This afternoon I spent a lot of time doing bodywork on the front fenders. At some point in the car’s life it was clearly involved in a front-end collision on the front passenger side, and the resulting fender repairs left a lot of holes from the slide hammer used to pull out the dents. When I bought the car bondo was spilling through these holes inside the fender, inviting moisture to penetrate the metal under the filler. Also on the driver’s side there was a dent just below the headlight that had been pulled and it required more attention as well.
The first thing I did was to remove any remaining paint and/or filler or seam-sealer from both front fenders, and give them a thorough washing. I scrubbed any residue, grease, or adhesive from both fenders using a brillo pad and some Simple Green. Then I rinsed both well and parked them on the back patio to dry in the sun. After 90 minutes in the July Texas heat the front fenders were totally dry.
![]() |
![]() |
I started on the less-mangled driver’s side fender. Here is the dent in the fender and the hole probably used to try to pull the dent using a slide hammer. I used a Clean n Strip wheel in my drill to clean the metal.
![]() |
![]() |
With the area cleaned up I used my mig welder to patch the hole.
![]() |
![]() |
The welded area I then cleaned by hitting it again with the wheel to remove any scale and then wiping with acetone to get any grease.
![]() |
![]() |
The next step was to fill the dent with body solder in order to get it as close to level with the surrounding metal as possible. I brushed on the tinning compound that would enable the solder to bond to the steel.
![]() |
![]() |
Then I heated the tin with my propane torch until the impurities burned off brown and black. Those I wiped away with a clean white shop towel.
![]() |
![]() |
This left a thin coat of tin that bonds to the steel and the solder bonds to the tin. The body solder will not bond directly to the steel without this step.
![]() |
Next I started applying the body solder, which comes in rods, by heating the solder and placing dollops from the end of the rod into the dent.
![]() |
![]() |
The repair definitely looked rough, but my strategy was to build up the solder above level and then bring it back down with a grinder to make it as smooth as possible. I have found applying the solder smooth when hot to be impossible.
![]() |
So I used three stacked cut-off wheels in my 4 1/2″ angle grinder to grind away the excess solder to try to get it as level as possible.
![]() |
![]() |
And as you can see from the side the result was close to the profile of the original metal, albeit not a smooth surface.
![]() |
After grinding I wiped the area again with acetone.
![]() |
In order to get the solder repair smooth I applied a thin coat of body filler on top. I’ve been using Metal 2 Metal filler from Evercoat, which I like a lot. I put a scoop of filler about the size of a golf ball onto my board.
![]() |
![]() |
Then I added 12 drops of hardener per the instructions on the can, and gathered the filler on a plastic spreader.
![]() |
![]() |
I applied the filler without working it too much on the surface, which I’ve found just makes the surface rough. Once again I applied a coat that would be proud of the final surface so that I could sand it later in order to bring it back to flat and blend the edges into the surrounding fender.
![]() |
![]() |
And here is a shot from the side of the repair.
![]() |
Next I repeated the same process on the passenger side front fender, which was in worse condition. I welded up all the holes used to straighten the fender (must have been a bad dent!) and then cleaned and applied tinning compound.
![]() |
![]() |
And I applied a mountain of body solder.
![]() |
![]() |
And I spent some time grinding the solder back. This shot was about midway through the process.
![]() |