Got my all new steel Bronco body delivered, panels have the black e-coat on them but nothing else. Need to seal all the seams where the panels are spot-welded together, is there a particular brand or product that stands above everything else? I know Eastwood products have a good reputation, that's what I'm leaning towards if nothing else is deemed superior.
I've used the Wurth seam sealer, it matched what was used on my old BMW well and that seam sealer has a reputation for being very hard to remove. I bought it in the can rather than tube and used a brush to apply it which gave factory like results.
I used SEM 2K Seam Sealer on my '61 Chevy Apache and am very pleased with the results. There is a "self-leveling" seam sealer (which I didn't use) that can be good for sealing drip rails nicely. Pricey. Get a generic double-barrel caulking gun off Amazon.
I've used the non-2K normal sealer in both tube and tub, but cannot comment on longevity.
Make sure you've thought out the application before you commit - it's hard to tidy it up later.
Any name brand in the body shop business is good. 3M, Wurth, SEM as mentioned above. Eastwood stuff is usually good but not superior to the listed brands and you may actually pay more. Once you open a tube you are pretty much committed. I've not had success trying to cap it and continue to use again later.
Don't forget the 100 pk of acid brushes and a whole day to seal unless you like to buy multiple tubes. Typically they have a short life once opened.
How does the two-part stuff compare to the normal caulk gun tubes? Anybody know? 
Seam sealers and application techniques would be a good topic for the magazine to do an article on. Use of the vehicle, surfaces being applied to, appearance desired, and other factors like whether it will be painted or not influence the type of sealer and techniques used.
As an example I do a lot of late 60's 70's muscle car era work and want to create a "factory" appearance knowing the cars won't be daily drivers and will rarely be driven in bad weather or even washed. I do a lot of bare metal work and frequently use the SEM 29392 black single stage seen above using various techniques to recreate a sort of factory appearance by using different types of brushes (often cut to change the stiffness of the brush) and "tools" like the cut bondo spreader seen below that I cut to certain widths along with using wax & grease remover in certain cases to give the surface a certain look. I use different sealers and techniques for something like a mud truck.
The collision repair technicians in shady body shops are the most skillful seam sealer applicators I've ever seen. They're masters at recreating factory appearance and can do things like section in a frame rail that was supposed to be fully replaced and mask the job with creative seam sealer application saving themselves many hours of labor. They might save 10 hours on a job because of time saved during teardown and rail removal/replacement by spending an extra 1/2 hour on creative seam sealing before sending the vehicle to paint. If the vehicle is in another accident and the sectioned rail is discovered they'd be held responsible but they don't care because most don't have anything to lose.
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I used the can and brush method on my Jag, the main thing for me was just making sure the seam was sealed......if you watch Binky, Nik took his finger and tried to mush the sealer into the seam, then he smoothed it over. It took days but gave a nice looking result.
MiniDave said:I used the can and brush method on my Jag, the main thing for me was just making sure the seam was sealed......if you watch Binky, Nik took his finger and tried to mush the sealer into the seam, then he smoothed it over. It took days but gave a nice looking result.
I'll warn people tempted to use a finger like they would caulking a bathtub or whatever. Eventually, you'll get a really good cut on sharp sheet metal. Wear a thick type glove or wipe using a rag to avoid the cut.
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