Has anyone used Eastwood Contour Premium Body Filler? They say it has Rust inhibitors prevent corrosion Self-etching properties create excellent adhesion Superior coverage and feather-edging ability 1-step process; no glazing putty required Alot of Eastwoods stuff sounds to good to be true, I was wondering if anyone has tried this filler.
Eastwood sells a lot of third rate Chinese stuff with flowery descriptions and grossly inflated prices. I wouldn't trust any body filler they sell, regardless of what they say about it. Get some Evercoat Rage Gold filler. Prime the bare metal with epoxy to seal the surface, and apply the filler over the epoxy. No need for any etching acids or rust inhibitor additives since you're relying on the epoxy to protect the metal. Filler is not waterproof, so its better to not have it in direct contact with the metal. Self etching indicates the filler has some acid content, and acid probably creates more subsequent paint problems than any other ingredient used in some primers or other bodywork materials. As far as fillers go, I've never seen another one that comes close to Rage Gold for easy sanding and overall ease of use. Evercoat doesn't market any junk, and that's something that can't be said for too many companies today.
X2 on the rage gold Eastwood is good about feeding everyone a line of BS when its probably just re-badged BONDO.
Take a good look though Eastwood's catalog and look at how many of those items are available at Harbor Freight. Just rebadged chinese stuff, of course with the huge markup in price for the name.
I can almost guarantee that a U.S. based filler manufacturer is making the Eastwood filler and private labelling it for them. It is just not cost effective to bring filler over from the orient. It seems to be the one thing that hasn't been shipped overseas for manufacture yet. That being said I have never used it so I do not know what it is like and it doesn't mean it is good or bad as there is quite a quality range for the stuff being made in the U.S. as well.
I'm not sure what they sell in the catalog but I shop the retail store in Pottstown regularly and everything they sell there is Evercoat. I use the Extreme and have good results along with the Gold. I get it there because it seems the same as the Evercoat I get from Klines Autobody Supply and it's about 20.00 less. I can't tell any difference between the same product purchased at either store. Like a lot of places, you have to watch what you buy. Eastwood sells Martin hammers and dollies, House of Kolor, and Oneshot, which in my opinion are some of the best in the world. They also sell stuff that should have stayed at HF. Just know what your looking at and purchase wisely.
You are about to spend a lot of time and effort on getting your parts ready for paint, not counting the cost of getting the paint on. Saving a few bucks on the filler that ends up giving you bad results or headaches later may not be a wise investment. Spend $20 more and get stuff you KNOW will work; you will sleep better at night.
The Eastwood filler is more money than the rage I have used in the past. I was hoping I could sleep better with rust inhibitors and the Self-etching Eastwood said there filler had. I have seen a lot of snake oil from Eastwood I was hoping the filler was not one of them.
Almost all higher end fillers have some type of self etch type feature it is usually stated in terms of adhesion rather than etch and "rust inhibitors" are becoming a more common thing in todays fillers as well. Eastwoods filler is just someone elses filler with a different label on it. They would not sell enough volume to justify anyone producing a proprietary formula just for them. I would stick to a brand name filler if it is more expensive because that is all you are getting with the Eastwood stuff anyways. Looking at their website the pictures show the gallons with hardener. The hardener they show is manufactured by US Chemical (USC) so my guess would be they are probably making the filler for Eastwood as well. Looks like it is really dark blue in the video so they probably run a special dye lot for Eastwood but if it is from USC it will be one of their regular formulas.
not sure why you would need rust inhibitors in your mud unless you do your bodywork with a slide hammer and have 30 holes in your quarter panel open to the elements.
Another vote for Evercoat Rage. I've used the Extreme and the Gold. Both are excellent. In my opinion, the Gold sands a little easier but the Extreme pinholes less. I tend to use the Gold because I prefer the easy sanding and I finish with glazing putty anyway to fill in any pihholes that I might get (Evercoat Metal Glaze or USC Icing, both are very good). The Eastwood sounds too good to be true. I'll stick with what I know works.
Another vote for Evercoat products...I use Rage Extreme because it flows out smoother and has no air bubbles. Metal glaze is also tits.
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