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Removing the headliner isn't difficult. Lots of steps, already covered here and YT. I found all my plastic bits very strong, nothing snapping out of character.
I’d like to solve the issue of water through the seatbelt, after rain.
I was thinking just fit rear sunroof drain pan drains. But looking at it, the pan is about level, when I look at it where I usually park the car. I’m not sure the pan is filling up because of the angle.
Plus, how would that water then get out of the pan, it all looks pretty sealed with the pan screwed to the top.
Looking at the back of my headliner, water has clearly been sitting, at the rear and possibly the front. (I’m also getting water into the trunk after settling off from parked.)
Whats the latest best guess for water thought the drivers seatbelt??
Also, I think I’d like to insulate the roof a bit, dynomat because it’s easy. Are there any accepted fibreglass (or similar) panels to use up there? Be nice to cut the noise from the rack.
Sun visor clip holes. Making me think the drains are blocked if the water is backing up to there.
Taking both pans out tomorrow.
My suspicion with the front leaking out of the seatbelt now is that the sun visor clip holes were letting water sit on top of the headliner, as it’s waterproof. Then as I set off driving it finds its way out of the seatbelt.
Fitting rear drains to both pans and checking all drains are clear.
I thought I did a thread on this somewhere, maybe a search? Put rear drains in. Tee in to the front drains and tee the front pan drains in to the rear so everything can either drain forward or rear, left or right. Seal every crack in the pan, sunshade clips, screws, and factory drain corners. Take the roof bars off and silicone seal the penetrations. Pretty sure I showed how to seal the motor gap in one of my previous post on this topic. Drive it for 2-3 months with the headliner board out to find every last leak. Paint the top of the board with low odor stainblocking kilz paint to prevent soaking the board and fabric. The headliner board is shaped to direct any water on top of the board to the seat belts to drain out of the roof, that is the design. I have a pattern cut for radiant barrier liner to go between the board and the roof and install videos to go with it, just have not had time to turn it in to a product on the website yet purchase. Takes about 15 mins to install, will take you a full day to cut via trial and error. I keep a roll of material here.
Sunroof to body seals - It’s a fairly involved job, I'd recommend 2 people, but it’s important to completely remove the sunroofs and clean and re-seal the sunroof frame to the body. The seals deteriorate (just like this entire car) and any work you do elsewhere will be in vain without these.
The most common fix is a permanent Permatex silicone here. Since it’s permanent, make sure you do any other procedures first.
Last edited by CharminULTRA; Oct 29, 2024 at 09:46 AM.
In addition to all of the sunroof sealing, undo all 4 of your bolts holding the roof "rails" on, and put a dab of black sealant on the foam seals (sikaflex or similar on the mounting locations (just a bit) then resnug them down. These do leak on many trucks. Problem is, when they do leak, they leak between the inner and outer roof shells, and you never know it ... until it is too late. Easy to do with headliner out. Simple nut on each accessible from below when headliner is out.
And what Charmin ultra says - he is talking about on the top of the car, the exterior. The black plastic frame on the EXTERIOR to the top of the car.. ou must remove the metal frame on the interior, lower that contraption down inside the car, then the black plastic frame lifts off and UP on the outside ... then you put the sealant on that black plastic on the exterior and put It back down on the roof of the car.
I could see where water was coming from the rear sun visor holes. Easy plug. The pan was filling up because the outer seal (sunroof to body) had failed. I park on a slight incline, so water was sitting at the back of the pan, filling til it leaked out of the clip hole.
Hasn’t rained here in about 3 months, so had to test with a hose for a few hours. Parked in different spots. Did the best I could over a few days. Not a drop inside.
Headliner isnt as easy as I hoped. I wish I had a second attempt at it. The biggest tip I can give, is pay attention to the areas you will be looking at for the next 10 years, because I now have a wrinkle, right where I will always see it.
That said, it isnt a nightmare. I used 3M headliner glue. It’s a bit more forgiving than 3M 90. ‘Slightly’ repositionable, maybe twice.
Reassembly is pleasurable. Nothing broke. I can see how people break the visor clips. I slightly shaved the edges of the bit that goes through the body with a knife, so they didnt take so much stress. I’m hoping I’m now leak free for the rest of this cars life.
The biggest day to day win is the insulation. OMG it really shows a LACK of insulation from the factory. The roof rack noise is masked by about 50%, but the real win is the thermal performance. Driving with the heater on is now comfortable, instead of odd temperature gradients in the car. Before the top of my head would be cold, but the middle of the car would oddly be too hot. Cold feet.. etc. Now its a much more even temp through the whole car.
Ive got tons of the material left, I’ll be adding more of it, whenever I’m inside a panel for some reason.
Heres a bunch of pics. Any questions, fire away. Job time was about 3 days on and off. Longer than I wanted, but I didn’t take any shortcuts. I don't want to go back there again.