Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

Been wondering about a drip rail issue and dreading what needs to be done. There must be 1 zillion posts on working on the drip rail but nothing about after a restoration/paint so many years after (using the previous owners information it was roughly 10 years ago).

So I assume I am looking at a body shop visit and having the drip rail cleaned out, the seam re-sealed, then the upper white part of the cab repainted to have this corrected?

Truck stays in the garage and it get wet more by being washed than driving in the rain. Do you think this was done incorrectly for the pain to be cracking, pealing and then the rust starting to bleed out? Just wondering.

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

What product was used on yours 10 years ago?

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

I haven't any idea something that looks blackish in color.

The previous owner did not do the restoration (he owned the truck roughly 5 years). He bought the truck from Missouri and had it ship to him here in Texas - the owner he bought it from had the restoration done 5 years before. That is all the details that I know. The rest of the truck I am hard pressed to find rust / blemishes.

PS: I like your truck and you are just down the road from me!

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

Keep in mind that some trucks did exactly the same thing with factory seam sealer and paint, many under 10 years from when they were mfg'd. I just finished reworking a drip rail on my 72, which had been cracked, lifted, and leaking horribly (rusted out the inner roof). Very common problem, but for some reason some were worse than others.

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

Thank you, I was wondering that myself. It's not horrible, I think, but there is at least a hairline crack all around. Then some light rust starting to bleed through in some of these areas. Then there are a few places (at the top only) where larger chunks of paint have come off - though oddly no rust there. Seems just because the pain has flaked off does not mean there will be rust (yet?).

If anything it is just worrying me and makes me wonder how much time do I have on my clock before I seriously have to get this fixed. I assume if there is rust coming up to discolor the white paint there is a ticking bomb about to go off!

I am not skilled enough to even think about digging out the sealer/re-sealing - not to mention painting. Might as well ask me to do open heart surgery ha!

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

A lot depends on what they used to seam seal it. I would fix it correctly now before it gets worse. Last thing you want is to have it start leaking. A self leveling seam sealer is the best thing to use for the horizontal seam across the top where your paint is cracked. A repaint on the roof will be in order unfortunately.

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

Ya, that is what I thought - repainting the top.

Wondering if there are any shops around Austin that would know what they are doing with a C10 Drip Rail?? Anyone have any recommendations?

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

Well, 10 years ish...how long before the factory builds started being a problem? Still sucks.

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

At this point the only way to repair is like you said. Clean out the sealant, reseal and paint the top. But the paint shouldn't peal there if the automotive grade seam sealer is used. I'm thinking they used the wrong product. A good body shop will know what to use. There are other companies out there with good sealants but the shops I worked at used 3M products. A self leveling sealant would be ideal. It would flow in and be smooth by the time it dried. Get a shop that works on classic cars. They will care for your truck better and keep it locked up inside at night. Also make sure they are in a good part of town and their lot is well lit at night. Our trucks are becoming very desirable and we don't want scum getting ahold of it.

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

thank you for your reply :)

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

Looks minor compared to what I have seen! You could buy several more years by cleaning the cracked areas with a stiff wire brush, applying some POR-15 over any rust using a very small arts & crafts brush, and then laying down some good quality seam sealer. I like SEM single stage, but a 2K sealer might work even better.

https://www.semproducts.com/product/1k-seam-sealers

You might not even have to repaint the roof if you use the white sealer. Or is your roof a metallic white?

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

thank you for that idea ... though when it comes to detail stuff like that I am sure to muck it up and come out worse than I started. I will give that some serious thought!

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

The cracking of the paint is likely from the paint and seam sealant having slightly different expansion rates causing cracks over time. Like metal paint will work harden and break after too many flexes. Ever time the temperature changes the thin film of paint must match the expansion or contraction of the material it is attached to.
MikeB's idea is sound. To help ensure good results careful masking off of the area prior to starting any repairs should make the end result a good one.

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

Thanks guys. Would I have the clean the old sealer out or just clean over the the crack area and seal that?

I did not see the question what color of white. It's metallic / pear?

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

All good advice so far and ranging from complete re-do to not so much work. My suggestion below is likely the least amount of work and should suffice knowing that your truck is a fair weather driver...

I would consider cleaning them with a solvent, maybe lacquer thinner, not alot, just a dampened corner of a rag. Work it into the cracks well and wipe clean and dry well with a light amount of compressed air. Certainly try this somewhere that is hidden to prove that you will not be messing up the paint with your choice of thinner. Don't use mineral spirits (too oily for touch up paint IMO), but consider lacquer, but alcohol based wax and oil removers would work well and be less chancy.

For the areas that are chipped and show the darker undercoating, I'd clean with the solvent and touch up with a small paint brush with as close to a color match as you can. This may take a few applications to cover the dark undercoating and fill in the cracks....then,

Use a medium to light buffing compound on any of the brown stained areas to brighten them up. I am talking about a t-shirt rag wrapped around the tip of a finger and a dab of compound to clean off the stain. Then work wax into the cracks to help preserve it. Wax will go along way in fighting the growth of rust in those cracks. I'd use the ole'school wax like Turtle, not the spray on quick waxes or the runny squeeze bottle stuff. You need something rather thick and substantial that will stay in the cracks and not evaporate or eventually run out in the heat of the sun. re-apply the wax in those areas after every wash or after every few rain events.

I think this has potential to keep it looking good for as long as possible, but if the blemishes are more than you care to accept, a redo will certainly buy you many more years. Old vehicle drip rails are just going to do this and our trucks are more prone than most for some reason.

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

I'd be really leery of using lacquer thinner unless you could do "surgical strike".;)

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

You've already said a number of times you don't know how to do it so just drop it off at a good body shop and have it fixed the right way . Just like they used to say " You can pay me now or pay me later , Later is going to cost more " :smoke:

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

LOL Grumpy old man, you are a grumpy fellow ;-)

I haven't any problem paying someone to do it right, or at the very least buying some time. There is nothing I hate more to work on things where someone tried to "fix" something and just made my job harder (and generally costlier).

I don't think what I am seeing is horrible, especially since it was 10+ years ago the truck was restored. On the other hand I want to be conscious of something that had started and not let it get out of hand either.

Not sure if any of that makes sense where I am coming from. I do greatly appreciate everyones replies - it gives me many paths to try and tackle this "growing" problem ;-)

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

If you can, drop the headliner, and put a small flash light shining at the rust line, from the inside, at night and see if you see the light on the outside at that rust line.

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

Idk, He’s already got rust visibly forming... I dont think I’d want to rely on wax to keep it from spreading. clean it out and do it right or have rust holes over the windshield in a few short years, that’s my observation here.

Re: Drip Rail Paint Cracking after 10 years a Restoration?
 

I would just take it to a shop and tell them what you want. I would say any reputable place is going to tell you they need to take that whole channel down to bare metal and re do it, then re-spray all the white on top. If they didnt intend to repaint the whole top of the cab I would be nervous. Metallic paints can be hard to match.

Just going to get worse and spread. I would take the hit sooner rather than later.