roof repair

i recently took the sunroof out of my car and panneled it up for loads of reassons really anyone got any advise into getting the roof shape it looks good but when you run your habd down it you feel bumps

Could you post some pictures of what you did? Depending on how you went about this it might look pretty good. I've got a GTI with a leaky sunroof. I'm thinking about putting an aftermarket sunroof in.

try this, i know its abit extream but its the best way

ohh my grinders famous at last lol :mrgreen:

KEVL said

ohh my grinders famous at last lol :mrgreen:

lol

what i done was take the old sunroof out as it was leaking and had bad rust after cutting back the rust i was left with this big hole so i squared it off and got a piece of 1.5 mm steel i cut out the exact size of the hole and welded strips to it so i could weld it flush. I then found a mk2 golf and cut out the strengthen bars on the roof i then had to extend them as they where to short welded an extra 2 in place making the roof real rigid.
Nows the problem after filling and filling and spraying the roof it looks cock on but when you run your hand down it its terrible and when you spray it to a shine it looks awful.
any advise in getting this roof spot on as this is the only thing holding me back from getting it on the road i will get some pics up soon ok thankyou all

Posts like this make me even happier to be a Cabby owner   . Waterproof tape doesn't seem to cover bases here really  :dontknow: .
Do hope you get it sorted though  

romans said

what i done was take the old sunroof out as it was leaking and had bad rust after cutting back the rust i was left with this big hole so i squared it off and got a piece of 1.5 mm steel i cut out the exact size of the hole and welded strips to it so i could weld it flush. I then found a mk2 golf and cut out the strengthen bars on the roof i then had to extend them as they where to short welded an extra 2 in place making the roof real rigid.
Nows the problem after filling and filling and spraying the roof it looks cock on but when you run your hand down it its terrible and when you spray it to a shine it looks awful.
any advise in getting this roof spot on as this is the only thing holding me back from getting it on the road i will get some pics up soon ok thankyou all

if you really want it spot on mate, i reckon the only way is to do what foxymk1 suggests and fit a new roof skin. Its not as hard as it actually looks.
As the way you have done it in my opinion will never look right, you will never get it spot on with the amount of filler that will have been used.

could always try a thin skin of filler covering the whole roof? its not as sound as the new roof skin idea but it'l probably be cheaper and quicker.

el_sicko said

could always try a thin skin of filler covering the whole roof? its not as sound as the new roof skin idea but it'l probably be cheaper and quicker.

thats one crazy idea if you ask me mate,  

well…. if the plaster on a walls nackered you replaster it, you dont knock it down and start again. so working on that theory, if the filler in the roof isnt smooth, you refill it. if it dunt work then you can try chopping the roof off!

why am i bothering even suggesting this!? im preaching the the church of anti filler!  :wink:

OR

You could take a section of non-sunroof roof from the offending area and weld that in place instead of sheet steel.

That way you'll only have to blend the edges of the repair panel where the welds are.

 :dontknow:

Feel free to mock/ridicule that idea if you want to.

yradave said

Feel free to mock/ridicule that idea if you want to.

apologees if i offended anyone with my comments, i just thought filling the whole roof would of been a bad idea. I did not mean to mock or ridicule the idea was only ment light heartedly.

Kenno said

yradave said

Feel free to mock/ridicule that idea if you want to.

apologees if i offended anyone with my comments, i just thought filling the whole roof would of been a bad idea. I did not mean to mock or ridicule the idea was only ment light heartedly.

Whoops, that wasn't a pointed comment. More to do with the fact that I've had many 'good' ideas in the past which have turned out to be appalling and I've been sure I was right and have been totally wrong.

Not a fan of filler myself, got a van at the moment which looked good but half a ton of filler was holding the front wheel arch on, which came off with one good pull.

i know my idea was gunna get shot down anyway. 1 thing ive learnt is that suggesting doing anything with filler on here is gunna get you a slap!  :wink:

yradave wrote:

You could take a section of non-sunroof roof from the offending area and weld that in place instead of sheet steel.

That way you'll only have to blend the edges of the repair panel where the welds are.

To be honest if you got a decent non-sunroof roof, you be better off replacing the whole roof skin. The main problem with welding the roof skin is distortion, even if you have the appropriate panel. Might be able to sort it with filler, hard to say without seeing pics

Cheers

you cant tell where i welded the roof and as i welded more roof strengtheners in its solid you can stand on the roof and it wont budge as when i had the welder out i put spots on all the bars and took all the movement out of the roof.
what i think ill do is keep putting filler on and keep trying to get the shape
   HELP

there is only one way to get it right thats putting a whole roof on its less work than messing about with panels welding grinding filling sanding etc then more of the same then its still not right cut roof off weld roof on job done lol :mrgreen:

IVE done all the grinding and welding just want advise into getting y]the shape wright

cut it off and start again lol