Roof supports? ATTN: HEADLINER DIY'ers

[KChurch86]

Alright guys and gals, as some of you may or may not know I ripped my headliner out this past weekend and I'm in the process of refinishing it.

Upon removing the headliner, I noticed that the roof supports in the rear of my truck aren't actually attached to the roof anymore. They clearly USED TO BE attached...has anybody else come across this before? (I'm looking at all of you who have had your headliner out.)

Here's some pics of the supports in question:

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Roadwarrior]

How hard would those be to flex back up and reattach? I don't remember what mine look like when I pulled mine.

 

[KChurch86]

How hard would those be to flex back up and reattach? I don't remember what mine look like when I pulled mine.

Shouldn't be too hard, hardest part would be holding it up there. I bet I could wedge a 4x4 post against it and it would work nicely. I'm not sure what I'd actually use to reattach the supports to the roof skin though. At first I thought it was tack welded in place but then I looked again and saw that they were just stuck up there with double-sided foam tape.

If they're supposed to be firmly attached, I'd like to use something stronger...I'd probably be OK with blasting a few holes through the supports and the roof skin and bolting it back together, some silicone beneath the bolt heads and bing bang boom, done.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Intender]

I think tack welding it back in place would be the best option, but you would need to either remove your interior, or cover it with something to keep it from getting burned by slag (assuming people care about their interior). bolts would also work, but I would be concerned about eventual squeaking from them. I can handle the occasional squeak, but constant squeaking drives me nuts.

 

[metzican]

I wounder if there not firmly attached due to thermal expansion or something like that. But I would think this would weaken the structural support in case of a roll over. I would consider a epoxy but this does not offer much flex as it is a stiff brittle compound. Maybe a polyurethane construction adhesive be a better solution. This will give it more flex and does not dry rock hard but with a little more flex. I would either use 2x4's and wedge it in there or preferably a spreader bar (inverse clamp)

In any case that just seems like a large gap between the two. Good luck with anything you try and let the rest of us know.

 

[metzican]

I think tack welding it back in place would be the best option, but you would need to either remove your interior, or cover it with something to keep it from getting burned by slag (assuming people care about their interior). bolts would also work, but I would be concerned about eventual squeaking from them. I can handle the occasional squeak, but constant squeaking drives me nuts.

The big issue I see with spot welding is having to redue the paint on the outside in those spots. The issue with bolts is it can wiggle lose and leak/paint issues and rust. But spot welding would be ideal. And no one looks at he roof anyways.

 

[KChurch86]

I think tack welding it back in place would be the best option, but you would need to either remove your interior, or cover it with something to keep it from getting burned by slag (assuming people care about their interior). bolts would also work, but I would be concerned about eventual squeaking from them. I can handle the occasional squeak, but constant squeaking drives me nuts.

I agree about the squeaking, I hadn't initially thought of it but you bring up a good point. Welding would definitely fix it, maybe I'll talk to some of my welder buddies and see if they felt up to the task.

I wounder if there not firmly attached due to thermal expansion or something like that. But I would think this would weaken the structural support in case of a roll over. I would consider a epoxy but this does not offer much flex as it is a stiff brittle compound. Maybe a polyurethane construction adhesive be a better solution. This will give it more flex and does not dry rock hard but with a little more flex. I would either use 2x4's and wedge it in there or preferably a spreader bar (inverse clamp)

In any case that just seems like a large gap between the two. Good luck with anything you try and let the rest of us know.

It almost looks to me like the supports are flattened, as if somebody stood on the roof at some point. The supports don't follow the side-to-side curvature of the roof like I bet they're supposed to. I've been up there but I only stood on the roof rack cross bars, so no harm no foul. I guess maybe extreme summer heat may have softened the adhesive, but that doesn't explain the flattened out supports.

Then again, there isn't a mark on the roof at all, as one might expect from somebody standing up there; so I dunno. The cause is just speculation.

Inverse clamps sound ideal but I ain't got none, so I'd probably use a wooden post of some sort and the OEM scissor jack, yeah, that's the ticket! I'll look around and see what kind of epoxies or glues or whatever I can find that might work.


Thanks for your input everyone.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[KChurch86]

And yeah, the gaps between the supports and the roof are huge. I can easily fit my (flat) hand through the gap right up to the ring-area of my fingers. My magic yellow flexy-steel tells me the gap is up to 1" in some places.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Prime]

Weird. I vote spot weld.

 

[xterror04]

I wouldn't spot weld... The roof needs at expand and contract... The supports won't as much.. They use a special epoxy to attach those

 

[Roadwarrior]

Or flex that metal back up..

