I have been reading alot on here and most everybody that talks about bodywork say look out for a car with alot of bondo. I have replaced every panel except one door panel and I don't see how you can put one back together without body filler. When I sell the car I don't want to be one of those guys you all talk about with 1/2" bondo but in some of the areas that required lots of metal work {and beer} there is bondo. On all of my seams I used bondo to smooth the seam. On all of the door panels I used some bondo to get smooth body lines. On one rear quarter I used some to get a body line straight with the one on the door panel.
So do you guys do such good work that you don't use bondo. Mine is looking good but I don't think it's a bondo bucket, or is it?
Name with held incase you buy my car. <--joke

It all depends on usage.

If you build or repair panels with filler, it's a bondo bucket.

If you smooth dings and ripples that would show through paint, and you can still see bare metal over most of the panel, it's part of blocking.

If you use it to conceal poor panel seams or to "align" panels, it's poor workmanship.

It is possible to do all the bodywork without the use of any filler, but you'd either have to do it yourself or be willing to be eaten up by labor costs. A small amount, a cup or two for the whole car, is not a bad thing.

Agreed Vicky, I believe by the time I finished blocking and fixing the odd panel ding, I have a couple of tablespoons left on the car. I started out with a pint container, half of which was left...

You can also replace panels just because the originals have too much bondo.

My example is my passenger door. It obviously got hit hard sometime in the past. The repair shop drilled a line of holes from the front to the back roughly along the center line that I could see from the inside (bondo snakes). I sanded the entire door down at one point to see how much bondo there really was and saw that it was truely filler from end to end.

So I had a shop put a new outer skin on.

Excactly. I was lucky enough to find two used perfect fronts and reskinned the rear. The guy who welded in my rears did an awesome job...likely 1 tablespoon between the two to finish it off...

Also, the product is important. Real "bondo" vs. a duraglass type body filler is a big difference. (I know we all use the term "bondo" to describe most any type of filler)

Well I am somewhere in the middle. I have used about a quart but half was sanded off. I used aftermarket replacement panels and did pretty good work on putting them on but the panel line from the rear quarter to the door just would not line up. It was only off by an 1/8" but that really shows up. I used "filler" to redirect the line on the quarter to line up. The rest of the filler was used to skim over panels like at the front of the door and the rear of the front fender just to get them dead on.
Is that a Bondo Bucket??
I don't want to sell that kind of car to someone! I won't be selling it right away but sometime down the road.
EB

EB,

There are times where you will not have a choice when a repro panel just doesn't line up as it should. As Vikki said, if you are putting it on, but sanding it off to repair dings or to crisp up a body line, its part of blocking. If its properly adhered, properly sealed, and fairly thin, I would think anything more about it. Now if you are filling holes with it, thats a different story.

I am not really filling holes. I had to smooth seams on the quarters after welding them on. Also I welded wire onto the door skins to make better gaps and then used filler to smooth out any warping and weld lines. I only had that one area on the quarter/door panel body line that I reshaped to line it up. I also used filler where the quarters meet the upper rear body panel.
Thanks
EB

That does not sound like a "bondo bucket" to me.

I'm just learning how to weld in little patches in hidden places but just tried patching a little 1" square in the middle of the door. Well, I welded the whole thing in and by the time I finished it shrunk in and created an indentation. I thought I was going slow and cool enough but I guess not. I didn't realize just how bad it was until my father in law came by and showed me how to check the dips and valleys with a ruler. I put a ruler on and it wouldve have taken 3/8" of filler to level it. So I guess by using that ruler trick I'm going to hammer out the dent to get as close as possible.