Thread: Rain rail leak above top left of front windscreen

On Saturday morning I removed the black pastic trim from the roof rain rails and then used a Karcher to pressure wash out the roof rain rail. Straight away could see heaps of cracks etc in the sealant. During the week I had identified a second roof leak - down the B pillar on the drivers side. I got very concerned at the sight of all of these cracks etc. and decided to go to the extreme, spent the afternoon digging out all the old sealant - a flat head screwdrivers was perfect for this and most came off in strips. The sealant that was removed was very cork like in its texture with limited stretch in it before it snapped (perhaps signs of old age?) - my previous experience of Sikaflex is a much softer, stretchy substance that is more silicone and smooth in texture.

About halfway along the passenger side door there was a rust spot underneath - I suspect this was my major leak that I had. I sanded this back to remove the rust, primered and painted. A rough job as it was a small area at the botton of a U shape but the Sikaflex going ontop should seal it up further.

Saturday evening and early Sunday I used Sikaflex 227 to reseal it. Bloody messy process but I'm confident that it's sealed up now. Hopefully the black plastic roof rail trims will hide most of it. It's a very big gap and took two tubes. It's still soft and I suspect will take a few days to fully cure - I'll hold off putting the roof rack back on for at least a week - I am somewhat concerned that with the Sikaflex being softer the feet of the rack will sink into it - I've cut some rubber strips to put under them in hope that the larger footprint prevents damage to the Sikaflex seal underneath...

If I was to do it again I'm still not sure if your better off cleaning the top of the old silicone and resealing on top of or removing all the old stuff first.

I think its a fantastic post. It talks about rain.