Sunroof Headliner Rattle

[Fassi]

Hi Guys,

Does anyone have any idea how to stop the sunroof headliner panel from rattling in the tracks over bumps/uneven road surfaces? The sunroof itself is rattle free. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

[rs6er]

I have the same problem. Oregon Cab psted this a while back:

"Just replaced my sroof headliner Friday. Retract the top 6" so you can see the leading edge of the headline toward the front of the car. It can unclip along the whole front edge like a door panel with the arrow shaped push clips. Now you can slide the headliner back into the roof and see all the connections of your sunroof and cable mechs.

There are 2 bolts in the front right and left and 2 bolts toward the rear near your head. Push the headliner so you see these rear ones. They go into a silver plate with another silver place sandwiched on top of it. The first one closest to your head (call it 'head tab') has smaller holes that the second one (or the one closest to the sky-call it 'sky tab'). There is a long metal spring tab attached to the roof that should be slipped between the second silver tab and the closets silver tab. When I reinstalled my roof I did this wrong and the rear of the roof did not rise. So swivel the long metal spring aside so the sky tab can be placed against the roof. Swivel it back and now put the head tab on top of this sandwiching the spring. The head tab has little feet (like a capital T with tiny serifs or bottom feet) and they need to be slipped into the feet holders attached to the roof and painted body color. This will take compressing the spring to get it.

So, sky tab against the roof, spring, head tab on top of the spring with the little feet of the head tab tucked into the little feet holders on the roof. Once the feet are tucked in both tabs are under tension and will stay. put the 2 bolts and washers back in. Shimmy your headliner back up to the clip holes on the roof and push them in. You are done and the roof travel tight and the rear will rise when closed. Now your roof is connected at the front and over your head to the tracks."

[Fassi]

Thanks, John. The roof itself does not rattle and is properly connected to the tracks. I'm referring to the headliner panel below the roof, which rattles in the channel. It's most noticeable when the sunroof is closed.

[rs6er]

Mine is works properly but still makes noise, especially when closed. I haven't tried it yet but I think the problem is the

"head tab tucked into the little feet holders on the roof. Once the feet are tucked in both tabs are under tension and will stay.

I think the rattling is the lack of tension on those tabs. Mine occurred when I changed the sunroof seals.

[Fassi]

The problem seems unrelated to the sunroof itself, which operates perfectly and does not rattle. The noise is caused by the headliner rattling against the tracks, especially towards the rear where it's not attached. Does this sound familiar to anyone? I'm sorry if my description of the problem isn't clear.

[rootmatt]

Sounds familiar. If I recall correctly, where the lining panel slides in a track, the vinyl that is wrapped over an aluminium frame had worn through, allowing the frame to make metal-to-metal contact with the track and, given the increased clearance, to rattle. I've not fixed mine yet. As I don't open the roof, I tucked a washer under the trim panel to wedge it in place. One day I'll get around to recovering the frame.

Matt

[Fassi]

Thanks, Matt, I think that's exactly it. My understanding is that there was originally an additional layer of fabric on top of the panel. Do you know if that's correct?

[rootmatt]

Right now, my car is in storage while I build a workshop at my new house. I'm working on memory from last year when I had the roof out to replace the cloth seals. I think the vinyl on the lower (visible) side was simply folded over the edge of the frame and glued to the upper surface, thus padding both the top and the bottom of the frame as it rides in the track. I don't remember there being anything else on the upper side but then I wasn't focusing on that part until it started to rattle after it was reassembled. I'm hoping that a re-cover in fresh, luxuriant, non-ratty vinyl will cure the rattle. Failing that, I'm saving up for SSIs and they may drown out the rattle.

[Fassi]

Sounds good! Thanks again.