10 replies to this topic

[Compdoc]

I'm going to be helping a friend of mine at the weekend, to fit a complete body kit to his car.(not a mini). The supplier recommends Tiger Seal, but as neither of us have done this before, I think we will need a fair bit of time to get the panels all on and aligned correctly. I can't find anywhere that says how long the Tiger Seal is workable, even on the tube.

Any ideas?

[stuart bowes]

try it with two bits of scrap material first?

 

not used it myself but you peaked my interest, found some info here https://www.autobody...motive-adhesive

 

 

 WARNING: This product can expose you to Ethylbenzene a chemical known to the State of California to cause Cancer. For more information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.

Edited by stuart bowes, 06 July 2022 - 08:32 AM.

[sonikk4]

try it with two bits of scrap material first?
 
not used it myself but you peaked my interest, found some info here https://www.autobody...motive-adhesive
 
 
 WARNING: This product can expose you to Ethylbenzene a chemical known to the State of California to cause Cancer. For more information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.

Looking at this and going from experience of using Aerospace sealant I would say at a maximum you will have 30 minutes of fettle time before the sealant is “Tack Dry” ( dry to the touch)
The cure time is important as you need to ensure the panels are secured firmly in place otherwise you can potentially have some movement.

[greenwheels]

All about times etc here  https://u-pol.com/wp.../UP0728-TDS.pdf

 

[minifreek1]

Iv found with any PU adhesive, it depends on the ambient temperature. Basically the warmer it is, the quicker it cures.

 

I fitted a bodykit to an old Astra with TigerSeal and left it to cure overnight and that was in -4 weather. It still cured overnight enough to remove the masking tape and it stayed in place.

[Compdoc]

 

try it with two bits of scrap material first?
 
not used it myself but you peaked my interest, found some info here https://www.autobody...motive-adhesive
 
 
 WARNING: This product can expose you to Ethylbenzene a chemical known to the State of California to cause Cancer. For more information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.

Looking at this and going from experience of using Aerospace sealant I would say at a maximum you will have 30 minutes of fettle time before the sealant is “Tack Dry” ( dry to the touch)
The cure time is important as you need to ensure the panels are secured firmly in place otherwise you can potentially have some movement.

 

This was what I was worrying about. The link from "Greenwheels" states 20 mins working time between 16c - 35c. It sounds a lot, but when trying to align two large panels together, you need a bit of fettling time.

I suppose the answer is to fit and adjust the panels and secure with tape or clamps etc., then remove each panel one at a time and glue it back in place, then retape or clamp. Probably some PPE would also be a good idea.
 

[sonikk4]

The biggy for any curing time as well as heat is humidity, just another thing to consider. It mentions 50% humidity for those times, and currently here where I live it’s 59%. So humidity will play a big part on the cure time, more humidity the faster it will go off.

I will say this, invariably no matter what, we end up using heat lamps to help cure sealant as fast as possible due to the amount of ground time we usually have. And in the situation where we know it has not cured we use speed tape to cover the area and then remove at a later date or time.

So I would play devils advocate like I previously mentioned, trial fit everything, fettle where needed, mark it all up and then if possible remove a panel at a time to add the sealant. Now this is my personal approach and others may feel differently.

[slidehammer]

I agree with all the above, do a dry run and make sure you are happy with the fit and tape the panels in place, take off one at a time and then apply the Tiger Seal. If you think about even if you only got 5 minutes open time that is a lot of time to adjust the final panel fit especially if you have marked the position where it is to go previously. Obviously good prep is the most important part of this and making sure everything is clean, degreased and scuffed (if required). you could maybe use some small blobs of a hot melt adhesive to act as a tack to hold in place whist the Tiger Seal cures properly.  Good luck 

[pete l]

Are you sticking panels together with this tiger seal ? or just sealing the joins ?

[Compdoc]

Are you sticking panels together with this tiger seal ? or just sealing the joins ?

It's a friends car and I haven't seen the body kit yet, but I think the fibreglass panels are glued to the metal bodywork. If they are anything like my previous, limited, experience of fibreglass add-on's, there will be very little chance of them fitting out of the box.

[Vanman20]

Get yourself some solvent panel wipe to clean up any excess,which is best done before it starts to set.
Tiger seal and the like don't have very good grabbing properties so clamping will probably be necessary