Sent from space and stuff

 

[KChurch86]

So my gameplan here is to try and get some arc back into the supports, probably with a wooden post and the OEM scissor jack, and if they show signs of creasing or buckling, I'll stop. If it seems like they're going to take some new shape, or that they want to flex back and contact the roof panel, then I'll apply whichever body panel adhesive I pick. Based on my research online, this stuff is expensive for what it is, so I'm going to use way more than the couple spots here and there that the factory used, that's for sure.

Whenever I get around to this (should be relatively soon, I'm already sick of having my interior torn apart) I'll update with the product and method(s) I use.

 

[KChurch86]

I contacted Courtesy Parts to see if they could point me in the right direction to a suitable adhesive, or maybe even to the stuff that Nissan uses. I figure they have touch-up paint, maybe they'd have this stuff too?

Nope. They suggested I talk to a body shop. I'm going to talk to a few mechanic friends of mine and find out what they'd use.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[J Everett]

I would imagine the roof panel needs to be weighted to rest on the supports while the epoxy bonds rather than jacking the supports to meet the roof. The flat sheet metal has a hell of a lot more flex than the stamped support beams. Food for thought.

 

[KChurch86]

I would imagine the roof panel needs to be weighted to rest on the supports while the epoxy bonds rather than jacking the supports to meet the roof. The flat sheet metal has a hell of a lot more flex than the stamped support beams. Food for thought.

Noted, I'll do both. Thanks for the suggestion man.


This afternoon I had a little bit of time so I climbed in the back and was actually able to bend the supports upwards by hand, they arched very nicely and I was able to close the gap to about 3/16" end to end. If I push upwards on them, they contact the roof, so I bet that a combination of weighing the roof down and lightly jacking up the supports will do the job.

Then, today, after I left the bank I swung by Auto Zone since they're in the same plaza. I told the guy the situation and he pauses and goes "Uh, heh, you mean the headliner?" I'm like "No, it's the actual roof. I removed my headliner to refinish it and noticed - here, let's just go look." We went out and I showed the guy the problem and asked what suggestions he could give me, but he didn't have any. He seemed very surprised that the supports were "glued" to the roof, but in the end he suggested I talk to a body shop.

Any body shop around here is going to play the "This kid can't fix this himself" card and try to get me to drop it off and let them repair it, which I'm not going to do. If it was glued in at the factory, then darn it I can glue it in in my own driveway, haha.


Anybody here have any suggestions on a specific bonding agent that you've had experience with?

 

[Muadeeb]

No direct suggestions, but I'd try looking at 3M. They have a lot of automotive geared products, so they _might_ have something.

Sent via wild ferrets on crack

 

[J Everett]

3M DP190 Scotch-Weld

 

[TJTJ]

I would imagine the roof panel needs to be weighted to rest on the supports while the epoxy bonds rather than jacking the supports to meet the roof. The flat sheet metal has a hell of a lot more flex than the stamped support beams. Food for thought.

This.



As the body flexes, the roof and the braces will move relative to each other...the padded double tape is to fight squeaking/wear through on contact.

Consider merely wedging high density foam rubber into the gaps if you feel queasy about leaving it as is.

 

[KChurch86]

Well, here's what I decided to do. I had some high-temp silicone adhesive left over from when I did my intake resonator delete, and since I'm a cheap f*** I decided to use it instead of buying something different.

I cleaned the mating surfaces with brake cleaner to ensure there was no dirt, oil, grime, etc. and applied some of the silicone between the support and the roof skin. I didn't lay a solid bead, but instead I applied a few spots on both sides of the support, pretty much the same as it was done at the factory.

Then I used a couple chunks of 4x4 posts across the roof directly over the supports, and used ratchet straps to pull the roof skin downwards. The 4x4 posts focused the pressure from the ratchet straps directly over the beam and in the "softest" part of the roof. Just this alone probably would have been enough, as it did compress the roof skin downwards onto the supports enough to start to smoosh out the silicone a little bit.

I took it one step further and used the OEM scissor jack and a few other scraps of wood and metal to jack upwards on 3 points of each support. I cranked the jack up by hand until the silicone began to smoosh out more, and then I left everything alone and let the silicone cure. A couple hours later I released the pressure on the jack, and the supports held the roof skin tight. I then released the ratchet straps, and again, nothing let go.

I have no idea what to expect of this fix, I don't know how long it will hold. I don't really plan on pulling the headliner out again any time soon, so...

 

[Creepy Cruiser]

Sorry I'm late to the party, lol.

We build car audio systems that are so loud, that they flex the roof so much, they separate like that all the time. It's actually pretty common. If you look under your hood, it's probably the same. We use a urethane for installing windshields to bond them back together. It retains the flexibility it needs, and stays bonded much longer than anything else we've found. (just info down the road for others who might read this).