Glaze & Glazing Putty is a fine body filler ideal for spot repairs, small dents, and skim coats.
It’s the perfect product for filling minor dents, scratches, and pinholes. Glaze works on metal, body filler, fiberglass, wood, and even painted or primed surfaces.
Most, if not all modern glazes come as a 2-part system and need to be mixed with a hardener to work. They’re a lot runnier than actual body fillers.
Depending on the glaze you get, it should have self-leveling properties and be much easier to sand. Most of the time you’ll be rubbing it with P120 – 240 sandpaper.
Glazing putty is also known as finishing putty, finishing glaze, or glaze.
You may also hear “dolphin” thrown about, this is in reference to dolphin glaze.
Glazing Putty VS Body Filler: When To Use Glazing Putty
Nowadays, glaze is used similarly to body filler and even in place of body filler. While they’re both technically body fillers, they do have different uses.
Gone are the days of localized putty repairs. If you want the best finish, finish your repair with a skim of glaze.
Most of the “body fillers” are designed to fill big damage. Rage, easy sand, plastic, or aluminum filler all fill big dents.
These fillers are normally used once you’ve pulled or re-shaped a panel and need to fill any lows that are left. They have a lot more build and are great for filling dents.
After filling and rubbing body filler, you may have various imperfections left. These can range from pinholes, scratches, and even paint edges.
Ultimately, the repair is 99% there. However, it’s got pinholes, very minor scratches or even a slight paint edge.
This is when glaze comes in.
How To Apply Glazing Putty
Applying glaze is exactly the same as any other body filler.
It’s a 2 part system where you mix the glaze with a hardener normally 100 parts glaze & 2 parts hardener.
From there simply spread it over the area you wish to repair.
Applying Glaze To Fix Imperfections
Putting a final “skim coat” on top of your repair will completely change the quality of your repair. I’ve had painters thank me for this in some workplaces.
Apply a thin coat of glaze to your repair using a reasonable amount of pressure on the spreader. This will force it into any scratches and pinholes that are left in your repair.
Afterward, get your block and rub it with P180, 240, or 320 paper and lightly sand the glaze until it’s perfect.
Applying Glaze To Fix Low Spots
Another time where you’d want to use glaze is on minor damage.
Instead of plastering body filler over minor door dings or a repair that you’ve metal finished, use glaze. If you apply it properly, it’ll have enough build to cover any low spots and will let you finish a repair with 1 skim.
As with any other filler, mix it with the hardener and apply it to the panel.
Try not to apply as much pressure to the spreader when applying the glaze, otherwise, you’ll still be left with low spots.
Using a lot of glaze and little to no pressure on the spreader will also allow you to do deeper fills if needed.
As you play around and become more experienced with a product, you’ll know what’s needed for each fill.
Mixing glaze with body filler
Finally, it’s pretty common for technicians to mix glaze with body filler. Doing this will make a deep-filling Bondo thinner and much easier to apply.
Mixing both glaze & filler is great for heavy fills. It offers enough build to fill lows and eliminates imperfections at the same time. It’s also much easier to apply as it’s nowhere near as thick.
Using and mixing glaze with plastic fillers and aluminum fillers will make them much easier to apply and rub, you should definitely try it.
The other bonus is the fact that it also minimizes the number of pinholes you get. This means that your first rub could be your only rub if you do it right.
Glazing putty CAN be applied over paint
One of the major benefits of products such as dolphin glaze is the fact that it can be applied over paint. It’s even recommended by U-Pol themselves!
Dolphin Glaze is multifunctional and can be applied to bare steel, aluminum, galvanized steel, original paint, Body filler & GRP.
As long as you prep the panel properly, you won’t have any issues.
The technical data sheet for dolphin says that you should sand bare steel with P80 paper before applying glaze.
If you’re applying it to anything else, all you need to do is key the surface with P180 paper before applying.
This is huge for minor dent repairs and other auto body imperfections, meaning that a repair can be finished and into the paint shop in minutes.
It also makes it a lot easier to repair stone chips.
Which car glazing putty should you buy?
All of the glaze or glazing putties from industry-leading brands are great.
Whether it’s U-Pol dolphin glaze or Evercoat Metal Glaze, they’re both great products.
At the end of the day it comes down to personal preference and the only way you’re going to know which one works best for you is by trying them out.
I’m most familiar with Dolphin glaze and use it all the time, that’s why I recommend that over any other.
U-Pol Dolphin Glaze
Dolphin Glaze is a premium finishing glaze that’s designed to eliminate pinholes and other surface imperfections prior to painting.
Its self levelling properties give a smooth, ultra fine finish which requires little to no sanding at all. This makes it the perfect option for skim coating and minor body damage.
Works On
Dolphin Glaze works on pretty much every substrate that’s in a car.
- Bare Steel
- Aluminum
- Galvanized Steel
- OEM Paint
- Body Filler
- Plastics
- GRP
Preparation
U-Pol recommend P80 paper to sand and prep bare steel but suggests using P180 for any other surface. If you’re applying to paint all that you need to do is key the surface with 180 paper or a sanding disc.
After you’ve sanded the area, U-Pol suggests using a degreaser to clean the panel. I can tell you from experience that using air to blow dust and debris from the panel also works.
Application
Dolphin glaze uses a different % of hardener based on the temperature.
10° use 3%
20° use 2%
30% use 1%.
Using the guidelines above, you can expect to rub your filler after 20 minutes. It’s recommended not to use more or less hardener, it speeds up the process but can also result in defects later on.
Rubbing
For the initial rub it’s recommended that you use 180 paper before finishing off with 240. This is more than enough if you’ve done a light skim to fix imperfections.
If you’ve used dolphin for a deeper fill, there’s no harm in working your way through the papers starting at 80. Just go slowly and pay attention otherwise you could cause bigger problems for yourself.
Evercoat Metal Glaze Ultra
METAL GLAZE is a two-part polyester finishing and blending putty. Just like dolphin it can be mixed in with other body fillers to offer flexibility and completely change the products you’re working with.
I don’t believe this has self levelling properties, but I could be wrong. It’s still a great product though offering superior adhesion on a number of different substrates.
Works On
- Steel
- Fiberglass
- Aluminum
- Sanded Body Filler
- Galvanized Steel
- Most Rigid to Semi-Rigid Plastics
- Cured Sanded OEM Finishes
- Cured Sanded 2K Primer Surfacer
Evercoat specifically state to use their Poly-Flex filler on flexible plastics.
I have seen some situations where the standard glazes crack on bumpers. This highly depends on the area as well as any other fillers that it’s mixed with.
Preparation
To prep the panel ready to accept glaze, all you need to do is rub it with paper between 80 – 180 grit. It’s up to you whether you want to remove the paint completely or apply the glaze over scuffed paint.
Again, clean the panel after with a degreaser to remove the dust, dirt and debris before filling. The last thing you want is dirt in your filler, this is what leads to defects such as pinholes.
Application
It’s recommended to use 2% hardener with this glaze. Evercoat recommends adding a “ribbon” of hardener from edge to edge, as this works out to roughly 2%.
With 2% hardener, it’ll take about 5 minutes for the glaze to harden.
Rubbing
Once dry, rub the glaze with P180. You can go higher if you like, but there’s really no necessity to do so.
Obviously if your workplace or colleagues expect you to rub it in a higher grit do that. It’s not worth causing a stir at work just because the technical data sheet says otherwise!