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How good is Sheet Metal Adhesive

17K views 19 replies 9 participants last post by  drklynoon 
#1 ·
I just bought two tubes of the heavy sheetmetal adhesive from 3M Duramix 4179 Large Metal Panel Adhesive. I was wondering if any of you have used this stuff and how has it held up and how was it to work with? I'm seriously considering putting my rear quarter skins on with this stuff. I have had serious problems with warpage on large panels before and I have tried most of the tricks but if this stuff works it will seriously reduce my prep time and the amount of plastic in the car.
 
#2 ·
hey whats up i have used the metal fusors lord fusor brand it works pretty good make sure the area your doing is real clean use klecos or screws to hold the panel tight
i usualy flange the panel and leave a small space at the top of the flange dont use it to blend in your work it will read through use a razor blade to trim up what ever sueezes out if youve never used it try a little on a test panel let me know how it worked
 
#3 ·
I used the 3M Automix 8115 panel adhesive on a door skin, both quarters, and the roof skin. They've been on 2 years now with out any problems. I used it on the long straigh bonds and welded the high stress corners though. Be sure to follow the directions to the letter.
 
#8 ·
I have a second question about this adhesive when doing a rear quarter panel I see no other choice than to use tech screws to hold it in place. What do you guys do with the screw holes left after you pull the screws? I don't know if you can weld them up because of the adhesive and that would kinda be counter productive anyway. denting the holes and filling them would work but it would cause a bunch of unnecessary work. Can you use the adhesive to fill the holes without the hole showing up in your paint a year later?
 
#9 ·
Nathan,
I used both the 3M 8115 glue and regular spot welds on my quarter panel and the glue is amazing. I glued the rocker area, wheelwell, the outside of the door jamb and the trunk drip rail; basically everywhere you can't get a spot welder into. The rest I spot welded. The only problem is clamping the rocker area, so I put 3 self tapping screws through the quarter on the inside, down into the rocker, to not only keep it aligned but to clamp it down. After the glue dried I removed the screws, squirted sealer into the holes and reinstalled them.
Have no fear using the glue, it's great stuff.
Mike
 
#10 ·
Just so you know that bonding a panel down a visible seem can lead to faint ghost lines to appear due to the different expand/contract rates.

Although panel bond is a great tool but with very tool requires knowledge and caution to its limits.
Filling the hole left behind from the screw with adhesive is a great way to see that hole later down the road. The best route Ive seen is to forget the adhesive and just use stranded body filler instead like marglass to cover the holes.

Also IMO the duramix is one of the best on the market, great product. You might want to to adventure over to the Lord Fusor website as they has some great info on panel bonding and also some great info on prepping the panels and how to lessen the effects of ghost lines.

Panel bond is not a replacement for welding in all situations...Eric
 
#12 ·
Hmmm so you'd use Marglass I didn't know they even still made that stuff. Would you knock the area down first before using the tiger hair? I'll take a look at that site. I'm planing on running my quarter skin down my body line so I don't want some contracting rates cracking my body work but other than that I'm prtty secure in my decision to use this product.
 
#13 ·
No I would not knock the area down prior to filler.
I would also not have my cut line right on the body line. The different expand rates is the nature of the beast which is why no glue manufacture suggests having a visible seem like that.
 
#14 ·
I read through that site thanks for telling me about it. I'm wondering why you would not use a body line to hide a replaced panel. In the past this the way I was taught but I'm willing to learn. I'm trying to catch up on the way things are done now and this is one step for me. Lord fusor site said to use a fiber filler to keep ghost lines from showing does this actually work? I was planning on flanging were the panel would over lap. What do you think? Should I change my plans I haven't started working on this yet I still have plaenty do do before I get here but I have already purchased the quarter skins.
 
#15 ·
I wouldnt use the bodyline as a cutline because you just removed your bodyline and now have to rebuild it, why not leave it alone and be ahead in the game?

I dont remeber the reason why fusor gives for the fiber filler(marglass, everglass) and why it says it cuts down the ghost lines. But for filling the holes and using adhesive, that adhesive will contract and expanded differently and that hole will show up like a sore thumb, been there done that. A 1/8 screw hole for marglass to fill is nothing and doesnt show that hole.

Personally I dont like to flange anything because flanging changes the shape of a panel. A flange will straighten out a curved panel.
I would bond the quarter just like fusor shows on the website. Bond a 2" strip to the existing quarter panel first and allow that to set up and cure. Then come back and bond the new quarter panel to that strip.

In my experiences just bonding the new to the old WILL show a line when going down that amount of metal distance wise. Bonding a short section of metal like a pickup cab corner is a different story.

Bonding like fusor shows using the bonding strip Ive noticed better results, you can still see a very small faint line but not the stand out LINE that shows when using just a regular lap joint...Eric

P.S another thing that fusor stressly very highly is tapering the edges of the metal. The reps say this is one of biggest things you can do to help cut down the ghost lines, so taper your edges at like 30 degrees.
 
#16 ·
O.K. I see what the breakdown is What I'm planning on doing is on a 67 there is the body line about 3/4 of the way up I'm planning on cutting about an inch or so below that then bevel the edge of the new panel and use marglass and regular filler to blend the new panel in. Being that the seam or joint if you will is real close to the original body line it won't be as easy to notice. I'll use the marglass for the holes I don't know why Inever thought of that before. I guess what your saying is follow the instructions and be careful so not to have a seam running down my paint when I'm finished.
 
#17 ·
Your plan of going about an inch below sounds like a good plan.
I use the methods that fusor show on their website with 3M's 8115 and duramix, so dont feel that you need to use fusor products in order to use that bonding method.

Just bond a strip UNDER the old panel and clamp with vise grips no need for screws, but make sure you get a even clamping pressure down the joint. Once that has set up bond your new panel right on top of that strip almost butted up to the old panel. Then cover the entire seem and holes with marglass, kityhair whatever. Sand that stuff down then finsih off with a regular filler like evercoats rage gold and call it a day.
 
#19 ·
#20 ·
I didn't see the one with the backing piece I wonder if I'd have more problems with the ghost line using the backing piece being that there is more adhesive used for the hole process. Or would the larger area tend to not show as much. I'm just not to sure but I don't really think there is a true answer to this question.
 
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