[george34]

Can I sand these spots down to bare metal and then primer and paint them??? This is on my sunroof. I mainly just want the rust to stop spreading and to cover it up. I also have bigger spots on the fender wheel that I am thinking about sanding and painting.

 

[fireant]

How I fixed my rusting sunroof

1. Find a supplier of "high-performance" automotive-quality vynil in your color (close is good enough, since there is a black strip around the sunroof). Get enough vynil for two coverages (should be about $20) and you'll have a second chance if you botch the first one.

2. remove sunroof

3. Sand the rust bubbles down to nothing (or holes). fill with wood putty or epoxy and smooth it and sand it with careless abandon.

4. remove the weatherstrip, take the sunroof indoors, clean it and dry it thouroughly, removing all oil.

5. Spray it down so it is misted with amixture water and a little dish soap

6. With the help of a friend, lay down the vynil as you peel it off its backing...use a credit card to smooth out the bubbles as you go.

7. Once its all pressed down and bubble free, use a shirt or cloth to add some more pressure onto it.

8. reinstall weather strip, reinstall roof panel, show off how good it looks.

 

[george34]

Do you have any pictures of sunroof that has a vynil sheet on it? I thought about seeing if I could find a carbon fiber plate that would take the place of the metal one. I don't know if that would look like rice. I could paint it white to match. Then I wouldn't have to worry about it rusting.

 

[fireant]

There are two pictures on this page where you can kind of see it:

http://www.dmcknight.net/setup.htm

It looks pretty much like newly painted metal...Im just glad to have it red, and not pink with rust spots anymore. Nobody ever knows until I tell them its vynil.

When you shop for vynil go to a wholesaler (not fastsigns) and you will be able to choose from hundreds of colors and finishes.

 

[downest]

That's some good info! I see sunroof rust on almost every CRX, even the ones with clean quarter panels. I was going to get a CF piece but I will definitely be looking into this!

 

[george34]

I will have to look into the vynil. Sounds like it would make it look a lot better.

 

[fireant]

Well, all I can say is I did it to fix holes I made when I got too agressive with sanding down rust bubbles, and after it was done the finish looked great and has allowed me to put off painting the car for a while...I do plan to get a new panel before painting.

The only thing I would do differently is to sand down my epoxy more carefully... Vynil sticks really flat like paint, it wont cover up flaws in your sanding. :lol:

 

[jmart]

The problem with sunroof rust is that it stems from the underside of the panel, not the top. If you remove your sunroof, and disasmble it you w\ill probably see horrible corrosion on the underside. That why once most people repair the top, the rust just comes back. So if you realyl want to get to the bottom of things. Remove the panel and open it up and hope the corrosion isn't too bad yet.