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Body Seal and Sealants used
VWGrub - December 30th, 2013 at 04:58 PM

Guys,

I'm close to putting my bod back on the floor pan, and hope you can help with a few questions.

1. I have the cheap body seal from Classic Vee Dub, has anyone had issues in using these!

2. Can you recommend a sealant to seal this with and any helpful
Tricks I should be aware of?

Cheers in advance

bajachris88 - December 31st, 2013 at 08:01 AM

Used black silicone sealant from mitre10 :) (windscreen sealant), has worked a charm on the baja.

Be aware to not use a 'sealer'... fella at autobarn sold me that by mistake after I asked for sealant, and after all the effort of applying and bolting the body on to the pan, the shit never cured (remained a messy goo).

matberry - December 31st, 2013 at 09:22 AM

Well I have a totally diferent opinion to Chris I'm affraid.

I would be using ONLY quality seal (like West Coast Metric) as I've seen some cheap versions turn to soft oozy rubbish in no time, also the sealant I'd use would be a high quality non-hardening sealant (I use Wurth brand made in Germany). Silicone is usually acidic unless you specify 'neutral cure' which will CAUSE rust and any drying compound will tend to glue the body down making any future removal or repairs very difficult.

helbus - December 31st, 2013 at 11:28 AM

I would use a none hardening sealing strip. The stuff that comes in a snake roll. Wurth brand is very good. Kind of the consistency of BluTac

You dont want gooey rubber windscreen sealant from a tube, as it cannot bridge any gaps. It is designed for rubber windsreen seals.

I would never use silicone anywhere on a car body. It causes rust more than it can prevent. Mechanical components only.

VWGrub - January 3rd, 2014 at 08:20 PM

Cheers Guys,

Food for thought and good info. Lucky I have a Wurth store close by, so will go and see what I can use!

Cheers again

vlad01 - January 9th, 2014 at 09:45 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajachris88
Used black silicone sealant from mitre10 :) (windscreen sealant), has worked a charm on the baja.

Be aware to not use a 'sealer'... fella at autobarn sold me that by mistake after I asked for sealant, and after all the effort of applying and bolting the body on to the pan, the shit never cured (remained a messy goo).


Thats what you want though. the factory used a non curing tar like sealer.

If you use a sealer like sikaflex which many people do, you will probably never get the body off the pan ever again.

I recently put a little on the bottom of a coil spring to stop the spring from shifting in its seat under hard cornering and I mounted a part wrong in the strut and required removing the spring again.

Lets just say it took me 4 hours to pry the spring out and clean the mess up. :crazy: It was like welded in place.

imagine that over the whole surface area of the body to pan interface.

vlad01 - January 9th, 2014 at 09:49 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by matberry
Well I have a totally diferent opinion to Chris I'm affraid.

I would be using ONLY quality seal (like West Coast Metric) as I've seen some cheap versions turn to soft oozy rubbish in no time, also the sealant I'd use would be a high quality non-hardening sealant (I use Wurth brand made in Germany). Silicone is usually acidic unless you specify 'neutral cure' which will CAUSE rust and any drying compound will tend to glue the body down making any future removal or repairs very difficult.


I might look into this wurth stuff.

is it any good for doing door trim membranes?

vw54 - January 9th, 2014 at 05:43 PM

cheap seal equals LEAKS why spend money on the body work and let water come into the car

us a non acidic silastic or it will eat in the metal work and cause rust