Query: Prepping for Bondo

[bushbean]

Howdy,

I'm planning to do the "$50 paint job." The first step is to prep the surface. The body is generally very straight; however, the roof, hood, and trunk have about a dozen dimples, which were caused by hail storms over the years. I would like to cover up the dimples with bondo before painting. The instruction says to remove the paint before applying bondo. Do I really have to remove the old paint? or can I just apply bondo over the old paint?

[Hans]

Howdy,
I'm planning to do the "$50 paint job." The first step is to prep the surface. The body is generally very straight; however, the roof, hood, and trunk have about a dozen dimples, which were caused by hail storms over the years. I would like to cover up the dimples with bondo before painting. The instruction says to remove the paint before applying bondo. Do I really have to remove the old paint? or can I just apply bondo over the old paint?

I would def remove the old paint. You want to create a strong surface for the bondo to adhere to and old paint aint it. Say there's a random chip in your new paint that goes all the way down to the metal. When a piece chips off that had the bondo on top of it the bondo will go with it and... voooiilllaaa... there's the old dimple.