Somebody Convince Me Not To Plate My Sunroof

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

With this rain recently, my sunroof is becoming a nightmare. Its a tilt one, not the factory fitted slide one, now it looks like the metal 'frame' is corroded and the rubber seal has more the consistancy of a wet slice of bread, than rubber.

the water will come straight through in very heavy rain, and in light rain the water will build up in the rubber seal untill you get in and drive round a corner, then it all goes to one side and soaks it. Trust me, that rubber seal seems to hold about 13 gallons!

 

now I do use the sunroof in the summer, but if there wasnt one there, then it'd be cooler in the car anyway.

 

so what are the downsides/upsides to doing this?

 

less sun through roof = less sunburn?

 

less water through sunroof = no more getting a soaking wet arse when you sit in the drivers/passenger?

 

they can look quite good sometimes

 

I'll be doing it myself with tigerseal and rivnuts

 

currently i've put a strip of electrical tape over the bit where the glass meets the frame, all the way around, but thats only temporary

 

Im not even sure if I can remove it without taking the headlining off first

 

john

[allye 530 3 Cars]

is it a britax? If so they are really common on the base models so have a search around (my rallye will be in a yard some where with a non leaking one )

 

Replace it with a good one. I love my sunroof, always use it.

[Carbs4me 45]

Plated roofs look nasty only way i would say yeah its a good idea is to chop the roof off and replace with a non-sun roof one... I seen my mate do this to a 106. couldnt tell it had been done after he was finished, but its timely! and replacing a sunroof is probly a cheaper and quicker option!

[BlueBolt 156]

Shame it's not a factory one else I would have pointed this out as a reason not to plate it...

[tdr_1976 41 1 Cars]

I only plated mine in preparation for stage rallying.

 

If it's done right, it doesn't look bad at all, it's when people start trying to weld the plates and filler them in that they can become really ugly looking.

 

 

 

I used rattle cans to preserve the paint when I did it last year, It's due a respray next year, so it should look a whole lot better when done properly.

Edited July 5, 2012 by tdr_1976

[sensualt101 31 1 Cars]

all the attempts i have seen at plating a sunroof aperture eventually look awful when filler shrinks and paint cracks so i would advise finding a replacement sunroof or even a new roof skin!

 

if you do plate or replace the roof skin you will need to replace the roof lining anyway adding to the woes ( sourcing and fitting )

 

sorry i could not give more cheerful advice but please let us know what you decide and what progress you make?

 

Mark

[matt.f 16]

Plated roofs look nasty only way i would say yeah its a good idea is to chop the roof off and replace with a non-sun roof one... I seen my mate do this to a 106. couldnt tell it had been done after he was finished, but its timely! and

replacing a sunroof is probly a cheaper and

quicker option!

 

 

106's are easy to do though and have gutters where the roof is welded so a black seal sits in there so is basically a case of drilling spotwelds and your off.205's don't and all look one panel with the quarters,much harder to replace the

roof skin on.

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

I think what I would do is look out for someone breaking a car with the OE Peugeot glass sliding roof, and get all the bits from it to investigate fitting it to your car. You would need to also fit the stiffeners in the roof but I'm sure with a bit of thought its do-able. Then you end up with a finished product that looks like it is supposed to be there.

 

Personally the plates have their place, and that is on rally or track cars only. A road car should be a nice looking thing in my opinion, not be carrying a sump guard on the roof.

 

My final bit of advice, do NOT, even consider, trying to weld the roof skin. Been there, got the t shirt and the roof vent to hide the resulting mess.

[davey sprocket 14]

Shame it's not a factory one else I would have pointed this out as a reason not to plate it...

 

I wouldn't get too excited about that as Josh is breaking his 205 and moving on. I'll ask him whether he intends progressing the sunroof but I doubt he will.

[AlexRS2782 136 1 Cars]

I had the sunroof on my Saxo VTS plated over after it started pissing the water in like a waterfall Main reason i went that route though was that i was stripping it for track use so it seemed the cheaper option than a new non sunroof panel + fitting. Once it had been plated i had the roof vinyl wrapped (black) to cover the plate and it looks alright tbh - but then it's for a track car, had it been a road car i don't think i'd have done it tbh.

 

One of my mates plated the roof on his Impreza but went down the route of welding/filling, etc. That went pretty bad fairly quickly with cracks, etc, which wasn't much of a surprise to me, but apparently was to him

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

it is a britax one so potentially could try and find a replacement.

 

If I plated it, I'll more than likely use a sheet of carbon fibre, thatll avoid the need to paint it etc.

 

i would be tempted to try and fit a standard sunroof but as I use the car everyday, I dont want to come accross a snag and have to drive to work with a hole in the roof!