Drip rail caulk?

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paulclark

paulclark

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There's something like caulk or putty in the drip rail of my 65 Dart wagon. It has shrunk and curled, there are pieces missing, and it seems like it's mainly a place to trap moisture now.

What is this stuff? How can I get it out, just by scraping? What should I put in there to replace it, something other than just paint?

thanks in advance -
 
I removed the old sealer from my 66 Dart last fall and when I was asking what to use I was referred to these products: evercoat 6022 or 6023 or I use 3m 08361 its in a sausage tube type container
I have primered my car but havent used the sealer yet so I dont know how they will work. I ended up buying the 3m product and it is what they refer to as self leveling. Im not sure how that is going to work on the vertical areas like going down towards the front window or going down behind the rear window.
Best of luck
Rod
 
All right - I'll look into it - time to fire up the heat gun I guess!
 
Not sure a heat gun will help get it out. I used a series of screw drivers and a wire wheel to get it out of my 70 duster
 
Pauly has the right idea. On the ends u can make a dam by using tape to keep it from flowing out. And once its dry you can sand it smooth. Or as u apply it keep thinner on hand and wet ur finger w the thinner and smooth it out like you would caulk
 
i removed my seam sealer in the drip rails last year. My process was twisted wire (cable) brush on a grinder then lots of heat and a scraper to remove the bits that get stuck in the drip rail folds. you should get the seam sealer hot enough to smell it.

i then primered and used SEM high build self leveling seam sealer. it requires a special gun, and is expensive, but it is very easy to use and spreads to about the factory bumpy look. with a little smoothing it looks perfect.

http://www.semproducts.com/repair-seam-sealers/dual-mixtm-high-build-self-leveling-seam-sealer
 
I pulled the chrome, used screwdrivers and finished it off with a wire wheel on a drill and did both sides in about 30 minutes. (wife's 72 Dart)

About 2 years ago I posted that I was going to do an experiment with my own car where I removed about a foot of the caulking, wire brushed it clean and gave the seam a good heavy coating of Eastwood's rust encapsulator. (the stuff dries hard as hell)
Once dried I painted over the seam, then put the chrome back on.
Everyone told me it wouldn't work, that it would leak and so on, but after two years that spot still looks like it could have been done last week.
I watched it pretty close through 2 winters now, so I'm satisfied it'll hold up but knew I could use caulk pretty much any time if it looked sketchy at all.
This is the way I'm going to do the rest since seam sealer and pretty much everything else I have ever seen ends up pulling away and letting water in around it at some point.
 
i used 3 in grinder, watch for the dust,i went to carquest where they mix auto paint, told them what i needed, they gave me a tube, dont know the name, but its been in now 2 years, no problems
 
Die grinder and wire wheel with speed turned down. Then I cleaned up areas that had surface rust with a 2" round scotch brite on the die grinder.
 

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I have the same issue. Are you guys saying this seam sealer is something they did at the factory? I thought for sure it was some lame-*** attempt by the previous owner to fix a leak
 
When you get all that crap out of there.. I used tiger seal 1k urethane sealer, thinned it with mineral spirits and use my finger...
 
I used a wire wheel to remove mine then primed with epoxy primer. I used the 3M paintable seam sealer and used diesel fuel in a small cup to dip my finger in and wiped the seam sealer smooth like you would do for caulk. Once dried I cleaned the residual diesel off prior to painting.
 
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