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Old 10-14-2007, 12:00 AM   #2
krue
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: South Mississippi
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Re: Martinsr's "Basics of Basics" Seam sealer

Photo J the sealer is applied, no need to be neat here! Just get it on there, run a bead and don’t worry what it looks like. Remember, some of these 2K sealers can kick pretty quickly. You want to get it on, “work” it out how you want before it kicks. So running the bead when you have it masked up doesn’t take any time, just get it on there.

Photo K the sealer is brushed out. Press down lightly on the brush so the sealer is forced down into the seam. But not too hard, you want the edges of the sealer to be a little thick so it looks like a “bead” when you unmask. You could apply a smaller bead, press that in with your finger, then apply another bead and brush it lightly to build up a good bead. When unmasked while sealer is still not kicked, it will flow down a little and leave a very nice factory looking bead.

Photo L is me cutting across the corner with my finger. Remember, this isn’t is for a late model car and getting it close is all that is needed, no need to go nuts.

Photo M shows the door finished and unmasked.

Photo N, the original seam sealer on the other door.

Photo Na, the one I did after paint. Again, this just needs to be close and this is far from the cream of the crop jobs, but it looks pretty good.

The next few photos are of another technique that I was taught by a guy in the shop a few years ago. Under fender wells and trunk floors of late model cars there is a lot of sprayed underseal that is pretty hard to duplicate with the underseal we use, even the hot rod one we have that is sprayed out of a pressure pot doesn’t go on as thick as the factory stuff. My co-worker showed me how you can spread out the seam sealer with your brush, then “dab” it with a wax and grease soaked Turkish towel (photo O)
to get a texture pretty darn close to the factory (photo P).
The cool thing is, it kicks very fast. So you can get the stuff paint ready in minutes. I don’t know of a spray on that is this fast. And, if you only have a few small spots, setting up a gun, cleaning it and so forth is going to take much longer. This procedure can’t be beat for “touch up”.

Now, I know you all aren’t doing these late model cars and the techniques used here may not exactly duplicate what you see in your classic car. The point is, if you look at the factory seam sealer, take a bunch of close up photos before you remove it, you likely can duplicate it close enough. You certainly don’t need to get it perfect, that is for sure. Most seam sealer is pretty sloppy and it is easy to duplicate. But with a little planning you can get some amazing results. Every car is a little different and I couldn’t possibly show all the little tricks, those you will have to get by trial and error.
One very important point is to when you peel the tape up. It is a learning process and would be different with different brands of sealer. So some test runs would be HIGHLY advised. But basically, you remove it the second you get it dressed the way you want it. And for this reason, do small sections at a time if you have a big sealing project. On all three of the examples in the photos I pulled it immediately after spreading it out, IMMEDIATELY! On the door in photo "J" that area you see long the bottom was the first sealer applied and pulled off, in just the minutes I did this it started to kick. I got a small section that you can't see in the photos where the edge of the sealer got funky. Not too bad, but on the end where people would see it I would have had to spend some time fixing it. Under the bottom, no big deal. But different sealer is going to kick at different times. One you could wait twenty minutes, another you better be pulling that tape pretty fast. It all depends on the temp of the metal and shop as well. So, there is no replacement for running a little test and see before you do your project.
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