<VV> body advice

[Alan and Clare Wesson]

> So when a shop says they do not use putty, they could mean  the lacquer 
> stuff, or they use lead, or they just lie.

Thanks Frank.

As a demo of what I mean, I would dearly love to hear from anyone (pictures 
please) who has repaired a large dent in the middle of a Vair door, and has 
used no bondo at all in the process. I would genuinely be very interested to 
hear how they did it.

The reason is that when steel is dented, it stretches, and so although the 
dent can be largely knocked out and planished, and the door can be returned 
to 99% of its original state, it is impossible to return it to stock because 
the metal is stretched and absolutely cannot retain its original shape. The 
only way this can be achieved is surface filling using bondo, and 99.99% of 
bodyshops (not us though) leave ripples in the bondo that are visible when 
you look along the side of the car from the front or back.

Similarly, the heat from welding stretches and distorts the metal, and it 
cannot regain its original shape. Good people (my guy) can get close, but 
some surface filling is still vital.

And as Ed pointed out, I am not talking about the fibreglass used on most 
Lotuses, or the aluminium used on the ones we work on. I am talking about 
steel.

Cheers

Alan