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-   -   body/seam sealer ?? (https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=881353)

unruhjonny 07-25-2025 04:12 PM

body/seam sealer ??
 
Can I please ask for the consensus of what people here are using?

What is being used - and how does it compare against the original stuff?

I was cleaning it off at the rear dash to inner quarter, and it was coming off in my wire wheel like saw dust - appeared to be an off-yellow almost brown colour too.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share their experience/opinions.

Formulabruce 07-25-2025 05:01 PM

The Fisher Body gap sealer was white. I have seen it come off in large chunks. They also used a traditional "tar" sealer in small areas.
I use Hi solids black from eastwood. That said, there are some nice synthetic now that have incredible adhesion.

unruhjonny 07-25-2025 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Formulabruce (Post 6574887)
The Fisher Body gap sealer was white. I have seen it come off in large chunks. They also used a traditional "tar" sealer in small areas.
I use Hi solids black from eastwood. That said, there are some nice synthetic now that have incredible adhesion.

That (bolded in quote) explains why I hit a tar area when cleaning to take apart one spot.

I wonder if the "white" discoloured to what I saw;
I have a big piece from the trunk which has the splatter paint on it.

What is being used as the replacement for the "Fisher body gap sealer"?

Formulabruce 07-25-2025 11:38 PM

You might cringe, but this is VERY common in New cars.. in open gaps not directly exposed to outside the car , ( top of back seat area often has big gaps) , I have seen Expansion foam used. Light weight, does the job, not structural..

unruhjonny 07-26-2025 01:45 AM

sorry, I somehow breezed past the second part of your last post.

Thank you for sharing what you use.

rwfisher 07-26-2025 09:08 AM

I used the AC Delco Medium seam sealer and was satisfied with the way it laid out. Skims up quickly though on hot days so if you’re going to brush it out you have to work quickly. Comes in calk tube so is easy to apply and is white and paintable.

VCho455 07-27-2025 09:25 AM

We always used SEM products when I was at the body shop. This video is informative on the differences in the sealers.

https://youtu.be/QepZpuHf3Q8?si=gheWYDvhN_3ymcig

VCho455 07-27-2025 10:37 AM

I forgot to include these links.

https://youtu.be/WdUQnQHFNhc?si=Vk6ybo39cjmyUC9L

https://youtu.be/wHFSGq0mrlI?si=49QVIl2g8n8hzOFe

Rachelsdad 07-27-2025 03:39 PM

The sealer on my '63's firewall was painted over to match the body color (Nocturne Blue), and by the mid-1980's was well-cracked (no such thing as flexative in 1963 - LOL). I scraped that all out - in bits and pieces, IIRC - and used the then-current GM (Ditzler?) stuff, which as I recall I was able to apply with a spatula. It went on white. However, when I painted the firewall, it never took the color the way the original did, and to this day, that bead of seam sealer is still kind of "blanched" (it annoys me, but not enough to do it over or get in there with my airbrush and try to add a few more coats of color to it, now.

I will say that I don't recall adding DX369(?) flexative (the car is acrylic enamel, now), and to this day, there are no cracks in the paint or the sealer (just not as color matched to the rest of the firewall as I would have liked).

I have no idea when the formulation of the seam sealer changed, but apparently it did somewhere along the line.

Anyway, FWIW, that was my experience. HTH

Formulabruce 07-27-2025 08:12 PM

The switch from alkalyd to acrylic made a big difference in seam sealers and paints.


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