Gotcha, I will embark on this adventure soon.

 

Thats a great idea! Mines coming off soon, def going to try that. Good bye oozing panel, hellooo Carbon Fiber

 

Half price shipping and 15% off roofs until the end of the month !

https://ls1tech.com/forums/paint-bod...alf-price.html

 

I find it frustrating that there is nothing you can do to fix the old one. Has anyone tried coating it with something the glue cant eat thru? I mean jesus if the glue can eat thru anything u put on top im not sure how replacing its gonna make it better either. Has anyone tried pulling the old one off and coating the underside and then redoing the top?

Is the only option a 1500$ replacement?

 

If imma go thru all of that i might as well make my hard top car a ttop car while im there

 

The only option that completely repairs and resolves the issue is to replace the panel. No ifs, no ands, no buts. You don't have to buy a new one, you can go find a 93 - early 98 car in a junkyard and use a wiresaw to cut the old roof off for a lot cheaper.

 

Think of it like a rusted body panel; once rust has eaten all the way through the panel, the only proper fix is panel replacement - and the new panel will rust again if it's not properly painted to prevent exposure to the elements.

In regards to these roof panels and the glue, if you coat the underside of the new panel with epoxy primer, as instructed in the TSB, then the glue won't touch the new panel to begin with, and thus it will never be compromised. Anything that you put on top of a panel that is already compromised isn't going to change the fact that under the surface, that panel is being attacked. You need the proper barrier between the glue and the panel.

 

Plus you're using a different glue to attach the replacement panel anyway.

 

As everyone else said there's nothing you can do except remove all the old glue (which you have to remove the roof to do) and anything it came in contact with (meaning the roof, meaning you can't remove it, remove the glue, sand reseal and reinstall because the glue is already IN your roof).

New replacement or getting one off an earlier car is your only options.

Very good idea and if you're buying the roofs new it would probably even be cheaper since the t-top roof is cheaper and everything else you need for the conversion can usually be bought used for around $300.

 

While I understand the desire to save some money I don't understand why some people insist that there has to be a way to save the original roof somehow. Everything has been tried, multiple times (vinyl, epoxy seal, repaint, etc etc) and all have failed. Yet some people insist there has to be a way.

I know that it isn't cheap to get a new one if you can't get a hold of a pre-98 roof, but it is what it is. Doing anything but replacing that roof panel is just going to be a waste of your time and money. Do it once, do it right, and replace the roof.

I've got a new 6LE roof panel just sitting here still in bubble wrap waiting until I can afford to install it (along with everything else body-wise I need/want to do to it). Odds are it will sit a few more years since I'm buying a house this year and it will be needing several things that honestly are more important than my Camaro's appearance.

 

Don't know if this was asked already since there are a lot of pages to go through but which glue is best to use and which glue to stay away from?

 

The original post is updated when new information becomes available.

I used the 3M Urethane 08690 when I did mine. Worked like a charm!

 

See that, thanks

 

Just cut one off a 97 firebird yesterday at a local junkyard! Took about 45mins with square wire and equlizer T handles and alot of sweat. 14 bucks out the door!

 

Just now founding out about the bubbling sail panel, unfortunately mine has it and once it started it progressively got worse. Not sure if this is a dumb question, but if I find a used sail panel that's unaffected by the bubbles can it be repainted? Or do I need to find one the same color as my car?

 

Yes, you can put a 1993-early 1998 panel on your car and you'll be fine. If you can find one that is the same color than it could mean little to no paintwork, but most of the ones that you find in salvage yards have some clear coat damage and need to be repainted anyways.

 

Awesome thanks for the help!

 

^^I believe 94-95 were the years GM had the clear coat recall so if you get one of those make sure your body shop sands all the clear off before painting other wise when it lets go the new paint will come up with it...

 

I just replaced my panel, but had a bit of an issue. As mentioned, the adhesive is incredibly difficult to get out of a caulk gun! I got a full tube down, but it took me so long that we speculate that it started drying and didn't adhere to the panel. The sail panel started coming off two days later when I was driving.

So we took it off (because it really didn't adhere to the panel, it was pretty easy). We tried again with two more tubes, but this time we used a Ryobi battery powered gun. All of the gun of both tubes was on in under 5 minutes! We set the panel and that sucker isn't coming off now! So to anyone out there looking for tips, get the $40 battery powered caulk gun, it's worth it and more!

 

I just got my 6LE carbon fiber hardtop which the underside I think is bare marine grade resin. I will be removing the old glue as much as possible (I have lots of time as the car is garaged) and using 3M Urethane 08690. Is this epoxy primer coat necessary to prevent future bubbling or was it only an issue with the original adhesive used in late 98 through 2002?