As I get closer to dealing w/ refinishing the underside of my car,..the prospect of laying on my back, on the floor, and having to prime/paint the thing with only 24" of room between the two becomes another dreaded part of what is supposed to be a "hobby".
Now that most of the floor is clean, there are several areas that are now bare metal. The wire wheel I used pretty well destroyed the factory seam sealer, and additionally there are several areas that Ford deemed unnecessary that all need resealing.
So, in other words,....I gotta lot of gaps to fill.
Automotive grade seam sealer by comparison to other products designed to fill gaps in the household industry is way more expensive than your standard line of goops and caulks for your house for several reasons:
It has to survive w/o shrinking, and cracking. Has to be able to weather the temp differences a car can subject it to ( from -30, to plus 300 f), and has to be paintable, so therefore be chemically resistant to automotive solvents. lastly, it has to dry hard, but remain flexible enough to "move" w/ the body as it rolls and twists for 100,000 miles.
For these reasons, the average price of a tube of the junk costs 20+ dollars.
So I'm thinking..........I wonder if there is anything anybody else has used as a substitute from Home Depot
that will even be close?
So I googled it.
Turns out, that most all other forms of caulk/sealer are either made from latex, or silicone. One is paintable but wont last, the other will last, but isn't paintable.
Enter Polyurethane roof/gutter sealer.
In every forum I visited from classic Mustangs, Dodge, Chevy, from hot rods, to auto body forums, it looks like that junk is being successfully used as an alternative to the 20.00 stuff for 1/3rd the price.
It can be painted w/ auto paint, dries hard but remains flexible, and can withstand huge temp swings. form -30 to........( Ever been on a black roof in the southern US in the middle of summer?)
So, I'm considering that.
Then I find that some poly auto primers can be rolled/brushed on.
Just the ticket when the work surface is less than 2 feet in front of your face. ( I still will have to deal w/ getting dripped on,...but at least I wont have to deal w/ getting covered in overspray, and won't have to lay in the fume cloud that'll be heavier than air underneath the car.)
Lastly, ( and I already knew this,...but I'm sure I googled that too) The 1 gallon of bedliner that will be my topcoat for the underside of the car can be rolled on as well,...so I guess I'm gonna be a primer/bed liner rolling fool here in just a short while.
All of this vast, almost Zen like knowledge came as a result of sitting, and wondering,...... then typing what I was sitting, and wondering about in the little box right below the word Google.
I am a cyber-genius
Now that most of the floor is clean, there are several areas that are now bare metal. The wire wheel I used pretty well destroyed the factory seam sealer, and additionally there are several areas that Ford deemed unnecessary that all need resealing.
So, in other words,....I gotta lot of gaps to fill.
Automotive grade seam sealer by comparison to other products designed to fill gaps in the household industry is way more expensive than your standard line of goops and caulks for your house for several reasons:
It has to survive w/o shrinking, and cracking. Has to be able to weather the temp differences a car can subject it to ( from -30, to plus 300 f), and has to be paintable, so therefore be chemically resistant to automotive solvents. lastly, it has to dry hard, but remain flexible enough to "move" w/ the body as it rolls and twists for 100,000 miles.
For these reasons, the average price of a tube of the junk costs 20+ dollars.
So I'm thinking..........I wonder if there is anything anybody else has used as a substitute from Home Depot
that will even be close?
So I googled it.
Turns out, that most all other forms of caulk/sealer are either made from latex, or silicone. One is paintable but wont last, the other will last, but isn't paintable.
Enter Polyurethane roof/gutter sealer.
In every forum I visited from classic Mustangs, Dodge, Chevy, from hot rods, to auto body forums, it looks like that junk is being successfully used as an alternative to the 20.00 stuff for 1/3rd the price.
It can be painted w/ auto paint, dries hard but remains flexible, and can withstand huge temp swings. form -30 to........( Ever been on a black roof in the southern US in the middle of summer?)
So, I'm considering that.
Then I find that some poly auto primers can be rolled/brushed on.
Just the ticket when the work surface is less than 2 feet in front of your face. ( I still will have to deal w/ getting dripped on,...but at least I wont have to deal w/ getting covered in overspray, and won't have to lay in the fume cloud that'll be heavier than air underneath the car.)
Lastly, ( and I already knew this,...but I'm sure I googled that too) The 1 gallon of bedliner that will be my topcoat for the underside of the car can be rolled on as well,...so I guess I'm gonna be a primer/bed liner rolling fool here in just a short while.
All of this vast, almost Zen like knowledge came as a result of sitting, and wondering,...... then typing what I was sitting, and wondering about in the little box right below the word Google.
I am a cyber-genius