Replacing Pirelli seals

[bajarick]

Hello. I am replacing my Pirelli seals and I'm running into some sort of adhesive, that whoever did it before, applied in a caulk line joining the metal strip that sandwiches the pirelli's. Great, gummy stuff that I'm sure locks everything into place and must provide a moisture barrier..... and a real pain to remove! Is this stuff necessary, or, will just caulking work? Anyone know what it is I'm removing?
Thanks

 

[JoeKan]

I had the same issue with mine when I replaced the seals. I scraped it all off, I know it's a pain but I wanted the seals to fit flat onto the surface.

 

[bajarick]

It's not the surface where the pirellis seat...it's the joining of the metal strip to the body of the top half.....like a caulking strip. The adhesive would have been almost impossible to remove if it went between the metal strip, the pirelli's and the top half. After going through countless threads is it the 3m adhesive I'm looking at?

 

[popRoid]

Sounds like polybutyl tape....Not sure what my 2018 Alaskan cabover has on it but I'll make a note of this when replacement seal time comes.

 

[bajarick]

A neighbor said it's polybutyl adhesive sealant. My Alaskan is a 2002. If this stuff is original it's pretty impressive stuff. Now all I have to do is find some down here in Mexico.