Quarter panel bottom to outer rocker... Factory spot welds?

Hey everyone,

Getting my quarter skins final fitted on the 69 Coronet. Does anyone know if the factory spot welded the areas along the bottom of the outer rocker as circled in the picture? Those are the areas that make contact with the quarter. When I bought the car, the both panels had an ugly home made patch on each side so I don't know what it originally looked like. Not super worried about a factory appearance, but I don't want to induce any spots where rust is more likely to form around a plug weld. The car will get driven and see some rain. Never used it, but I'm considering just putting a dab of panel bond adhesive on those areas.

Any words of wisdom?




-Rick

My Charger had spot welds in those areas when I removed the quarters.

Spot welds vs Adhesive is going to start an Autobody war. Adhesive has its benefits. 1- greater surface area contact, 2- its rust-proof. Think button down shirt vs zipper, which one pulls open easier?

Modern cars utilize adhesive combined with a squeeze type resistance spot welding. This is done for collision strength and corrosion protection.

Me- I’m going to plug-weld mine in that area with the mig (and weld-thru primer) and them spray some 3-m rustproofing (wax) in from the inside and let it run down.

Mine was spot welded, I sprayed weldable primer first before I installed (spot welded) the new skins. I also sprayed rust oleum black in there to cover and seal anything I could once I got em welded. It was more than the factory did, and my car will live a much drier life now than I had since 68!

Thanks for the replies! Sorry, I was not trying to start another adhesive/welding war haha. I was just curious if Dodge even secured that area of the panel from the factory. I will WT prime, plug weld it, and probably hit it with some cavity wax. Good idea there.

Rjvb3 said:

Thanks for the replies! Sorry, I was not trying to start another adhesive/welding war haha. I was just curious if Dodge even secured that area of the panel from the factory. I will WT prime, plug weld it, and probably hit it with some cavity wax. Good idea there.

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Wax in that spot is smart, just washing the car, water is going to get down there from the quarter window.

A tip for the plug welding. Drill the holes in the rocker panel, not the new quarter. That way, you are welding through bother inner and outer rocker panels, from the back side. You will have a stronger weld, easier grinding on the back side, and no grinding on the front side. Added benefit is it will also resemble a real spot weld from the front