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  1. #16
    Sandman Driver
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
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    568
    Does anyone have more advice on seam sealant / Dripcheck application?

    I’m up to this stage, pretty much tomorrow, and I’d really like some advice, (pics attached) but mostly ;

    How do you neatly get that line of seam sealer in the seam that runs above the wheels leading back to the cabin?

    And also, regarding using sealant in the gap between the body and the upper gutter rails, - has anyone got any more comment or experience on how to do this well? Having had an experiment yesterday with 3M dripchek I dunno if this is the best stuff to reseal it. Here is the old factory stuff (probably old dripchek) getting cleaned out - note rust.





    The van is in primer now and I saw this thread a week or so back, and so got some dripcheck and had a bit of a test, but now I’m wondering about the wisdom of this as I describe below. It seems to me an easy way to create a space where you could actually seal water in, or cause it to collect and sit, unless you could fully fill in the gap;



    I also wondered, If 3M Dripchek is hygroscopic, I can see how that would be helpful on pulling moisture out whilst drying, but if it remains hygroscopic after it has dried, then that’s a bit of a question, why would this be good? Wouldn't this pull water into that gap, the moisture could imagineably stay largely in the compound, but sometimes would surely sit between the compound and the steel, depending on ambient humidity…? seems to me to be exactly what you don’t want!

    I have emailed 3M asking about the hygroscopic properties of Dripcheck after it has set, but at the time of this posting, I am yet to hear back.

    I did a bit of checking, and found Dripcheck is an older product now, some (online) paint and panel websites, are recommending newer polyurethanes (Yep I did read the ealier posts on this thread by HK 1837 and Mook) great work guys, but how do I get it neat !!! Anyway it seems many of these newer compounds will stick both to bare metal and primer with corrosion protection, whereas Dripcheck says on the tube that it does not offer full corrosion protection against bare metal. As Mook points out, reliably getting paint in that gap is a hard task. So the desired compound should be something that sticks real hard and also protects both paint and bare steel.

    I also had some issues with my test run on Dripcheck, its gel sorta sticky, I found it hard to get into that gap with any confidence I had filled it, and even using masking tape, its surface sets quite quick and I couldn’t get a neat line, I even tried using a syringe! (no good, it doesn't like even being loaded in the syringe! lol) I ended up pulling as much of what I had applied out of the gap as I could using thinners before it set.

    The seam sealant in these joints obviously has to be really neat or it will detract seriously from the finish. Im wondering if anyone has any magic tips on how to get it neat, or even just close up finished photos of that lower seam? Shaping an an applicator to fit up into the gutter should get it petty neat, but the lower seam seems like finer work to me, and so far, I aint got it quite right yet, and I cant remember what it looked like beforehand. I'd really appreciate some pics of a good finished result, or advice!!
    Last edited by SLR_dave; 04-08-2013 at 06:26 AM. Reason: Changed url for pics

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