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Saratoga Sunroof - Bulk-Buy

Almost never opened mine (on 944 or any other car) as also have AirCon.

Bonding in would be more of a job than just a tube of silicone as the air pressure could suck the roof out at speed so perhaps retaining the mechanical fixings (at least in the short term) might be prudent.

 
John Sims said:
I think I'd be inclined to to silicone/bond the glass in place and forget about it. No more latch problems, no wind noise, no leaks.

Also no way to open the sunroof and no way to take it out entirely when the sun shines - which is one of the best points of the 944, IMHO.

 
Astonishingly I have never been contacted by the depot to collect mine, despite numerous chase-mails since January. Finally lost my patience / remembered today and have requested a cancellation & refund.

 
finally got around to fitting mine as i had to strip out mechanism and clean/grease. It fits well, no rattles but the rubber seal is already making a break for freedom, it appears to be held on by double sided sticky foam. Has anybody else experienced this, what have you used to bond rubber to glass, or have you relaced seal with another product.

Ta

Andy

 
When you say "making a bid for freedom" do you mean it has come unstuck or it is poorly seated and protruding past the edge of the glass? if its the latter then let it heat up in the sun and you should be able to reposition it (that's what I did) if its the former I would contact Pilkington with a view to it being repaired under warranty. On a site note we had 2 full days of reasonably heavy rain last week and it didn't leak [:)]

 
1. zcacogp (Oli). 2. 944Fripp (Tom). 3. ALZ 1933 (Alan). 4. 944Scott (Scott). 5. Sutters (Ian) 6. Bumperblue (Ian) 7. GT3Dave (David) 8.C4ix(john) 9. Suffolk944 (Jon) 10. Mikebarry202 (Mike)

11. Phil Kent (Phil Kent!)

 
PhilKent said:
1. zcacogp (Oli). 2. 944Fripp (Tom). 3. ALZ 1933 (Alan). 4. 944Scott (Scott). 5. Sutters (Ian) 6. Bumperblue (Ian) 7. GT3Dave (David) 8.C4ix(john) 9. Suffolk944 (Jon) 10. Mikebarry202 (Mike)

11. Phil Kent (Phil Kent!)
Phil, have you added your name to this list? It's from 18 months ago! [&:]

 
pauljmcnulty said:
PhilKent said:
1. zcacogp (Oli). 2. 944Fripp (Tom). 3. ALZ 1933 (Alan). 4. 944Scott (Scott). 5. Sutters (Ian) 6. Bumperblue (Ian) 7. GT3Dave (David) 8.C4ix(john) 9. Suffolk944 (Jon) 10. Mikebarry202 (Mike)

11. Phil Kent (Phil Kent!)
Phil, have you added your name to this list? It's from 18 months ago! [&:]
I did, obviously not paying much attention was I! never mind... :)

 
Hi Saragota boys,

Thought I would give some feedback. My experience once receiving the amended roof with new mushrooms has been very positive. It does not leak, fits well, no appreciable wind noise difference and gives the cabin a very nice airy ambiance, which is welcome. I don't seem to have had the tape de-bonding issues or fitting issues. It was pretty much plug and play. The tint does look rather fetching against the Cobalt Blue!

I would like to thank Tom and Olli and everyone else involved for the work it took to organise the group buy. Very much appreciated. The roof is an excellent addition.

Ian

 
bumperblue said:
Hi Saragota boys,

Thought I would give some feedback. My experience once receiving the amended roof with new mushrooms has been very positive. It does not leak, fits well, no appreciable wind noise difference and gives the cabin a very nice airy ambiance, which is welcome. I don't seem to have had the tape de-bonding issues or fitting issues. It was pretty much plug and play. The tint does look rather fetching against the Cobalt Blue!

I would like to thank Tom and Olli and everyone else involved for the work it took to organise the group buy. Very much appreciated. The roof is an excellent addition.

Basically the same for me - and my thanks also to the organisers.

However, it did take my indie 2 (chargeable) hours to fit the roof; so it was not exactly 'plug and play'.

But ... so far, so good - no leaks.

Antony

(Iris blue Sport)

Ian

 
Hi Guys,

Has anybody has any trouble with the seal going round the edge of their Saratoga glass roofs?

I opened my sunroof over the weekend & the seal came away from the glass at a couple of places, I've stuck it back in place & closed the roof & it looks okay but it's not really acceptable considering the roof should work as normal.

I contacted Nick yesterday who we dealt with along the way but I've had no reply as yet...

 
I've not opened mine for some time, the car has been sat outside being worked on since April so I think I best check it. Please keep us updated as to how you get on.

 
I phoned Pilkington today as I still had no reply from Nick, apparently he's working in another depot this week and I was asked to forward my email to whom I spoke. Hopefully I'll get some form of reply soon.

Keep you all posted!!!

 
The seal around the edge of my roof has been a problem as well, particularly around the corners where it comes off quite easily. I have spoken to and eMailed Nick about it around 6 months ago and his response was slightly less than satisfactory. However what he did say that was helpful was that I can tackle the problem myself without invalidating the warranty.

The design of the seal is good; it's the right profile and size and has a stabilising metal strip in it. The problem is the adhesive that holds it on, which is a grey foam-based substance and doesn't hold it in place firmly enough to counter the frictive drag against the edge of the roof aperture.

I removed the seal from my roof entirely and cleaned all of the old adhesive off both it and the roof (acetone gets it off easily enough without damaging anything) and replaced it with an adhesive strip from RS Components (RS part number 686-1094, "Hi Bond DS Clr A/Foam Tape ", £5.94 for a 10M roll). However this is not rigid enough to hold the tape firmly in place where it should be and allows it to ride up over the edge of the aperture. It's better than Pilk's efforts, but not as it should be. I am therefore thinking about another solution.

The ideal adhesive should be strong enough to hold the tape very firmly in position but not bond instantly; the positioning of the seal is quite critical and it would be useful to be able to remove and re-attach it within the first 10 minutes of use to correct minor mistakes. For this reason I have avoided cyanoacrylate or polyester adhesives; they would be ideal but would be utterly unforgiving if the original positioning was slightly wrong. If anyone on here has any experience of adhesive technology then do post up as it will be useful. I have asked Nick what they used to attach the seal to the original rooves some 20+ years ago as I presume that they have lasted better than these ones but he either didn't know or wouldn't say (I presume the former).

The seal itself is apparently just decorative and does no actual sealing against the elements but I have noticed that my roof is leaking where the seal has ridden up, which doesn't please me.

Oli.

 
Personally Oli I think that's something you should not have to address, it's something Pilkington should be looking to address.

I still have not opened mine, I've spent all evening investigating why one of my hid's wasn't working, the car has sat outside for months and has not leaked, I will add it to the list of things to do tomorrow.

 
Scott,

I agree entirely, but Nick wasn't going (or wasn't able) to solve the problem. In fairness he offered to collect the thing and give me a full refund, which still applied even if my own attempts to rectify things didn't work. Given that I like the roof (and the monumental palaver we went though to get the thing) then it seemed worth going to the small amount of extra hassle to fix the thing given that I had only the cost of the materials and time taken to lose.

I think that the problem is solvable with the right adhesive. I just need to find out what that right adhesive is. I'll keep this thread posted as I very strongly suspect that all rooves supplied in this latest batch will be similarly affected.

Oli.

 

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