I swear by it, as opposed to Bondo, which I swear at. Seriously, buy a quart can and find out for yourself. As for special features, I think you'll find, after comparing, that you'd hardly believe that these two products are intended to do the same thing.
its available, just a bit harder to find, not too many people use it primarily cause its more expensive. but it sure is alot nicer.
Overhaulin did a Cadillac and if you pay attention then you will notice a full layer of bondo all over the car. I mean, Chip Foose... really? Thats dirty.. just below the belt, mostly because you guys are always talking about how you hate it. Funny.
The higher quality stuff sands off into a fine dust without gumming up the paper. It really is a pleasure to work with compared to the cheap stuff.
I skim-coated my entire truck with Rage Gold, sanded off 90-95% of it, just to get the body as slick as I could. I agree that it's light years better than Bondo. It's worth the extra $, and we're not talking a difference in hundreds of dollars here anyway. I think a gallon of it is about $40 more than a gallon of Bondo as I recall. Well worth it, imo.
back in the 70s I worked for a place called FAP (foster auto parts) in portland,they had their own bondo product called POLISH LEAD and it was with out a doubt the best stuff I ever found for skim coating...........
Yeah, I thought everyone here used lead? Really though, I've used all ranges of filler products and Rage Gold is by far the most durable. Things that would crack after a couple of years with Bondo brand hold up for a long time with Rage Gold. I've shaved door handles on daily drivers and slammed the doors for years without any cracks.
Rage Gold and/or Rage Extreme are both AWESOME! Sand real easy, minimal pinholes, and just easy to work with. Evercoat offers a products with corrosion resistance now also. Hearing good things about it. I really want to learn the fine art of leading, one of these days, though...
I use Rage Extreme, I think its a better product than Rage Gold. Sands better... Adheres to the metal better too.
LOL I made the comment because some folks on here have the attitude that body filler is evil and doesn't belong on a car. *of course there are cases of extreme abuse*
I learned about Rage Gold on this forum (thanks guys) and although I'm no body man I couldn't believe how much better my results were compared to Bondo. Worth every cent.
The first ever filler available, was called Black Magic. My Dad learned how to do metal & lead work as fillers were becoming available. I've never been around Bondo Products, but Rage is a good filler.
I had some bodywork done on a 57 BA in Minot, ND. The bodyman (Mel?) used something called "aluma-lead" (unsure on spelling). No idea what it was, but he swore by it for same reasons cited above for Rage Gold stuff - minimal pinholes and it sanded off much better than Bondo. Never heard of it since. The bodywork he did (small dent at side of front fender) turned out perfectly.
Rage is good shit, use it all the time but you may be refering to a glazing like product, I forget what it is called, real thin, you can almost brush it on. We always called it slick putty, have to look in the shop think I have a can someplace.
In the late 60's I started using it to skim cars prior to primer. We would strip the car to metal, coat skim each panel and long board it off, then primer, block and paint. The reason was that primer and top coats back then were not stable. In other words, they would expand and contract with the change in air temp, humidity, etc. If primer was used initially it was pretty much a given that soon after the paint job was completed, regardless of whether it was lacquer or enamel, all the sand scratches would start showing up. This held true long after catalyzed A/E started showing up because the primers where still the old style acrylic primer that, literally, never really dried/cured. To prove that point, I've sanded those old primers off, swept up the dust, mixed it with lacquer thinner and re-sprayed it, usually to astonishment of the person for whom the point was being made. Using Bondo (plastic filler, mud, pink lead, whatever you want to call it) eliminated this problem to a large degree because the product was chemically cured. Nowadays... Heavy build 2-part primers do the same job that we used bondo for over 40 years ago. But old habits die hard and today's plastic fillers are much more versatile and infinitely more reliable, plus they're cheaper than hardened primer/fillers. I still use the technique. So do virtually every painter I know, and what the guy that mentioned in his post Chip foose's cheating ways isn't aware of is that Foose as well as pretty much every other top level shop does the same thing. Just because a panel is "metal finished" it isn't necessarily straight enough for paint....
People don't realize that little bit of info, VERY little is left after you get thru blocking it out...
The Jalopy Journal
