We noticed the wind noise getting worse from the front of the sunroof on our 2010 Clubman S. A few weeks ago while I was at the dealer picking up the oil filter housing gasket I asked how much the seal was for the sunroof. I was surprised that it was only about $20 and they had one in stock. The part number is 54107210652.

I could not find any information on how to replace the seal and saw a post somewhere in the past where the headliner had to be dropped. I did not want to do all of that work, so I looked everything over on the car and decided it could be replaced by just removing the glass panels. Here are the steps I used to replace the seal and it was not that difficult.

1)Raise the glass where both panels are tilted open in the rear. (See Photo)
2)Remove the three T27 Torx screws on each side of the front and rear panels, there are six per panel (See Photo). Carefully lay them on a blanket or somewhere safe out of the way.
3)Close the sunroof even though there are no glass panels.
4)Remove the old rubber seal starting from the center of the rear where the seam is. I used a heat gun on the low setting to soften the glue and a plastic scraper. This helped the glue on the two side tape stay on the seal and not the roof. If it is warm where you live and you let the MINI set in the sun for a while you may not need the heat gun. It was only in the 50's here today. i also took the time to clean the slide channels and areas I could get to with the glass removed. Mine sure was dirty. (See Photo)
5)Clean any glue residue from the area the seal was removed from with some alcohol and a clean cloth. This is an important step so the new seal will stick.
6)Install the new seal. The seal has a tape adhesive. Start in the center of the rear. Pull off some of the protective film and push the seal on to the body. There is a small lip on the new seal and the top should be flush with the roof. It is forgiving if you get it crooked, but you should get the hang of it fairly quick. Work your way around the opening pulling off small sections of the film as you go. There is no reason to stretch the seal as I had about 6'' left over. be careful when you trim the left over so there is no gap in the seam where you meet the starting piece.
7)Raise the sunroof where just the rear of the brackets are up on both front and rear. Re-install the glass panels onto the brackets. Do not tighten the Torx screws yet. Once you have all of the screws in both panels close the sunroof. Now you can push up or down on any area of the glass panels to get them flush with the roof. Before you tighten the front panel screws, sit in the seat and push the panel forward using the plastic front of the panel. Then tighten the screws. Once all 12 screws are tight check for final panel alignment and then open and close the sunroof and check alignment again.

This took me about 2 1/2 hours from start to finish including cleaning the tracks. It was much easier than I expected and the only tool you need is the T27 Torx bit with a short extension and a ratchet.

Amazing how quite the inside is now without the wind noise.

 

Thanks for the write up! I was planning on doing this next month!

 

Just saw this, nice write up.

 

Thanks ECS. The Clubman is now gone and we have a Countryman S All4 6 sp.

 

Welcome, bigger Clubman now