Yet another thread based on the Camaro I thought was a 'steal' at $3k.

The car has T-tops, and they of course leaked pretty bad. I decided about a day after buying it to re-do all the weatherstripping. Unfortunately, some genius before me used ridiculous amounts of sealant to put their new weatherstrips on, without removing some of the original glue. The resulting quarter-inch-thick mess is a rubbery compound that has, so far, been basically impervious to 3M adhesive remover - even after several coats, cutting slices into the sealant, trying to scrape it off with an x-acto knife, etc. most of this stuff refuses to budge. The pieces that have given up so far are the ones that had original yellow glue still under them. I gave up on trying to save the paint on the t-top rails at about hour #3 and after six hours straight of going at this crap, I've barely even cleared the flat part of the rear seal surface on the driver's side. The stuff on the door sills is so hardened on that I haven't been able to remove any of it. Somehow, the metal on top of the car is almost perfect - probably because rather than trapping water, the seals were just letting it pass. I'm writing this after applying coat #4 of adhesive remover and at this point my hands are sore from scraping. Any help would be appreciated.

Things I've tried:
-X-acto knife (mildly effective)
-Adhesive remover (varies)
-Drill with 3M gasket remover head (worthless)
-Drill with wire wheel (basically nothing)
-Swearing (ineffective)

 

Swear louder ?


In for info since I might be going into my weatherstrip soon.

 

Update: Think I've found a strategy. Rough up the sealant horrorshow with your implement of choosing (preferably something sharp - the paint isn't going to come out in mint condition in these circumstances anyway so what the hey) and the liberally douse any sealant with adhesive remover. I mean, don't even try to conserve it. There's no point. This is going to be a war of attrition and who wins depends entirely on how many bottles of potentially cancer-causing chemicals your local auto parts store has in stock. Don't bother actually trying to remove the sealant until coat four or five, and even then don't expect results on the baked-on stuff until much later.

 

Update: The spray-n-wipe method only works on light residue. Does nothing to any other areas. Tomorrow I'll post update pics if I remember, and see if I can get some heavy-duty stuff.

 

Get a good heat gun.

 

brake clean

 

Try something caustic in a small spot?

 

I've now purchased a Milwaukee heat gun. I'm assuming I should leave it on the 570 degree setting and not bump it up to 1000 degrees.

 

Update: Heat gun works pretty well, but it just turns the old sealant into goop, which I then have to scrape off. I've yet to find an effective scraping tool for the rail lips, which still have sealant inside them.

 

Heat gun worked best for me... go slow and it will come off in big sections, go too fast (not hot enough), then chunks break off, moe work, etc...
See if you can find some plastic pry tools to scrape the goop of, I did my T Tops area too, after all the cleaning and scraping, I used chemical clean, primer and paint to hold until the car gets a paint job... Several days taking it off, less than an hour to get new stuff on

 

There is no "coming off in big sections." It's all just gooey crap. I'm going for silicone sealant remover next - The 3M stuff just doesn't work on weatherstrip sealant at all.

 

Okay, so after a few weeks of testing different stuff, Goof Off is the clear winner for removing silicone. spray on, let soak for 30 minutes, spray again, soak again, spray again, wait 15 minutes and go at it with a scraper or tool of choice. Titan makes these really good, small shovel-like scrapers - perfectly fit to removing the silicone in the seal channels. These here: https://www.tooldiscounter.com/produ...SABEgLmEvD_BwE

I've only been working on it for about 45 minutes today and I've already made more progress than the last three days combined.