Old timer told me to never use bondo on a tailgate - he was RIGHT

I had a 2015 Ford F-150 tailgate with a decent dent, and a guy named Mike who's been doing this since the 70s told me to go with a metal repair panel instead. I didn't listen, slapped bondo on there, and two months later it cracked right down the middle. Has anyone else found that certain panels just don't hold filler well no matter how careful you are?

3 comments

3 Comments

west.anna16d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, I feel this one. I tried bondo on my old Tacoma tailgate once and it lasted about as long as my New Year's resolutions - cracked and flaked off before spring even hit. Guess I should've listened to some old timer too, but hey, learning the hard way is my specialty.

simonl1116d ago

Wait, you tried bondo on a Tacoma? I feel like that's almost a rite of passage for anyone who owns an older truck. Me and my buddy tried that stuff on his old F-150 fender once, and we thought we had it all figured out, sanding it smooth and everything. Then we left it out in the rain and it looked like a bad cake frosting job, just all puffy and cracked. You know what actually kinda worked for us after that? We just got some sheet metal and riveted it right over the hole, then hit it with some primer and called it a day. It wasn't pretty, but it held up way longer than that bondo ever did. Sometimes the ugly fix is the one that actually works, you know?

kelly.nora16d ago

Got a buddy who welded in a patch panel from LMC Truck on his Silverado tailgate and it's held up three Midwest winters now with zero issues. A little more work upfront but way less headache than redoing filler every season.