What's your favorite body filler and glazing putty, and best price's???

  • Thread starter moparmusclecars
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moparmusclecars

I'd like to get into knowing more about what body filler's and glazing putty you all are using. I have been using rage Gold or Extreme, but lately started looking for something a bit cheaper on these overall's I am doing. Maybe also, Barry can chime in, and briefly explain what the difference is chemically with cheaper filler's vs expensive filler's. I'd like to find a decent filler that sands good and doesn't break the bank. Tried USC's Featherite (15.99 a gallon), but noticed it took longer to try up to sand, and if you didn't catch it at the exact time, it got real hard to sand down. Last one I tried was USC Kromate Light($19.99 a gallon). It sands decent, but I am not sure how good a filler it would be. My only issue with rage gold other than the price is that it really doesn't spread out good. It seems to almost wanna roll-up along behind your spreader. I am pretty good at spreading out filler, but have noticed this with some of the fillers. The Rage extreme seems to spread out nice, but also seems to kinda sand like a pencil eraser. Any idea's??? I hear a lot about Marson's Platinum, but never tried it, and I don't know price wise if it fits what I am looking for. Also, how about USC Icing for a glazing putty? I love it, but it's getting near $30.oo a tube here now. Any other's that are decent with being so expensive???
 
I always tell people to look for the $25 a gallon filler or higher, as you do not want the 10-20 dollar a gallon stuff.
Z-grip and the Marson platinum and or gold, all 25-30 dollars work great for me.
I have never been good enough, to tell the difference of some of these $60 a gallon stuff vs the $30 a gallon stuff.

I like icing but favorite is the dolphin glaze in bag for glazing putty.
 
U-pol flyweight gold so far has bein just as good as rage gold to me, it's about half the price too. They also make dolphin glaze that's good too.
 
I got a great deal on a case of marson platinum plus. I like it. Spread just as good as the z grip i was using prior
 
we use z-grip on rough work and rage gold to finish it
 
I used Rage, Rage Gold, Rage Extreme for years-all good stuff. Recently I've tried 3M Platinum Plus, Evercoat's Ever Gold, and Roberlo Max fill... and out of the those three the Roberlo get's my vote for the best sandability and bang for your buck. Evercoat's premium fillers have gone up enough in price to warrant looking for alternatives IMO, the last 3 litre can of Rage Extreme cost me $75 at the local auto parts store and they didn't even blink, list price on the receipt was $100. It seems a lot of supplies have doubled in price in a short amount of time. Try the Roberlo
 
Keystone sells keygold, to me it seems to be a rage gold knockoff but instead of the rages $52 a gallon price tag it was about $27 a gallon if I remember right, after the first gallon I just bought a case. I was ordering rage extreme from summit for $50 a gallon but it recently went up to close to $70. I have wanted to give the marson a try but no one local to me keeps it on hand and shipping eats up any savings.
 
I love the 3m 1171, formerly marson platinum.. I also have become really fond of the 3m glaze, 3180 I believe is the part number.. also formerly marson..

I try to avoid 3m but I can't get away from these two numbers.. Both work great..
you will find however that filler prices have sky rocketed.. IMO.... the 1171 is between $40-$55. depending where you look. It's one of those items you want to buy when it's on sale.
 
So is Marson platinum still around or is that the one that 3M bought out and changed the name? Also never heard of Roberlo Max Fill, but I'd try it if the price is reasonable. What is so nice about Z-Grip? Price, speadability? Main reason I started this thread was I am tired of paying high prices for Rage body fillers. I have been using Rage Gold and Extreme and I am to the point, its time to find something else to use that costs me less money. If nothing else I need to find a cheaper product that is still good for less on the rough work and go oiver the top of it with Rage. IDk, anymore. Id try the Robert Max FIll, but I have never seen that here in Montana. Where does one buy it? Also, on the putty, I have been using Icing, but they just jacked it up more than six bucks a tube. I found a place that will sell it to me for $23.47 a tube right now, but who knows for how long. The place I was buying it raised it to $29.95 a tube. There has to be another alternative to all this madness. I hear lots of good things about marson Platinum, but curious how it spreads and sands. Some of these fillers sand like your trying to sand an eraser. I do a lot of mud work on these older cars and I like a bondo that sands easy, and doesn't leave me with a ton of pinholes. So is there a better alertative to the Icing and it's prices????

