Rust to roof/windscreen area. Advice please!

[Jimbo_Jet]

I've got bubbling rust starting to form around my top windscreen trim and it's really started to noticeably advance over the last few months. Please see the photos below:







I probably can't afford to have it done professionally as I would imagine a body shop would want to take the screen out, cut the front edge of the roof out, weld in a new piece and then respray the roof area. I can't imagine this being cheap and I seem to remember stories of people's windscreens braking in the process? Another cost I can't afford.

So I'm contemplating taking out the top windscreen trim myself, Dremelling out the rust bubble areas, sanding down the whole leading edge of the roof back to the metal, multiple POR-15 cover to the whole area, rigid fibreglass fill the holes I will have created in the leading edge of the roof line, sand down fibreglass, filler, sand filler smooth, driveway rattle can primer and rattle can paint over the works and hope to blend in to the existing paint. May have to spray the whole roof area so the colour looks uniform but I'm hoping with it being black colour matching might not be so much of an issue?

What are peoples thoughts? Does the windscreen trim have a metal insert in which I will bend when I remove it? What product would you recommend to stick the trim back down?

Any advice very welcome as thinking of tackling it this weekend. Ta!

[1000 PR]

The trim is only rubber but it's attached to the screen before being glued onto the car so if you try and remove it you'll probably make a mess! I needed a new screen anyway so went the full repair route otherwise the chances are the rust will come back to haunt you one day!

[LimeyMk1]

Is your screen covered on insurance Jim? Mine had a crack in it before I got the rust in my roof fixed and i got the glass repair folks to remove the screen at the body shop. Then they came back and fitted the new one when the work was complete.

[Jimbo_Jet]

How much did the work to the roof cost you if you don't mind me asking?

[LimeyMk1]

I'd have to look up the reciepts but it did include repairs to the scuttle panel as they found a hole in it when the screen was removed. Think it was in the region of £500, maybe a bit more.

I cut the T-bar roof out of a scrap MK1 and gave it to the bodyshop to remove the bits they needed. Not sure if that helped bring the price down.

[Boddney]

I did exactly what your proposing Jim.
That trim has a metal core that will bend very easily and its held in with 5 (i think) plastic protrusions that push in to the windscreen sealant goo.
I cut out the sealant with a knife above and below the trim.
I broke 2 of the plastic things coz I didn't know how it was all held together.
I did the repair as you described and then ran a beed of clear mastic (it was actually fish tank sealer from an aquatic shop) between the screen and roof edge and pused the trim back in.
It is a bodge job compared to taking the screen out and welding in a new piece professional job but it was cheap, worked for me and looks ok.
Hope that helps.
Bod
P.S I got a rattle can made up to the exact colour match at my local automotive paint supplier. All i had to do was give him my filler flap for a few days to match the colour and then hand over £13.

[Boddney]

Jim, These are the plastic bits that stick in to the sealant. These are the ones you don't want to break.


Bod

[IanClements]

I tried to remove the trim on my windscreen but cracked the screen. When it was replaced I removed the rust and hammerited it but it came back after about a year. I ended up getting it done properly which cost £400 and they were able to refit the screen as it didn't break when they took it out.

Really tricky bit of corrosion that!

[LimeyMk1]

How much did the work to the roof cost you if you don't mind me asking?

Just dug out the receipt, for all the work (roof repair, scuttle panel etc) it came to £990.

Cost for the roof repair alone was £448+VAT.

[laam999]

I don't know how to fix it but I would ASAP my windscreen has a crack due to this, hopefully in a few months I'll be able to give advice on how to fix it.

Liam

[Moustachio]

I have to do this job on mine soon...as well as replace the windscreen as it has some nasty cracks/chips in it already

I've secured a roof panel and windscreen off a breaker car near me, basically I'm going bin the current windscreen, remove any rust from the roof, use the mint roof panel off the breaker, weld it in etc...(with the (hopefully) help of a good friend of mine) then get a mobile windscreen dude to fit new screen.

Well thats the plan in theory, anyway

Good luck with yours, will be interested in the process/results etc...

