Gents, is there a solution to cover the roof to seal off the moon roof?

I have no experience with wrap. Would wrapping right over the whole roof hold up?

this is regarding my sons r50 (just a college car for him)

 

Is the intent to seal the entire roof to make it leak proof, or is there another issue? Also, what are weather conditions it will experience?

Good quality wrap should hold up for a few years if the conditions aren’t harsh and should reduce the chances of leaks, but it won’t look very good over the gaps and weather stripping. If done, I would remove the fuse so there’s no chance of someone pressing the buttons and damaging the cassette or motor.

 

Yes it's recently started leaking (drains are probably clogged, I'm familiar with that being an issue). I'm thinking just seal the entire roof, yes sir.

True I'd not think that wrap would look very good over gaps. Maybe wrap it and put a roof decal over it. Or just the roof decal (the one for the full roof wo moon roof).

Do you think wrap, wrap under the decal or just decal would last longer? Not sure how strong those roof decals are.

Def planning to remove fuse or unplug switch for moon roof.

Im in Houston, so hot and humid most of the year.

Brainstorming for now. All ideas welcome

 

Most likely the drain tubes slipped off. I would just secure them with hose clamps, not zip ties. There’s a post somewhere on here which shows how to do this without dropping the entire headliner.

If wrapping the entire roof, I would only do one layer because of the gaps and seals, or have the vinyl or graphic laminated before applying to have a more cohesive piece of vinyl to apply, otherwise air will most likely be trapped between two layers in the gaps/seals and the expansion and contraction will lead to an earlier failure. A good graphics shop should be able to print on a quality wrapping vinyl and add an over-laminate which will protect the ink and make the wrap thicker. If the design is busy enough, it might help camouflage the wrinkles and bubbles over the gaps.

Some things to consider would be avoiding a dark color or design to try and reduce heat soak from the sun. Also avoid metallic vinyl which is usually a lot less durable. When looking for vinyl remember the year/warranty ratings are for vinyl applied to vertical surfaces and will be greatly reduced when applied to a horizontal surface like the roof, or a vertical surface which gets a lot of direct sunlight.

 

If it's leaking into one or both footwells [very common] +1 for fixing the drain tube connector issue with the clamps. Also periodically clear the drains gently with the weed whacker line - you'll need about 4' to get all the way down from the top to the end underneath the car.

If it's leaking straight down from above (tropical rain forest) couple links here with different possibilities

Rain gutter:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-seatbelt.html
Roof alignment
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...oise-leak.html
Panoramic roof seal:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...bber-seal.html

 

thank you for that. I'm going to read through this.

It is leaking down to the floor board on the drivers (left) side.

I will update.

 

Had not considered a graphics shop or lamination. Thank you. I'll update with findings

 

I got ahead of myself on this one. Turned out cleaning the drains was all that it needed. Literally just pushed the dirt aside with my finger at the drain opening and the water started draining.

while I was there I used some weed eater line for clean out. The thicker the line the better.

also for anyone that might decide to cover, found this product.

https://vvividshop.com/collections/v...rap-slate-grey

plenty of YouTube vids on it. Seems to be the strongest on the market

 

Hey - Good for you!
When I recovered my headliner a while back, I almost forgot to check those drains. Although they were intact, I previously had some water dripping from the overhead clock. There was just enough debris blocking the passenger side to dam causeing water instrusion.
Other than for aesthetics, it may seem like vinyl wrap may have been "overkill" or expensive to solve your issue.
Glad you were able to midigate!

 

Agree. It really does not take much for them to get blocked