Had a talk with an old timer at noon today that made me rethink how I prep panels

I was at lunch at Mike's Diner off Route 22 and this retired bodyman named Jerry sat down next to me. He said I should stop using filler so thick on every dent and try shrinking the metal first with a torch. I always thought that was old school nonsense but he showed me a video from his shop in 1995 where they pulled a huge crease out of a Buick door with no filler at all. Has anyone else actually tried shrinking panels on modern cars or is that just for the vintage stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_dakota1mo ago

Couldn't believe it when you said that guy showed you a video from 1995 with no filler at all lol. That's wild, I always figured shrinking was just for the real old stuff like 50s cars.

roberts.jordan1mo ago

Funny how that works... seems like every trade has tricks we forgot that beat the modern shortcuts.