- Hey, YouTube, this is Donny Smith,
and I'm back with another Q&A.
In this video, we're gonna talk about seam sealer.
(car brakes screeching)
Alright, so UCanDoIt2 says,
"Thanks for sharing this information.
"At some point, would you mind discussing seam sealer,
"and which type of joints it would be used on?
"Most is obvious, but I see people use it
"in places that do not make sense.
"Sometimes the obvious is not so obvious.
"So some examples from some of your project would be great.
"Thanks."
And I appreciate you for asking this question,
and, you know, watching my videos,
and all of you that watch and have questions
or comments, I appreciate that.
And, talk about seam sealers, basically seam sealer's
designed to go over two different panels,
two different joints, and basically seal them
where no moisture and things like that doesn't get in,
you know, it helps from corrosion protection.
So, really, anywhere one panel overlaps another,
you know, that's a candidate for seam sealer.
For example, you know, where a door panel,
you know, the outer door panel,
that flange bends around the shell,
right there, you know, that's somewhere that moisture
could get in, so usually that is seam sealed,
or where a quarter panel laps over,
you know, on the edges, on the flanges, you know,
that could be used, seam sealer could be used for that.
Basically any joint, you know, structural
or non-structural areas that's not gonna be too visible.
And what I mean by that, if you're sectioning in
a quarter paneled roof, and you're sectioning
along the cell panel there,
I mean, you would see seam sealer if you applied it,
so you need to do something that makes it invisible,
you know, more of an invisible repair
where you don't see anything.
So, what you're gonna do in a case like that,
you know, you would weld it, you know, grind it,
I usually apply some fiberglass, you know,
some chopped fiberglass, like Kitty Hair,
or something like that, I don't use that brand.
And then that just to help seal it, make sure
it seals proper, not everybody uses that.
And then I'll apply some body filler,
you know, sand it out, prime it, block it.
Then, after you paint it, you'll never know that,
you know, any seam was there.
So, in a case like that, you know, seam sealer's
not gonna be used where it's really visible.
But really, anywhere else where two panels join,
you know, I'd probably use seam sealer.
A lot of places, you know, like you take tail lights out,
areas like that that's in there where you don't see good,
you know, it's not gonna be visible all the time,
or real visible, you know, seam sealer is applied
in there from the factory, and, you know,
we reapply it in the after market.
Anywhere it was applied from the factory, you know,
we usually apply it.
And basically what we're wanting to do
is just keep moisture from getting
in-between those two panels.
So, traditionally, seam sealer really need to be applied,
you know, not on top of the metal, but over primer.
I think the most recommended is, like, epoxy primer,
you know, you spray that on there, let it dry, and then put
your seam sealer, and then you can paint on top of that.
Probably a 2K primer would work fine.
I don't really think etch primer, that it's recommended
that you put that over etch primer,
because, you know, the acid etch primer,
I don't know if it will stick like it should.
But 2K or epoxy primer, you know,
and then, apply your seam sealer.
Now, 3M, and I'm sure other brands have came out with
a seam sealer, you know, it's a direct metal,
you know, you can put this seam sealer straight onto
the metal, you know, if it's a metal surface.
The trick, though, this is the trick,
is trying to make it look original,
you know, like OEM.
That's where we've had a lot of challenges, you know,
and some tips for that is maybe applying tape
and using that to make a straight edge, smoothing it out.
You know, I've put gloves on and smoothed it out
with my finger to make it look smooth.
They've also got the streak look,
which you might have to get a brush
and kind of brush it to give it that streak look.
Also, you can use low pressure air gun
if it's got that textured look,
just to kind give it a little bit of a texture,
you blow the compressed air onto the seam sealer,
and that'll kinda give it that texture like factory.
There's some different tricks out there,
but trying to make it look like the factory,
like, if you're matching one side to the other,
I mean, of course you want it to look the same,
you want it to look factory,
and that's the challenge sometimes.
I know I was at a 3M class, and what they're starting
to recommend to use for a lot of their seam sealing
is their flexible plastic repair,
because that flows out real good, nice and smooth,
and there are some areas that are visible, like,
I know my Titan, my Nissan Titan, you know,
where it joins, the roof joins, like, to the quarter panel,
you know it laps over there.
At the factory, you know, they have seam sealer,
it just kinda fills in, it looks like one piece.
Well, what they're doing is they're putting
that flexible repair in there and it flows out,
and then they can paint on top of that,
and it looks it did from the factory.
One more thing I wanna mention, though, you know,
we're really using less seam sealers,
because of all the panel bond these days.
You know, you're putting the panel bond
to put, like, door skins and things on,
and that's on the flange, and you're actually having
some of that ooze out of the edge there,
and then, you know, you can wipe that off
and that's already sealed, there's really no need
to come back, in my opinion, to come back with seam sealer
whenever that has a seal from the 8115,
you know, that's gonna prevent any moisture
or anything like that getting in.
So, in areas where you're using panel bond,
you know, it may not be as necessary to use a seam sealer.
Well, I hope that helps answer your question
without, you know, being more specific,
or letting me know, like, what you're referring to,
like, where have you seen it used that you have in question,
you know, I might could better help you.
Or, if someone out there, you know,
there's a lot of knowledgeable people
that watch these videos, too.
Shoot us a comment, leave it below, you know,
you can help answer these questions as well.
And that's what's great about here on YouTube,
I mean, we get a lot of comments, feed back, and, you know,
a lot of times, you know, I get questions, you know,
someone helps answer these questions, you know,
from a different perspective, from, you know,
a different opinion and things like that, and that's great.
Alright, well that's it for this video, thanks for watching.
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