roof rust

Anyone has rust like this on their 2.5rs and have gotten it fixed?

 

Am I looking at a sunroof opening?

 

lol sorry, I forgot to mention where this rust is located and should have taken a better picture. Yes this is the sunroof and you can see part of the front windshield at top left. The right portion of the pic is the sunroof and I have bubble rust at the lip area where sun roof touches the roof of my 2000 2.5rs. Just wondering if anyone had to deal with something like this or how much it would cost to get it fixed. Its snowing and raining and the rust is only getting worse so Im afraid there might be a leak into the roof.

 

It looks like there is rust on both the roof and the sliding sun roof panel. Your best bet is finding someone that does bodywork on the side as I'm guessing a shop will probably be close to a grand to do the job thoroughly and correctly. A lot will have to come apart to get at the rust that has crept under the gaskets. And the whole roof will have to be resprayed. And no one will give you any sort of warranty on rust repair. If you have no desire to open the roof again, disconnect the power (so it won't get opened by accident), buy a tube of caulk, and call it done. All you are going to do is slow down the rust's advancement.

 

yeah I would rather have the roof replace. Do you guys know where I can buy a roof panel for old imprezas like the 2000 rs? I checked www.subarugenuineparts.com and they dont have them. I saws posts from rs25.com saying subaru stopped making oem roof for 2.5rs =(

 

It's kind of hard to tell exactly what you've got going on by the picture. But if it's anything more than just surface rust you're better off replacing. You can try car-part.com, keystone or lkq (johns auto parts) if you aren't able to source a used one in good condition. Just keep in mind that if its bubbling under the glass, there is likely more work that needs to be done to the pillar. Also the glass will need to be pulled to r&i the skin and it isn't garunteed that the glass will not chip or break. It's likely going to be between a $1k-$1500 fix at a reputable shop and not the type of repair you'd want to experiment with diy.

 

1k-1.5k? That wouldn't even cover the cost of repainting it.

You're talking about 15-20 hour's of labor + Material's i bet. Let's assume it's $100 an hour. Easily a 4,000+ Job. Unless prices have gone down.

 

The worst part is what you can see in that picture. No rust near pillars or near the glass, just rust where sunroof touches roof at front of the roof towards the front windshield . Im sure it will cost me lots of money to get it fix and time finding the right guys to do it for me. Im not even sure if it will be worth it. Overall, the car is in good condition and drives great, but selling the car and buying a new wrx or upcoming civic si/type r might be a better choice haha

 

$4k to paint a roof?? I need to work for a shop like that! Lol. Depending on the shop, $4k would get the entire car painted, which isn't what the OP was looking to have done.

To paint the roof would call for about 5-6 flag hours, it's not really necessary to blend any other panels aside from the pillars.

Unless you plan to keep the car long term, I'd throw a bandaid on and call it a day.

 

delete the sunroof !

 

Haha I think I should delete it to! It will make finding a new roof a little bit easier, since I can just take one from an impreza L, but finding a spare roof is hard enough. And I could probably do my own paint job with an L roof. Anyone parting out or junking there RS/L coupe??!

 

oh and I love my RS and would keep it long term but i dont want to deal with rust problems on the roof. 30 mpg highway for AWD car is amazing!

 

There are currently six grade A (used but in good condition with no blemishes) roof panels with sunroof insert for a 00' RS available between $200-$350 in the minneapolis area http://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

 

4k for the whole job... if you want it done right.
"1k-1.5k? That wouldn't even cover the cost of repainting it."
I didn't ever state that the paint was 4k. Just that 1k-1.5k would hardly cover the cost of painting it.

Also, justing blending the pillar's wouldn't work. The roof is very tricky to paint and matching the rest of the car is a pain.

Basically, if you're looking at replacing the roof with a different skin and painting that much. You'd be best to just paint the whole car at that point.

 

Are you sure there all in the minneapolis area?? I just looked at it and i got the same results as last time. I can only find 1 in minnesota.

 

I havn't thought much about painting as much as replacing it. But if matching the color of the car is difficult I would rather save money and just paint the roof black and the car would still look good haha

 

Did you search under roof or roof panel? Panel pulls up 1, roof pulls multiple.

 

I've heard that the glass usually breaks, is that what you've found?

 

I'm not trying to say you're wrong, just might be misinformed. I do alot of paint work on factory returns for Ford, Toyota/Lexus, and Chrysler which are crucially inspected to actually be better than the factory paint job. We also take in the majority of totalled vehicles from Allstate and Progressive for hail damage (alot of roofs, hoods, quarters). And before that I specialized in body and paint on high end imports at an independent shop. In the past 6 years I've seen 1 car that needed more than just pillars blended for a roof job and that was on a custom cleared Audi. Paint hours are certainly determined on the size of the panel and color code of the vehicle, but he has a compact sedan with a single stage white color which would only call for 8 flag hours at the absolute max. If he were quoted over $1k for the paint portion (not body, r&i, etc) he'd be getting taken for a ride.

 

FYI. non-sunroof panel is available through Subaru: 53601FA000

 

If it's taken out by a professional the odds of it cracking aren't as high. But at the end of the day it's glass, too much pressure or hitting it just wrong along the edge if there was a chip there and it's toast. I think they sell glass removal wire tools at napa still, but I wouldn't try to diy if it's your first time and are banking on saving the glass. I've done windsheilds and back glass only a handful of times myself with hit or miss results, being 5 2" on a good day isn't doing me any favors for that task so I stick to body and paint lol.

 

Thanks--no I wasn't thinking DIY, I just remember hearing that even when the pros do it there's a pretty decent change that the glass will bust so it's better to assume that when pricing out the work and then be happy if you don't have to pay for a replacement

 

Gotcha. Then yes, it's best to expect to put in new glass. If it's able to be saved, awesome. But even a seasoned glass guy/gal can't 100% garuntee it not breaking, especially if the glass is older.

 

I searched both panel and roof. Roof will give you multiples but they're not in Minnesota.

 

Hmm I put 55014 as a general search area. At any rate if you find one that works for you, you can order it through John's Auto in blaine or any lkq dealer and have it shipped there. Or if you planned to have the work done at a shop, they can get it for you but will likely charge 15%-20% to order it.

 

Thanks for the info! Il def buy my own and have a shop do the job for me haha