One of the previous owners used quite a bit of bondo on the top of the cab and the hood of my F1. There doesn't appear to be any major dents or rust out when looking at the sheet metal from below. It almost looks like there might have been hail damage

Anyway, I'm trying to deside the best way to remove the bondo and see what;s underneath. Will it come off easily by sandblasting the parts or would it be better to grind it off? It seems like grinding would get pretty messy. Is there any chemical that will break it down or is there some other way to remove that I haven't thought of?

 

I used some liquid paint stripper from walmart, to remove paint and it softend the bondo so i used a plastic scrapper to remove, though there was not much bondo there so alot of bondo might require reapplication.
Ron

 

Oh I forgot if you try the stripper make sure you wash the area well afterwords to rid of the residue.
Ron

 

Sandblasting would be far messier and probably do a lot more damage at the same time from the heat while digging it out. The best way to remove old body filler is with 36 grit 8" sanding discs on a grinder or polishier machine. Don't try chemical strippers. That would make a nasty, toxic gooey mess.

 

A stiff wire wheel that you attach to a angle grinder works really well and does not removed metal.

 

I put a cup wheel on my angle grinder and took it outside to wire-wheel the bondo out. Works ok, but stay upwind, use a dust mask and wear goggles. There really isn't a nice way to get rid of bondo.

Dave

 

How about the fiber stripping discs used on a drill or angle grinder. I bought one for my angle grinder and it takes paint off with very little effort. I haven't tried it on plastic filler but I'd bet it'd work pretty good. Stay away from blasting it, you'll waste a lot of time trying to move it.

 

A heat gun works too, with a scraper. How thick is it?

 

Forgot to mention... If the back of the panel is visible, and there is a visible dent that was filled, often, just bumping the dent out will pop the chunk of bondo out of its place. That's what I have done with most of the bondo on the cab of my project truck.

Dave

 

Sandblasters hate bondo...around here they'll charge you extra to remove it. I use a die grinder with a 3 inch disc and 40 grit...cuts quickly, easy to control, and it gets into tight spots.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.
It appears to be between 1/8th and 3/16ths thick. The problem is that it is spread over a fairly wide area.

Looks like I'll be doing some grinding.

 

I am a blaster and I would never stay on a hood long enough to get bondo out, it will warp beyond recognition.

 

i find paint remover wheels for the 4" angle grinder work best. best of luck i dont know of an "easier" way

 

The nylon/resin stripping discs work really well and won't touch the metal work at all - they leave a nice clean surface to then work on. You can get them to fit either a grinder or a drill.

 

Good idea. I've used them in the past on other projects but hadn't thought of them for removing the bondo.

Thanks