1968 Removing silicone sealant

[dalorzo_f]

PO's, the gift that keeps on giving. Hours of free entertainment fixing their efforts....

Tons of silicone sealant in the stainless door/roof rails. The channels that accept the tab on each side of the weatherstrip, which almost hold it with no adhesive, are full of clear silicone. Gobs of it all over the rest of the channel.

Have tried turpentine, kerosene, WD40, and even a tiny wire wheel on a dremel. Incredibly tedious. 2+ hours and less than 1/3rd done.

Any tips on how to get it off? Some of the removers I found on the web (none locally so far) note they may damage metal, do not want to screw up the stainless.

 

[franklinair]

Oh my. Had to think about this one. The only method I could suggest is to scrape the major amount of silicone off with a mild scraper (phenolic) so as not to scratch the metal surface. Minor amount of silicone residue can be removed with steel wool & lacquer thinner or acetone - which won't harm the stainless metal. Good luck. Sounds like lots of tedious work. :-(

Neil

 

[Ruppstang]

Sorry once it is dry there is not much you can do but follow Neil's advice.

 

[dalorzo_f]

And the funny part is a tube of the correct stuff would have cost the same price... gotta love the "it'll work" types! :wink:

 

[Ruppstang]

I was attending a MCA national show a few years back. When I arrived at the host hotel I noticed a gentleman cleaning the undercarriage of his car. Not a unusual sight at a national show. We got moved in to our room and I went out and washed and detailed our 68 when I noticed that the man I saw earlier was still working under his car. I made the comment to him that he was not going to get any deductions for his undercarriage for all the time he was spending on it.
He told me that on the way to the show he was following a painters truck and a new tube of silicone fell out of the truck and he had run over it splattering the entire rear undercarriage. I looked out at midnight and he was still under there with a light.
So Richard it could be worse.

 

[66hcs-conv]

On the way to Steamboat this past summer, we drove thru a cattle drive!
Lots cows on the the hiway. Guess what we drove thru and had to be cleaned up!

 

[somethingspecial]

I think I would rather clean up the Bull $*(# than try to clean off silicone. I'm sure it cleans up easier. LOL

 

[dalorzo_f]

Pressure washer and its gone. As for the painters truck, thats what insurance is for! :wink:

It will get done, just tedious... and always amazes my how many people put so little thought into some projects.

 

[Ruppstang]

On the way to Steamboat this past summer, we drove thru a cattle drive!
Lots cows on the the hiway. Guess what we drove thru and had to be cleaned up!

One year on the way to the Steamboat Springs show we got rained on, sleeted on, fogged on, hailed on, snowed on, and following a cattle truck on the hair pin turns it was spilling you know what so we were pooped on.
I was not sure we were meant to go that year. There is crazy weather in the mountains some times.

 

[dalorzo_f]

Wire wheel on a dremel after hours of getting very little done... an hour of that and its still not there, but closer. Some scuffing but as its inside the channel and hidden not to fussed as the alternative was days of scraping.

Acetone, turpentine, gas, WD40, kerosene... noting bothers the stuff.

The acetone helped break the bond a bit but its is still a tedious and slow process to scrape it all out...

if you ever consider silicone for anything on your car, think again. A miserable product to remove.