Has anyone found a suitable sealant for sunroofs, roof glass, etc? The body shop that repaired my roof a couple of years ago apparently didn't seal my vista roof panel properly. When I washed my car last week I wound up with a steady stream of water pouring on my front seat. I pulled out the interior (again) and tried tightening the nuts holding the roof panel on. That slowed it down quite a bit but didn't come anywhere near stopping it. I think I'm OK with removing it and resealing it, I'm just having trouble finding a sealant that I trust. I can't find a butyl sealant and the Permatex "flowable" sealant that seems so promising doesn't seem to be available at my local parts store.
If you can find a local Napa store we carry a product called "Right Stuff" it's an excellent sealer and is anerobic so it stays firm but flexible, works great on uneven surfaces.
Not what you will find in the toy store...I mean auto store but...... It also comes in marine grade in several colours also. You have no idea an how many things I have repaired once only with this brand, my Buick 3,4 years ago. You may have to find it at a specialty construction/industrial supplier but it's well worth it IMO, Stupid strong adhering , stupid strong flexible!! EDIT..... Sorry Dewey, you beat me to the post... no offence meant but.....
Don't any of you guys have auto body suppliers who supply the body shops in the area. That's the place to go for proper sealants. Alternatively, I'm sure there are companies who install auto glass. Give them a call and ask where they get their stuff. Grabowski's use construction adhesive, but ignorance is bliss.
The reason boxes leak, is because people think out side of the box....but don't stand away from the box and look why. but ignorance is bliss.....................
My boxes don't leak. They get fixed once...the right way. People with leaky boxes don't think outside the box. They don't even know there is a box. As you have just proven. Cream rises to the top, but turds float too and think they are cream.
Wow, hard core...... Just asking but, why have we not seen any of your "fixed once the rite way" cars?....floating turds?? People who think "box" some times get .....it's a box, so lets fix it that way....even though there are better ways...... ...as you have proven again......ignorance is bliss. I feel for Cyber.... he had a shop of the "box" do it...and now he has problems
We have a local auto parts store that's a Napa affiliate, my Dad worked there for years. They're only open until noon on Saturdays so I'll get over there early and pick some up. I went to the local Partsource and the owner (I've never liked the guy) insisted that all I needed was clear silicone. I think it would get too inflexible over time. Alas, we have several auto body supply places in town but it turns out that they don't open on the weekends.
Tightening the nuts will only stress or break the studs. They are there only to position and hold the glass while the urethane sets. I recently R&Rd all of the "glued on" glass on my 91 OCC. When I took the roof rack off, I found that the corners under the front part of the rack were totally rotted out. there was also some rust through under the edge of the vista window (and this is a Florida car). You could not see it before taking the glass off. I used window urethane to install the replacement glass. I fixed the rust, and reinstalled the window. Any "fix" you do will only be temporary. To fix it right will require removing the glass. I used a long handled window knife (available at most paint and body shops for about $20) to cut the urethane from the inside. Do not try to cut it from the outside, because you will cut the reveal molding. It is molded to the glass, it can not be separated from the glass, and can not be replaced. You should put tape over the edge of the metal around the body opening, so when you slip, you do not cut yourself. You will also need some urethane sealant for any bare metal, and rust converter for any surface rust. The rust converter must cure 24 hours, but the urethane sealer dries in about 5 minutes. This is a 2 day job, so be ready for the long haul. It is not overly difficult, cutting the urethane should take you about 30-60 minutes. After that everything is prep until the glass install. You might even consider having a pro do the final install of the glass. The urethane is very stiff, and you almost need an electric caulking gun to get it out of the tube. You only have 15 minutes to run your bead of urethane, and get the glass on the car. It will take you at least 10 of that to get the urethane on the glass with a hand operated caulking gun. You will also need a helper to install the glass if you do it yourself. I sat the glass on the roof, upside down, and then with the helper flipped it into position, so that the studs fell into the holes. You have to push it down tightly, and snug the nuts just enough to hold it in place. If you tighten them too much it will warp the reveal, and have dips in the trim.
The Factory Service Manual tells you everything. Urethane adhesive is the correct sealer for the roof window and you have to cut it out from the inside with a cold or hot knife tool like Fred said. The book shows you use GM urethane adhesive kit #12345633. The kit contains urethane adhesive, clear primer for the reveal molding seal track, and black primer for the pinch weld if the paint has been exposed during glass removal. You can get all that seperately, I suggest 3M urethane windshield adhesive, the moisture cured type is what the GM kit uses, and stick with 3M for the primer too. You apply the adhesive bead to the reveal molding track then set the window in place using a tape guide, 15/64 inch wide and 15/32 inch high bead, then paddle in additional adhesive between the pinch weld flange and the reveal molding to fill any voids and complete the seal. Water test with a very soft fine spray of cold water, that will also speed up the urethane cure. The FSM shows that you attach the nuts last so they all they do is keep the glass secured to the roof. Tightening the nuts has nothing to do with how well it seals because the window should already be set, sealed and leak tested when they're installed. They're only torqued to 21 lb. in. so they don't do much like Fred said, just there to keep the window from flying off when the adhesive lets go. The RMW's have side door flyaway trim already, they don't need flyaway Vista roofs too.
I read through my service manual and decided that this wouldn't be too big of a deal. I removed the vista roof and cleaned all of the urethane off of the car and the roof. As I mentioned, the only real issue I had was with selecting/locating a suitable sealant to put it back on. I picked up some urethane at Napa so I applied it to the channels on the vista roof and seated it in place. As an extra precaution I piled some toolboxes and whatnot on the vista roof for half an hour or so before tightening down the bolts. I went and had some dinner and came back out later to reinstall the roof rack. It had been a couple of hours so I did a water test and discovered that I've made the leak worse. I've run out of urethane and Napa won't be open again until Monday. I think this is one of those things that might be beyond this computer geek's skills. I'm going to take it to my glass guy next week. Here's hoping it doesn't rain too hard before then.