[Jimbo_Jet]

I did exactly what your proposing Jim.......
I did the repair as you described and then ran a beed of clear mastic (it was actually fish tank sealer from an aquatic shop) between the screen and roof edge and pused the trim back in.

Fish tank sealer......of course, good call! I was wondering what I could bed the windscreen trim back in with. How long ago did you do it and I guess the trim's not come loose, ie the tank sealer has held it in place ok?

With regards to the clips I presuming that they are a separate entity to the windscree trim itself and that they are bedded into the screen adhesive themselves and the windscreen trim is then clipped on to these clips? In that respect I imagine that the section through the windscreen head might look something like this?



If so, would I need to push and pull the trim down the windscreen to release it from the clips you mentioned to free it?

[Jimbo_Jet]

How much did the work to the roof cost you if you don't mind me asking?

Just dug out the receipt, for all the work (roof repair, scuttle panel etc) it came to £990.

Cost for the roof repair alone was £448+VAT.

Parp!

[LimeyMk1]

How much did the work to the roof cost you if you don't mind me asking?

Just dug out the receipt, for all the work (roof repair, scuttle panel etc) it came to £990.

Cost for the roof repair alone was £448+VAT.

Parp!

That was my reaction at the time but it was my only car and the rest of the chassis was/is solid so I though it was worth it in the long run.

Do take into account that the company that did the work did repairs on relatively high end sports cars, but I'd been recommended them by a chap who'd had his 240Z restored by them to a really high level of finish.

They didn't just chop the roof out and weld in the scrap piece they split the two halves (upper and lower) to retain structural integrity. All in it was a damn good job and there's been no signs of the rust retuning where they did the work.

[Boddney]

Jim,
The clips do come out of the trim but I didn't take mine out as if you pull the trim they will break.
Also the ends of the trim fit into the gutter trim making it hard to move the trim without bending it or breaking it.
Really the only way is to cut it out.
If you do break a clip you can slide the remaining clips along the trim to compensate.
The fish tank stuf is really untested as my car is still a garage ornament but I cant see why it won't work as it is water proof and a type of mastic.

Bod

[Jimbo_Jet]

Thanks Bod, so when you say 'really the only way is to cut it out' do you mean cut the clip out of the adhesive it's set in on the roof or cut the clip out of the windscreen rubber trim?

[Boddney]

Sorry, I meant cut the adheasive out leaving the clips attached to the trim.
If you can do better than me you should end up with the trim out with all 5 clips still attached.
You just have to take your time and be gentle (unlike me) or the trim will bend and it's a right cow trying to get it back to it's proper shape.
If you do damage it, all is not lost as apparently a windscreen place can supply a length of T section rubber trim that will stick in but I think it's better to have the origional part.
Bod

[MartG]

Just to say that if your car has ever had its windscreen replaced, there's a good chance those clips won't be there.

Autoglass replaced my screen a few years back and used a different type of top sealing strip that fitted over the edge of the screen and sealed against the roof - very similar in profile to the sideskirt seals but a bit larger - with a layer of mastic underneath it.

[cartledge_uk]

My recent windscreen reused the old clips, but it hasnt sat correctly being too deep against the chassis. Good job its a track car.

[Jimbo_Jet]

Just to say that if your car has ever had its windscreen replaced, there's a good chance those clips won't be there.

Autoglass replaced my screen a few years back and used a different type of top sealing strip that fitted over the edge of the screen and sealed against the roof - very similar in profile to the sideskirt seals but a bit larger - with a layer of mastic underneath it.

Actually I think my windscreen has been replaced so who know's what state my clips are in?

So if I get this right, the clips are clipped to the trim and the clips are then bedded in to the adhesive and so the trim itself is not bedded in to the adhesive itself at all? So in that way the clips are doing all the work securing the trim to the car?

If so, if the clips did break when I take the trim out what's to stop me digging the remainder of the clip out of the windscreen adhesive, gluing the clip back together with structural glue, glueing the complete clip to the underside of the trim and then setting the clip back in to new windscreen adhesive again to perform as an anchor?