| Author | Message | ||
     John Benyon New User Username: endbuttlane Post Number: 3 Registered: 1-2014 |
I am interested in obtaining a sun-roof for my cloud. It appears to have had an after-market one fitted way back. Enquiring re pro's and cons of fitting one. Maybe a fixed moon roof is the way to go ?? Thoughts. John | ||
| Steve Emmott Experienced User Username: steve_e Post Number: 37 Registered: 11-2018 |
John, You need to explain more perhaps with a picture inside and outside exactly what you have fitted at the moment. If considering a replacement then that narrows down possibilities both for metal roof skin and interior headlining depending on the size of the current aperture. I have had to weld up many roof apertures and replace headlinings on lots of older cars when 60's 70's sunroof parts have not been available. It was often easier back in the 80's when there were lots of various manufacturers around and sometimes you could find a replacement sunroof slightly larger than the one fitted and that made fixing up the car simple. Lets see what you are up against before offering any 'best solutions' as from my recollection Webasto was the only 'aftermarket' sunroof sanctioned by Rolls Royce back then when your car was produced and these can still be repaired. Other sunroofs in older cars would often be totally bespoke to the coach builder so there were massive variants. The question/answers of pro's and con's of fitting any type of sunroof to a car with a virgin roof skin are totally different to seeing what you have now and giving advice on best solution. | ||
| gordon le feuvre Prolific User Username: triumph Post Number: 287 Registered: 7-2012 |
As far as I remember, Webasto were one approved. I think some county gave them a financial incentive to move at sometime 90's. They left ALL "old" roofs/panels at the place they were leaving, so loads dumped. Had to get someone to locally manufacture new roof panel, this was for electric sliding roof-nightmare. I would go for ACU instead of cutting holes in roof panel. As Steve says, beware. | ||
| Steve Emmott Experienced User Username: steve_e Post Number: 38 Registered: 11-2018 |
''I would go for ACU instead of cutting holes in roof panel.'' I would agree with Gordon's comment here. Maybe I am mis-interpretating your comment John when you say ''it appears to have had an after-market one fitted way back'' and you mean the model rather than your actual car. RR/B did as I said approve the Tudor Webasto sunroof and mainly these were an aftermarket dealer/agent fit. Indeed they were the 'Rolls Royce' of folding fabric sunroofs. Expensive but with solid wood inner frame Webasto would only allow experienced coach builders as agents. Britax and Slideaway in the UK came into the market as competition with extruded aluminium frames and although agents were required to be trained at the factory they were not requiring the skills of coach builders and instalations were much cheaper and well suited to lower cost volume production cars. The advantage of vinyl top sliding roofs is they did not need metal basin structures welded into the roof skin or drain tubes run down the front and rear pillars as did the metal ones. The metal ones were more suited for factory fitment as an aftermarket it was huge work and required repaint of the car roof too. Later metal designs ones came out with a frame which saved the repaint and then glass became available as an option. Golde and Webasto were the companies at the fore-front of these designs. The glass quick fit poptop came in around the late 70's after the USA legislation was putting harsh requirements on side impact and alas we were to see the end of many convertible cars until designs were introduced to completely strengthen up the whole side structures by the manufacturers. These poptops were cheap and cheerful to fit and as a result windscreen companies and general garages started to take on the instalations as little coach building skill was required. Glass poptops and some even sliding ones were really an enhanced van side window and had no drain tubes relying on just run off. Many leaked though. A company in Australia actually produced one and patented a rubber seal linked to the manifold that sucked the air from the rubber to open and hence gave a lot of pressure to keep a reasonable seal when allowed to return to atmospheric pressure. However I would not recommend any poptop glass roof for a hot climate. It is like having a hotplate above your head. Again no problem with the factory ones or the glass fully bonded moon roofs now that are becoming popular as these come with an inner blind. The mechanism for having an inner blind again is not something easily challenged for an aftermarket fit and now roofs that do cover this facility come at a very high installation cost. If it was my car I would only have the Webasto and these are still available but very pricey for the instalation. So we come back to ACU's and again well worth exploring as these have become very popular and prices are competitive. Either of the two here I believe would add value to your car...........anything else IMHO would not. |
