well I decided its time to repaint the car and took it to a couple places today. All of them tried to screw me over in two areas and was wondering if any of you guys could help me out with this cause it would save me a lot of cash.
A) My sunroofs rusting and they quote huge replacement prices. An alternative is to have them sand it down and re do it but the rust would reappear. Both cost quite a bit. My ideas just to get a replacement and have them repaint it.
B) I wanted to go with S5 moldings. They had some replacement but nothing matching the S5 exactly. It was also mentioned I could paint over mine but the paint wouldnt adhere to well. How are the S4 and S5 moldings held in place?

Im kinda low on time since its gonna take 4-5 days for the work and schools starting soon so im gonna need the car.
So do you guys have any suggestions? If anyone has a sunroof for an 87 (white with blue interior) or S5 moldings please let me know. Thanks a lot

 

YES!! Zero replies Anyone?

 

Go to a junk yard and look for sunroof that isn't rusted if possible or someone might have one for sale; I know a guy that might have one.

 

actually, I've seen a couple of sunroofs on ebay

 

Properly prepped, the S4 mouldings will take paint just fine, although they like the bumper skins should have liberal amounts of flex mixed into the paint before painting them.

They are held in place by plastic snaps and double sided foam trim tape (depending on location).

Don't bother to fix the existing sunroof panel, it will rust again, either find a good condition one and paint it or in worst case replace it with a new one (again painted your cars color).

 

Thanks for the help guys. So I shouldnt really have a problem putting S5 mouldings on? Anyone have a sunroof or mouldings for sale ?

 

Try emailing this guy for them, chrissanders@netzero.com. I know him personally and he is a good guy to deal with. He has lots of parts. See his add on www.thepartstrader.com

 

thanks, I'll give him an email tonight

 

He didnt have them. Anyone else have those parts?

 

I have a sunroof available. No S5 moldings though. If you plan on using S5 molings you need to change to S5 bumpers also.

 

Does anyone have an idea of what to do to go with white mouldings? Anyone tried this on their S4?

 

^

 

You can paint them. just treat them like you would when painting a urethane bumper. The problem is SOMEBODY has used armor-crap (Armor-all) or some other silicone based product on them. Making it almost impossible to paint without getting fisheyes. You can get it off but its a pain. You need to find a product called POLY-CRACKER to remove the SILICONE. Good idea to prep the whole car with this before it goes to the paint shop. Most shops don't use this because of the added expense. It is worth it!!

 

try mineral spirits on the mouldings to clean them off...if prepped correctly, as said before, paint will stick to them without a problem. didnt the 10th AE have S4 mouldings painted white, from Mazda??

 

Regardless of what you do to replace/fix the sun roof you better figure out what caused the rust. in the first place. If its the seals make sure you replace 'em. If it is the drains you better clear them cuz you will eventually end up rusted out again. With the panel off, it will be easy to make sure they flow free.

 

I dont think its the seals or drains, just wear and tear from the previous owner. She seemed to have two other cars besides the 7 so im guessing its a combination of the car sitting for days at a time and the exterior not really taken care of (washing etc)