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DIY: Sunroof Weatherstrip Replacement
- Thread starter blklnamru
- Start date
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I just tackled mine. Looking at the new seal, the groove in the seal looks shallow but there is a soft flap in it and below that flap is the cavity where the plastic rim sits. I was thinking about how to get the adhesive down in there and had an ah ha! moment. I took a needle used to air up basketballs, footballs and cut the end off. I heated up the end of some vinyl 3/16” tubing and pressed the threaded end into the tubing. Then heated the other end and slid it over the adhesive nozzle. It was hard to see how much adhesive I got in there but it was flowing out of the needle pretty well. I then smeared a coat on the plastic rim and then did another small bead back in the weather strip groove. This time keeping it on on top of the flap (not as deep into the groove).
Man, it was tough to press it all the way on. I used squeeze clamps to help press it on and it mostly held but still wanted to lift here and there. I had pre cut some 1/4” x 1 1/2” trim strips so used those with a bunch of clamps to hold it over night.
We’ll see how it looks in the morning.
Man, it was tough to press it all the way on. I used squeeze clamps to help press it on and it mostly held but still wanted to lift here and there. I had pre cut some 1/4” x 1 1/2” trim strips so used those with a bunch of clamps to hold it over night.
We’ll see how it looks in the morning.
Thanks to this thread I was brave enough to do this job myself. For thext person doing this - check if there is already preapplied adhesive on the new part! I am 90% sure this was the case, but cannot confirm it now after I've finished it. Here's what happened:
I removed it the proper way by unscrewing the "golden nuts", however several of the clips on the plastic covers broke no matter how gentle I tried to be while pulling. Oh well, I'll blame the 24 years old plastic. I really took my time cleaning the old adhesive. An old toothbrush worked pretty well for goo-gone application tool. I am pretty sure it was very clean before continuing. Next I did a what I thought would be a test round snapping the new rubber in place wothout any glue. Since a few members here reported how difficult it is to snap the thing in place and keep it in place, I decided to go all the way on the "test" round, snap it all the way, turn around the glass, inspect the top so I know what to aim for when I apply the adhesive.
After doing this, I start removing it to apply the adhesive. I pull a little bit and to my surprise see glue stretching between the new weatherstrip and the plastic trim piece. My first thought was "Oh well, apparently I didn't clean it as well as I thought". I pull a little bit more and the amount of glue stretching between the two parts just didn't make sense given the amount of time I spent cleaning the old stuff and the condition it was after all that cleaning. This must be preapplied adhesive on the new part, I thought. On the spot I made the decision to stop pulling and snap the small part of it already pulled back in place. Now I think there actually is preapplied adhesive in the correct amount and only in the small groove where it actually snaps, so that there is no chance to notice it unless specifically looking for it.
Either way I used baja's idea to apply some additional adhesive between the new weatherstrip and the plastic trim piece and between the glass and the plastic trim piece. For the 3M adhesive tube size and the needle I found there was no need for additional tubing - just some PVC tape did the trick.
One last thing - when putting it back in place don't tighten the nuts while in tilted position. It might refuse to close
Close with loose nuts, make sure it's all the way closed by looking at the top and helping it a bit if needed. Then tighten the nuts.
I removed it the proper way by unscrewing the "golden nuts", however several of the clips on the plastic covers broke no matter how gentle I tried to be while pulling. Oh well, I'll blame the 24 years old plastic. I really took my time cleaning the old adhesive. An old toothbrush worked pretty well for goo-gone application tool. I am pretty sure it was very clean before continuing. Next I did a what I thought would be a test round snapping the new rubber in place wothout any glue. Since a few members here reported how difficult it is to snap the thing in place and keep it in place, I decided to go all the way on the "test" round, snap it all the way, turn around the glass, inspect the top so I know what to aim for when I apply the adhesive.
After doing this, I start removing it to apply the adhesive. I pull a little bit and to my surprise see glue stretching between the new weatherstrip and the plastic trim piece. My first thought was "Oh well, apparently I didn't clean it as well as I thought". I pull a little bit more and the amount of glue stretching between the two parts just didn't make sense given the amount of time I spent cleaning the old stuff and the condition it was after all that cleaning. This must be preapplied adhesive on the new part, I thought. On the spot I made the decision to stop pulling and snap the small part of it already pulled back in place. Now I think there actually is preapplied adhesive in the correct amount and only in the small groove where it actually snaps, so that there is no chance to notice it unless specifically looking for it.
Either way I used baja's idea to apply some additional adhesive between the new weatherstrip and the plastic trim piece and between the glass and the plastic trim piece. For the 3M adhesive tube size and the needle I found there was no need for additional tubing - just some PVC tape did the trick.
One last thing - when putting it back in place don't tighten the nuts while in tilted position. It might refuse to close
Close with loose nuts, make sure it's all the way closed by looking at the top and helping it a bit if needed. Then tighten the nuts.
Looks like I ran into the same issue here too after a few days of rain here in CA. I noticed that there was a small drip coming from the sun roof on the length side toward the back of the vehicle.
I took off the trimming and noticed water marks between the plastic. At this point I am leaning towards resealing with silicone unless there is any other suggestions for an alternative fix by the community.
Did you end up applying the 3M seal to the outside (on the outside facing plastic of the sun roof) or inside of the plastic stripping? Below is a picture from inside of the cabin looking at sunroof with the plastic trim removed.
Last edited:
This is also brilliant. Did you consider using window adhesive?
Reviving this thread with a Car Care Nut video about a 100 series sunroof replacement.
The guy always follows the book, and in the video he also replaces the seal. Sadly he didn’t concentrate in that specific task since it was edited to a higher speed to save time, but you can clearly see that he didn’t use any glue, only silicon spray to lube the seal back in place.
Starts from 26.30:
The guy always follows the book, and in the video he also replaces the seal. Sadly he didn’t concentrate in that specific task since it was edited to a higher speed to save time, but you can clearly see that he didn’t use any glue, only silicon spray to lube the seal back in place.
Starts from 26.30:
