What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Loehle Wonder Fil review

carolsyracuse

carolsyracuse

Well Known Member
I thought I would post our experience with the Loehle Wonder-fil on our fiberglass cowling. We did the suggested prep and rubbed on the wonder fil. The excess wiped off easily, similar to wiping off car wax. We could see the white specs where the wonder-fill had filled in the holes.
We next sprayed on the filler coat DuPont? Corlar 13560S. Then we sanded down the filler coat . We sand until we see no bumps in that layer.
The problem with the wonder-fil is if you sand down too much, you can see the wonder-fil bubbling out. With the Loehle paint products, they recommend two different colors of primer so that when you sand, you can see the different color primer and stop before you sand down too far. We did not have this visual aid.
I did not think the wonder-fil was "wonderful". I ended up filling the pinholes that washed out with a different product that would not wash out when sanded.
 
I have a gallon

I have a gallon of Wonderfill. used small amount out of it on the cowl and decided to go another route. It's about a year old. Not sure if it has a shelf life. Not sure what I paid for it but you can have it for half price. Bill Woods, you still have it in your shop?
 
I agree with Brian.

I used the Wonderfil followed with their black primer. The primer dries gloss. After sanding, anything still glossy is a low spot. Repeat. It worked pretty fast for me.
 
wonderful wonderfill

wonderfill has worked wonders for me.
I do use their primer filler both black and white.
The limitation of wonderfill seems to be the size of the pinhole.
The product is made to fill pinholes not blemishes or other imperfections on the surface.
So, if you rub it into the pinholes and then wipe it off, then spray a catalyzed
primer on it it will cure the wonderfill that comes in contact with it.
Then you can sand it all the way back down to the bare fiberglass part if you have to. Not sure where your bubbles come from.
One more thing, call Loehle and they will answer all your questions regardless whether you buy any of their products.
I am a very satisfied Loehle customer
 
I use it with Evercoat Ero Fill Urethane Filler Surfacer and resist sanding all the way thru the primer. Almost but not all the way thru....after all that is the point in using a filler/surfacer.

After priming, I have never seen any of it bubble out of a hole.

Anything larger than the weird voids that Van's cowls have in the center of each honeycomb, it will not fill nor is it suppose to. Works miracles on pin holes!

One more thought, I always spray good wet first coat so as to get the primer to flow in well.
 
Last edited:
Don't mean to hijack the thread, but

I've just finished a small paint booth and ready to do Wonderfil and Loehle primer on my fiberglass. I'm still conflicted about painting myself (I'd really like to), or farming it out. I have experienced spotty customer service from Loehle, and read about the same in the forums. Nice people, but follow thru (oders lost, etc,) has been a problem. I don't want to head down a road that comes to a dead end.

What is your experience? 427EF specifically, did you use the whole system? If not, isthe Loehle primer compatible with other paint systems? :confused:
 
Just a word of warning. I have had terrible experience with the customer service at Loehle. Promised immediate shipment, never happened. Got charged for a product that was never shipped at all. I would never deal with them again. Since I didn't ever get the wonderfil, I cannot comment on how well it works.

My experience, YMMV.

greg
 
Greg,

Did you call and talk to them?

If you tried to get this resolved and they did not return the favor and you used a credit card to order, just call your card company up and do a charge back. They will do this no question if you did your part to make it right.

I hate poor customer service just as much as the next guy.....Mistakes do happen though and sometimes all it takes is a good nudge to get things back on track.

Greg Arehart said:
Just a word of warning. I have had terrible experience with the customer service at Loehle. Promised immediate shipment, never happened. Got charged for a product that was never shipped at all. I would never deal with them again. Since I didn't ever get the wonderfil, I cannot comment on how well it works.

My experience, YMMV.

greg
Click to expand...
 
Wonderfill

I orderd the wonder fill kit almost a year ago.(250$).... In Aug. I got part of the kit but not the SO CALLED WONDERFILL. Ive called a few times but have not called in a while. I think I am going to call the credit card Co. and see if I can get my money back. I hope they read this forum. My opinion of them is **** total ****.
 
!!Try this!! Hope it works for you

Here's something to try. Add glass bubbles to some epoxy resin. (slow cure!) Thicken the epoxy till your hand hurts and you're broken a few stir sticks. I like to add some pigment for contrast. Now rub this epoxy mud all over your sanded part. Take some time and really work it in with the, wax on wax off motion. Finally use an old buffing pad(slow RPMs) to buff the majority of the mud off. If the resin doesn't fling off in clumps, it wasn't thick enough.
Started this a few months ago with black pigment to fill pinholes on carbon fiber helmets. works great with very little sanding afterwards. I "Wonder" why it took me so long. After buffing the mud off, we wet sand with 220, 320 then clear coat (or prime). It's cut my sanding labor in half, hope it does yours too.
 
