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| | | | Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 71 Member | | Member Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 71 | The potential for rusting on the surface between the fenders and body has always bugged me. I've restored VW's and dealt with the same issues. I've cleaned, sandblasted, prepped the surfaces before painting on my 49,will leave the fenders pulled out from the body for painting and reassemble with the correct beading. My fronts were starting to have the rust and pitting creap out onto the fender and body, so even with good prep, the potential for future rusting will be there.
Are there any other things to do to protect the surfaces? Would it make any sense to run a bead of sealant along both sides of the fender beading before tightening the fender bolts or would that make it worse? | | | | | Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 288 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 288 | Have you looked a Fender Welt? My truck prior to blasting and painting had old fender welt. So we pulled the fenders and blasted and painted with fenders off and put in new fender welt before tightening down the fenders. You can order a roll from Chevy Duty that will give you enough to do the whole vehicle. Chevy Duty The link above will take you to Chevy Duty, just select the year class of your truck and do a search for fender welt. Hope that helps. Chris
Chris 1955FirstSeries
| | | | | Joined: Jul 2002 Posts: 188 Member | | Member Joined: Jul 2002 Posts: 188 | A tip I remember is that 30lb roofing felt can be used. I think the fender welt is a better idea, but wanted to pass that along | | | | | Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 71 Member | | Member Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 71 | I have a roll of the Chevy Duty fender welting (as they call it) My truck had flat welting like you describe. The Chevy Duty stuff has a 3/16" bead that sits down flush on the joint. That's good because the bead covers any uneven areas in the joint and looks much neater. I was just wondering if anyone had gone beyond that and tried to seal the joint between the metal>welting<metal joint. | | | | | Joined: Oct 2001 Posts: 3,458 Extreme Gabster | | Extreme Gabster Joined: Oct 2001 Posts: 3,458 | What's wrong with painting that surface, then welting it? You can prime the vehicle with it dissassembled, "cut in" the areas around the joints with color, then put it together and final finish it.
Paint & Body Shop moderator
A lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic. | | | | | | Anonymous Unregistered | | Anonymous Unregistered | I have used roofing felt AND fender welt. Often the fender welt doesn't have enough compliance / coverage to prevent paint wearing through from friction / body flexing.
I would not use a sealant - it will not keep the water out, but it will let the water in and hold it there. Using welt / roofing felt allows the joint to breath plus prevents scuffing / squeaking / paint abrasion through and exposing the metal to the elements. | | |
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