paint work

[stagmyson]

Asking the question for a friend

He is prepping his car for paint. He is under the conclusion that there is a sealer /filler to stop the paint work from cracking.
The area he is thinking of is the 2 seams at the rear and the front .

Thanks

[kevin p]

There will no doubt be someone along with more info, but if it's the seams at the front of the scuttle down to the bonnet, and two seams rewards from behind the rear screen, these are often filled with silicone sealant to stop water slowly working through the (cracked) seams by osmosis, which leads to water sitting under the front and rear panels and at the bottom of the A pillar causing rust from the inside. It's actually a sensible upgrade to do this when restoring the body to stop leaks / rust in the future.

[kev100]

When mine is at that stage I will have all those seams lead loaded .. its the best and a time tested option,

[mole42]

+1 for lead loading.

[Dave M]

Tried various sealers over the years and they all eventually crack. Had mine including the sill joints welded up and then faked the indent using a grinder, no more cracking or water ingress.

[Guest]

Seems the only way to stop the cracking is as Dave says, weld them up. My car was painted 2.5 years ago and the fronts have cracked again.

[TR5convalescent]

Much depends on how much the car flexes. The TR used to crack at the door top leading and trailing edge of the window channel where the skin met the frame and it was very thin. A good friend who had been a professional TR restorer always used to braze this joint not weld it and none of his ever cracked and nor did mine after I did the same.

Just a suggestion.