Brian,

The (slightly) longer story is that I called to make the order and was told that my order would ship the next day, and arrive within a few business days. Two weeks later when nothing had arrived (usually companies will send a UPS or Fedex tracking number, and I never got that so was already concerned) I did call them and the lady said that they had had a rush of orders and mine was "next in line" to go out. Since I had already made other arrangements (used some smoothprime from ACS), I just said to cancel the order. A few days later the charge shows up on my credit card! I called my credit card people immediately and they put a credit back to my account. Haven't heard anything else since. No explanation or apology or anything from Loehle.

Obviously I would not ever do business with them again, and it sounds like I am not the only one who has had issues.

greg
 
Latest on this Product?

How many others have used Wonderfill and what have your experiences been recently with the product and service from Loehle?

I've tried many other methods on pinholes and none have been that satisfying and all have been hugely time consuming.

Is this stuff really wonderful?
 
Yeah,
It really does work well. VERY easy to apply (like car polish) and rubs off easy leaving the pin holes filled. I don't know that it works under all paint systems. But I do know it works under poly urethane types like Imron, etc. as that is what I painted with.
 
Stay away...awful customer service.

I've used it twice. Product is OK, but not necessary. Certainly not worth the hassle of dealing with them. Their customer service, right to Sandy Loehle, is awful. Always an excuse and never any followup as promised.

On my LAST order, I had to finally dispute the charge with VISA even after leaving messages for Sandy and talking to her directly... and being promised a refund. This went on for months.

Awful, awful, awful. Stay away.

Gordon

N144GP
 
Thanks for the customer service warnings. I'll try to order the Akzo product here in Canada instead. Don't need to deal with companies like Loehle.
 
My experience with pin hole "fillers" is they don't fill, they just coat over. Sand a little too much and the holes reappear.
 
Wonderfill works as advertised if you follow the directions. It will only fill pinholes and will not work on larger holes.

David-aviator said:
My experience with pin hole "fillers" is they don't fill, they just coat over. Sand a little too much and the holes reappear.
Click to expand...
 
longranger said:
I've never used it myself, a fellow Chapter 1000 member had a very good experience applying SmoothPrime with a foam roller.

http://www.eaa1000.av.org/technicl/pinhole.htm
Click to expand...

I've tried thinned urethane high build primers applied with foam roller on the cabin top. Result- 7 coats later and about 60 hours of sanding, I have 98% of the pinholes filled. Not doing that any more.

The pinholes on my RV10 glass are a lot worse than on my -6.
 
I also had terrible service from Loehle about 2 years ago. I ordered the complete kit, including 'wonderfil', tools, instruction manual, etc, and my card was charged right then. Problem is, only part of the kit came - some of the primer, some tools, but no wonderfil, which is supposed to be the first step. After a few calls with promises from Loehle, I decided to send what I had back and go another route. It took months to get my money back, even after talking to them on the phone more than once. I was told they couldn't afford to pay me right then and would issue the refund on Friday.... she didn't tell me what Friday though. I eventually got my refund, but there are other products out there that work well and you shouldn't have to put up with that kind of customer service - ever.... Their other products must be keeping them in business because this product couldn't. I doubt that they check this website.
 
Great service and product.

Ross,
Give Wonderfill a try.
As has been said, many ways to take care of pinholes but this is about as easy and effective as it gets. I also love the primer!
I have ordered several times from Loehle and never had a problem.
I very recently placed a call to Sandy who was busy but promptly returned my call.
I am getting ready to paint my RV-10 with their paint.
As a small business owner I like to deal with people like the Loehle's and Stein
and many others whom I have never met but know they will do their level best to please their customers.
Although I used Du Pont paint before I don't know Mr Du Pont, you get the idea.
Someone with your unshakable persistence ought to take the negatives with a grain of salt.
 
Weird how there can be such a difference of opinion on a vendor and their customer service...seems to happen allot in this business??? :confused:
 
It just is not hard to treat everyone well and there are just too many posts here where people got really crappy service. I personally don't want to bother taking the risk so I'll get the AKZO stuff here in Canada.

I order stuff from many US companies in my business and generally get very good service. If I don't and have choices, the bad companies lose my business. Simple as that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top