Restoring fender on a 73

[randy73]

I bought a fender awhile back and on the lower side of the front back to just past the turn signal light, it had major bondo that was cracking. So I stripped the whole fender and sanded the rust areas as best I cound and then shot the whole fender with a coat of rust reformer and then a coat of primer. Lightly sanded and then put a layer of bondo-hair, sanded and then blended it into the fender with bondo, then sanded and am now cleaning it up.

My question is twofold, one I only used self etching primer on the base coat and then filler primer on the 2 other coats, sanding after each coat, is this a good way to go and the second part is when do I or do I need to put sealer primer  and how many coats?

Thanks!!

[AZMoparboy]

Hi, I thought I'd give you my two cents worth when it comes to bodywork. I am just an amateur also and when it comes to bodywork and priming I use a product called Xtreme 2K primer. This stuff does it all, it seals, it etches and it's a filler, all-in-one it's really great. It's a polyurethane based primer and really holds well to almost everything plastics, fiberglass,metal, and also goes over paint as well. I really like these kinds of products that do everything, that way it takes out so many steps, so many cans and it does a great job. It is also called 5 Star 2K primer.

Good luck
Steve

[Pete in NH]

Hi,

Automotive paint and body restoration is rather high tech these days. The way I would go about restoring that fender would be to strip it completely. Abrasive blasting is a good way to get the metal really clean. Hand sanding will leave microscopic rust in the sanding grooves and that rust will come back to be a problem. I would abrasive blast all sides of the fender and then coat with an automotive epoxy primer. That rust reformer will be another problem thing later on. Before epoxy primer, you should get the area that was filled with Bondo as straight as possible. You can then apply your new filler over the epoxy primer. Epoxy primers are the only primers that are water proof. There is a lot of information available on epoxy primers and each manufacturer has a slightly different set of recommendations on how to use their products. It's best to settle on one paint manufacturer's system and stay with their products and application suggestions.