Seam Sealer AFTER Paint

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2025 4:40 pm
Ok it looks like I made a mistake. About 4 years ago I restored my 64 c10. For the bedsides I bought brand new repop fleetside bedsides. They came with a black Ecoating I couldn’t wipe off and I could barely sand off so I scuffed and primed over it.

Everything has held up great except there’s a panel seam that runs horizontally down the bedside of 60-66 fleetside Chevy trucks. Well apparently the one bedside seam didn’t get primed by the factory or me, because it’s starting to rust. I folded some 1000 grit around a 4” drywall trowel and sanded the seam out best I can, blew it out, masked it off and have worked a pretty good amount of liquid phosphoric acid into the seam with a small paintbrush i stole from my daughters.

Now I’d like to seal this seam up. Does anyone know if there’s a CLEAR seam sealer I could squeeze in the seam so no more moisture can get in? I know now I should’ve done this prior to painting and I also know this might not be a permanent fix but it’s worth a shot before I have get the whole bedside resprayed.

Big thanks in advance to everyone on here, this site was extremely useful while restoring my old truck.
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2025 9:13 pm
yep, typical bad spot for those bed sides. if you think you have it clean, you got the phosphoric acid all cleaned out good. then when dry mix up some epoxy primer and brush some in the crack. PUMP it in and smooth it out you can mask right along the crack. after a day or two you can then use your seam sealer. beings you already have a nice top coat finish dry it and look for some clear sealer and just use it. not much else you can do at this stage.
Jay D.
they say my name is Jay



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2025 12:17 am
Thanks for the reply Jay. Ok so just so I don’t mess this up anymore. I should flush the seam out with water? Then let dry, mask off, paint seam with epoxy primer, the seal with clear sealer.

Do you mean clear sealer from a tube/ silicone sealer or a can/ spray?

Thanks again.



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2025 1:18 pm
this should have been done AT THE START of the project but you've realized that now. YES, wash it out good with soap and water. i'm sorry, i should have said (SEAM SEALER) :whoops: DO you have any of the paint color and what was it? i'm asking, because i don't know what you're going to do about the color in the crack. if you put clear seam sealer ( out of a tube) then you're going to see whatever color you had put under it, gray epoxy? IF you had some of the color you could epoxy it then use a regular seam sealer ( white) then you could put the color over the seam sealer. JUST TO ADD if you mask right up into that crack area as far as you can, then cover the area you sanded (bare metal) in there I'm assuming? with some type of primer (epoxy is the best) but anything should be good. leave the tape on and apply the sealer and squeegee down tight to the tape. now pull the tape and mask agian ONLY drop the tape down ever so slightly this is so you get color on the edges of the sealer. you'll probably do this with a soft artist brush. IF your steady you might try free handing it. in the end all this should have been done deep in that crack and hardly be noticeable, good luck!!!
Jay D.
they say my name is Jay



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PostPosted: Fri Jan 17, 2025 1:02 pm
Right on thanks! I do still have some base left. Gonna follow your steps. Definitely kicking myself for not sealing all these seams from the get go. Do you think this might be a decent option to seal it up?
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 18, 2025 1:35 pm
posibly, but if you have an auto body supply store i would ask them what they have. be sure its paintable. if you're going to paint it it doesn't need to be clear, and a regular autobody seam sealer should work no matter the color. It kinda scares me when talking about silicone and paint, they sometimes don't like one another. regular autobody seam sealers are generally a urathane product and except paint well.
Jay D.
they say my name is Jay



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PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2025 9:21 pm
badsix wrote:posibly, but if you have an auto body supply store i would ask them what they have. be sure its paintable. if you're going to paint it it doesn't need to be clear, and a regular autobody seam sealer should work no matter the color. It kinda scares me when talking about silicone and paint, they sometimes don't like one another. regular autobody seam sealers are generally a urathane product and except paint well.
Jay D.

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