The evolution of automotive body fillers

Your guide to the comprehensive range of products to suit application and budget.

Over the years U-Pol has led the market in the development of automotive body fillers. U-Pol fillers have improved to produce results FASTER!

A question the RICO technical team often get asked is “why do you have many ranges of body filler, and which one should I buy?”

If you are new to this concept and hadn’t noticed, here’s a quick overview.

On the RICO website, we promote five ranges of automotive body filler…

• ISOPON
• EASY
• GOLD
• FANTASTIC
• DOLPHIN

The above are ranked in order of price.

The ISOPON & EASY range are the least expensive, GOLD is middle of the price range and FANTASTIC and DOLPHIN are priced at the top.

Like everything in life, price is generally an indicator of quality.

However, it’s slightly more complicated. Here are a few more factors to consider…

• What type of job are you working on?
• Do you repair panels for a living, or are you only doing it occasionally?
• What do you prefer working with?

Before we tackle each of these issues, you should know, all U-Pol body fillers across the range will do the job.

In the hands of an experienced professional, every filler mentioned above (even the least expensive) will perform and after the paint has cured you won’t know the difference (with a few important exceptions which we will discuss below).

The real question comes down to…

• Ease of use: meaning, how quickly can the job be completed?
• Versatility: how many different materials will the filler adhere to? And how many different types of filling jobs is the product suited to?
• Personal work style and technique: every professional develops their own way of working and gets comfortable with their favourite body-filler. They know how to work with it, and know it will produce the results they want, predictably and efficiently. Some professionals are happy to stock different styles of filler for different purposes. Some just want one filler for everything. It’s a personal choice that comes from experience and the development of a personal technique.

U-Pol is a chemical engineering driven business (based in the UK) and their people in lab coats are continually experimenting to formulate new refinish ancillary products through product development.

New improved versions of fillers result.

The less expensive fillers in the U-Pol range are older technologies superseded by the new and improved products. But they often have a loyal following. People like to work with products they know.

Let’s walk through the range and help you choose the best for your purpose.

ISOPON

The ISOPON range are consumer products. The ISOPON P.38 multi-purpose filler is the lowest cost filler in the U-Pol range and is designed for small automotive filling jobs suitable for home handyman use. Everything you need (hardener and a mixing board) have been included in the kit. It’s Ok technology but U-Pol have better products for professionals.

Easy

EASY is a cost-effective product available in larger quantities than ISOPON P.38. One of the older products in the range, many refinish professionals grew-up with Easy and it still has a loyal following. It was leading edge technology when it was launched, but U-Pol have moved on. If you are looking for adequate performance, need to use large quantities, or are regularly doing budget crash-repair jobs - Easy is perfect. Also used by mould and model makers because you get a lot of product for your dollar and it performs well.

Gold

Gold Automotive Body Filler is U-Pol’s middle of the range body filler that features a good compromise between price and performance. What you get with Gold is improved workability (smoother flow), lightweight, and easier sanding. For the refinish professional, it cost effectively delivers faster results.

Fantastic

Globally, Fantastic was the first ultra-light weight automotive body filler. Pick-up a 3 litre can of Fantastic and it is noticeably lighter. Fantastic body filler has exceptional sanding qualities to improve finishing speed. Particularly good if you need to fill large panel areas and want to cut down sanding back time.

Dolphin

Dolphin is U-Pol’s premium performance filler product range and features the latest chemical technology. In simple terms, U-Pol’s chemists have figured out how to improve on older filler technologies to allow the refinish professional to achieve top results in the shortest time.

One big benefit of the Dolphin technology is that it will adhere solidly to a wider range of materials (substrates) so it can be used on aluminium, composites (like fibreglass and SMC), plastics, zinc coatings, galvanised steel, as well as traditional automotive steel panels.

Special purpose fillers

U-Pol also manufacture special purpose fillers optimised for applications like filling alloy wheel dings, plastics, special fillers for rust holes, and high strength fillers for applications where ability to withstand heavier than normal abuse is important.

U-Pol also provide high build primers that have filling properties to improve repair and refinishing speed through spraying the surface to build depth that can then be sanded back to match the surrounding surface.

Every product in U-Pol’s filler range listed on RICO have comprehensive information included to help you to work out which product will best suit your need. But, if in doubt give us a call and we will guide you through the options.

Happy filling!