries. But who has the time and money to spend on frequent visits to the mechanic to get a car repaired, right? 

This is why we give you fifteen easy steps to even distorted panels and get minor gashes and defects off your baby using a Bondo. 

I am going to discuss these steps briefly, which you have to follow:

• Gather the Materials Needed for Bondo:
• Clean and Prep the Car’s Surface:
• Smooth Out Dents and Dings:
• Apply Primer to the Car:
• Mix and Apply the Bondo:
• Mix and Apply the Bondo:
• Sand the Bondo Smooth:
• Apply a Second Coating of Primer:
• Sand the Surface Again:
• Fill in Any Holes or Imperfections:
• Apply the Topcoat:
• Color Matching and Painting:
• Finishing with Clear Coat:
• Apply a Final Coat of Paint:
• Wax and Shine the Car:
• Clean up the surface

How to Bondo Car

Gather the Materials Needed for Bondo:

Here is a detailed insight on exactly all the things you need to become a pro at DIY bondo:

a mixing apparatus (flat surface, wooden spoon) 

• Metal spreader
• Bondo 
• Masking tape
• Safety gloves 
• Sandpaper
• Primer
• Spray paint
• Wax topcoat
• Hardener

Once you are ready, organize the material in the order of the steps. For that, you need to mix the bondo to make a spreadable formula, leave it aside, wear gloves, apply filler after smoothing out the dent, then apply the Bondo leaving it to dry, followed by primer, paint, and topcoat. 

Clean and Prep the Car’s Surface:

Getting rid of excess dirt and grime before getting started is crucial. This ensures a smooth procedure because no granular particles will be in the way of making your self-done bondo look any less perfect. 

Smooth Out Dents and Dings:

The next step is to treat the damaged portion of your car with extra love and care before renovating. Try mechanical pressure via hands or suction cup dent pullers to even out the dents. This might take a while, but it is worth the while.

Apply primer to the car:

Primer does to a car just what it does to our skin; it evens out the texture and provides a firmer base to work on. Apply a thin layer via a spray bottle and wait for it to dry out before moving on to the next step. 

Mix and Apply the Bondo:

Bondo mixing is risky as the right consistency and amount are necessary. Mix the bondo with a hardener and keep adding it until you achieve a sticky gel-like consistency that is soft enough to be spreadable and firm enough not to lose its shape while it cures. Leave the Bondo mixture for a maximum of a few minutes, or it will turn solid. 

Once you have achieved the desired consistency, apply an extremely thin layer of bondo (⅛ inch thick) and spread it around gently. Keep rubbing it in until the damage is concealed. Please wait for it to cure and harden fully.

Sand the Bondo Smooth:

Using sandpaper further ensures that the grainy texture is resolved so that the bondo remains even and blends in with the rest of the car texture. Make sure not to use sandpaper too out of the boundaries of the damaged area, or the paint will chip off, and you will have a greater surface area to paint later on. 

Apply a Second Coating of Primer:

Here primer will act like a fixative to hold the bondo in place for months to come and to protect future rough use. 

Sand the Surface Again:

Use sandpaper or grit to smooth out the second layer.

Fill in Any Holes or Imperfections

You can repeat the above procedures until all the damage has been concealed and evened out, and you are left with a patchy-looking car that has spotted grayish-white areas. 

Apply the Topcoat

Apply the top coat to lock all that material in and preserve the layers.

Color Matching and Painting:

This stage will make your car look like it was before, but it is equally hard to govern. Carry out the color-matching tests. Once you have found the perfect or the closest match to your car’s original color, get on with spray paint. Let it dry. Be patient with it and take your time because patience is a virtue. 

Finishing with Clear coat

The clear coat is an additional step to make the paint long-lasting and shiny. The top coat offers a greater angle of reflection, and your car looks flashy and glossy, like brand new. 

Apply a Final Coat of Paint

Reapply the second coat of paint to conceal any imperfections that might have arisen the first time. 

Wax and Shine the Car

This might sound like a lot of applying and reapplying clear coats and polishes, but a final coat of the clear glossy wax is a must-do to give your work that professional tinge. 

Clean Up the surface

The cycle ends with a redo of the first step, i.e., cleaning off the unwanted residue.

If that looks like a lot of effort, try to see how easy and repetitive these steps are and how easily one can manage a task that was once thought possible by a pro mechanic at an expensive workshop. 

Expert Opinion

The fast-paced world requires everyone to have basic survival skills so that our dependent tendencies as humans can be reduced to a minimum level. One such skill is handling the small-scale glitches that occur with our machinery. This article gives a profound idea of how to bondo a car like a true perfectionist. Try it out for yourself, and thank us later.