- - - Updated - - -

Wow just checked the 3M 1171 for price here at oreilly's. For $61.99 it should be great filler. That is what I am having to avoid. High costing fillers and glazing putty's. Looking for alternatives that cost me less money. I am finding the gold fillers sand better than white fillers. Is this true, or am i crazy?
 
Rusty, then I must assume if I was to switch to this filler, I would no longer need to buy glazing putty? That might be worth it, if that is the case, due to the high prices of Icing (and others like it). You don't have an issue with pin holes I presume? I'd prefer to just sand bondo and not have to re-coat it with a glazing putty and sand that too.
 
I think the z grip is around 45 right now, from kalispell mt. Still not supper cheap but I like it, bonds and sands well, longer work time than rage its same brand ( evercoat) so you should be able to buy it where you get your rage. Evercoat also makes a 20$ mud but ive never tried it
 
If l get a few pin holes I just spread a thin coat of 1171. Marsons now 3m is thinner than the rage I was using and sands easier. I use 80 grit to start with.
 
I tried a few usc fillers recently and went right back to the 1171.. I feel I'm pretty much stuck using this filler and paying the price.. It is a expensive filler but with the costs of building a vehicle it's just something I feel I can't compromise on.

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With that being said..... The part that irritates me is when you open the can and it's just over half full.
 
I use Rage, Gold usually.
Extreme will have less chance of pin holes, but its runny as hell. Its about as close to glazing putty as you can get without putting it in a tube and calling it as such.

My last gallon, 3 liters, whatever of Gold cost me about 55 bucks. For you guys that are hobbiest/weekend warriors like me, if you are buying this stuff online to get it a little cheaper over your local paint supplier, consider buying most everything at that supplier and after they see you coming in for stuff, ask them to set you up on a cash account. I have accounts now at the local PPG dealer and the local DuPont/RM dealers and while I am sure I don't get discounts near as big as high volume shops, its enough to make it not worthwhile to order online.

Regarding the cheaper fillers, the way I see it I might be able to save a few bucks and step down to something cheaper, but is it worth it? Ever since i started spending more time working the metal, I rarely use more than a half a can on an entire car, and most of it ends up on the floor. And thats what I like about Rage Gold. It has good consistancy so it stays in place while you are spreading it on a vertical surface, it doesn't hardly get pinholes(and if it does they are so small that the primer fills them in), and it sands EASY without gumming the paper. With the amount of time and materials that goes into an all over, I'm not worried about spending another 10$ in filler for that half a can.

Im not sure if I tried the 1171. The PPG dealer was selling a 3M filler that was slightly cheaper(couple bucks) than Rage Gold, but including a free Mason tear away filler board like Clean Sheets. I used that can, no complaints but still think Gold sands easier.


On edit:
I said something about it not being worthwhile to order materials online. Correction, I do mail order all my epoxy primer and clear from SPI! Love the product and the service too much.
 
i use the cheap lightweight stuff to rough in with. basically i only have to sand it with a da then i top it with the evercoat quantum. once i switch to a block im using that stuff. it sands better than any other filler i have ever used. for glaze im using the dolphin glaze. its in a foil bag and doesnt harden up over time like rusty had a problem with.
 
BoostedOne;40497 said:
I use Rage, Gold usually.
Extreme will have less chance of pin holes, but its runny as hell. Its about as close to glazing putty as you can get without putting it in a tube and calling it as such.

My last gallon, 3 liters, whatever of Gold cost me about 55 bucks. For you guys that are hobbiest/weekend warriors like me, if you are buying this stuff online to get it a little cheaper over your local paint supplier, consider buying most everything at that supplier and after they see you coming in for stuff, ask them to set you up on a cash account. I have accounts now at the local PPG dealer and the local DuPont/RM dealers and while I am sure I don't get discounts near as big as high volume shops, its enough to make it not worthwhile to order online.
I got the "go away" pricing from my local jobber - so I did.
My money is n ow sitting in someone else's bank account.
 
filler is like paint 2 qrts in a gal can will go bad in time. if you dont use it a lot consider the qrts. cost a little more but you wont throw it away. or you can lay wax paper in the can to seal off the filler from the air .
 
I recently started using the FinishMaster SMART brand filler. I mix a little of the SMART finish putty in the filler and I have had the best results out of anything I have used.. ZERO pin holes and its about half the cost of the lastest evercoat ultra rage.
 
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