VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Body - Sheet Metal, Paint & Wood How to get rid of bondo

Below is a fender that had a 1/4" coat of body putty on most of it for 25 years that had never been sanded smooth. The fender was on a parts car I bought and was stored in a barn with a dirt floor. Absolutely no paint was on it, and there was no rust under the body putty. I was interested in restoring the fender and tried sanding with 40 grit paper and and a sander and was getting no where fast. So finally, decided to try using my little propane torch on it with a stiff putty knife. I heated a 4 inch square area, with a low flame and the body putty scrapped right off. I spent about an hour cleaning up the fender. Did have to use a chemical mask and worked in a well ventilated area. This was a good way to cheaply clean up some ones mess? Mike

I have removed bondo by sand blasting with very fine sand it also will clean out crap in the pits. I have also sand blasted my 29 coupe 65 corvair and presently doing my 53 todor with no probulms.I have used paint remover on two other cars and had trouble getting the residue out of the seams,media blasting is the way to go. Al

Whatever works Mike. One caution for anyone applying heat to a body panel is be careful not to put too much heat into the panel. It's easy to warp one and difficult to to fix it.