The carbon slicktop thread

[Casa de Mesa]

Ha. Epoxied mine on, too!

+2. I did the same thing.

But also... I painted my original rails gloss black so there's that.

[bavarian3]

I have my Karbonius roof just waiting for the last 3 years, including a huge crack in my OEM windshield I've been holding off on. This thread gives me the gusto to get moving on this project.

I still need to source the headliner and windshield, although the windshield is easy to get, headliner not so much. Been scouring the junkyards in my area but no luck and the ones I did find were in very bad shape, not just fabric, just beaten up. If anyone has leads on the headliner or one for sale that's reasonably priced, do DM me. Thanks fam.

I've got a non-M US slicktop headliner with no fabric sitting in the garage. You know where to find me

Also have two non-m headliners in my garage, lol. Pending a BM134 fabric order whether I can upholster them or not. Holler if you need any guidance, just finished this project up located in SJ.

[heinzboehmer]

I have my Karbonius roof just waiting for the last 3 years, including a huge crack in my OEM windshield I've been holding off on. This thread gives me the gusto to get moving on this project.

I still need to source the headliner and windshield, although the windshield is easy to get, headliner not so much. Been scouring the junkyards in my area but no luck and the ones I did find were in very bad shape, not just fabric, just beaten up. If anyone has leads on the headliner or one for sale that's reasonably priced, do DM me. Thanks fam.

I've got a non-M US slicktop headliner with no fabric sitting in the garage. You know where to find me

[WestBankM4]

I have my Karbonius roof just waiting for the last 3 years, including a huge crack in my OEM windshield I've been holding off on. This thread gives me the gusto to get moving on this project.

I still need to source the headliner and windshield, although the windshield is easy to get, headliner not so much. Been scouring the junkyards in my area but no luck and the ones I did find were in very bad shape, not just fabric, just beaten up. If anyone has leads on the headliner or one for sale that's reasonably priced, do DM me. Thanks fam.

[bavarian3]

This is both relevant and irrelevant. But for those of you on the fence, I recently put an 80lb roof rack on a G Wagen and am staggered by the change in driving characteristics.

I wouldn’t say the CF roof had a drastic effect on the e46, but added weight to the roof definitely results in a change for the worse.

Takeaway: This is not just an aesthetic mod. Lose the moonroof!

Yeah having just went from a sunroof to cf roof I can definitely say the difference in acceleration and tossability is noticeable, but indeed not drastic. I bet it would be more noticeable putting the weight back on!

[nuc1]

Glad you got it installed and that the DIY helped! Sorry for not getting back to you in time regarding the applicator. My mind is all over the place with board exams coming up 🙃

No worries. Your DIY is awesome and made the whole process easier.

Mike

[SQ13]

Finally got the roof on. RKP/Challenge roof w/ clear. Been sitting in garage for last year. Fit really well except for approximately 4 inches between B and C pillars. Had about 3/8" of "spring" to it. Clamps didn't require much force to keep the roof down on the car. Easily pushed down by hand. Used 3M 08815 for roof and structural riverts / 08815 for roof brace. Good amount of squeeze out everywhere I could get a flashlight on.
No matter how hard I tried couldn't get the clamps to stay on car with blocks down where the roof rails go. Had to improvise. There's about 10 layers of blue tape under the wood blocks lol.
Didn't take a ton of pics as was moving around pretty quickly to get the roof aligned. Turns out when you clamp the rear of the roof it pushes forward about 1/8". Had to pull it back and reclamp. Thankfully 08115 has a long working time. Dead nuts now. Thanks to all those that posted their roofs and DIYs. Especially SQ13 - very very helpful.

Mike

Glad you got it installed and that the DIY helped! Sorry for not getting back to you in time regarding the applicator. My mind is all over the place with board exams coming up 🙃

[LSB4Me]

This is both relevant and irrelevant. But for those of you on the fence, I recently put an 80lb roof rack on a G Wagen and am staggered by the change in driving characteristics.

I wouldn’t say the CF roof had a drastic effect on the e46, but added weight to the roof definitely results in a change for the worse.

Takeaway: This is not just an aesthetic mod. Lose the moonroof!

[0-60motorsports]

Mine were stuck on with 3M OE style but they were done when the car was in the dealership for a front windshield replacement.

[bavarian3]

I put the roof and rails on w/o expoxy and got the roof centered front/back/left/right. Match marked it with sharpie on the underside of the lip of the car and on painters tape on the roof edges. After applying the epoxy I clamped the roof on the rear and then put the OE rails on. Moved the roof to the match marks (was really close), checked it about 100 times, removed the rails and clamped all sides of the roof. Cleaned the OE rails up. The only thing that gave me trouble was the f'n clamps. Rest was really easy.

Mike

Nice. Agreed the locking clamps are a pain, even worse for me because I had all 6 of that large 18" size. You can see in the pic posted earlier how I used blocks to give them something to clamp to. Still a bit of a pain to find level space on the bottom side.

[nuc1]

Ha. Epoxied mine on, too!

Figured I've never taken the OE rails off. Why would the CSL rails need to come off? Also used it as an excuse to run another bead of 08115 down the outside of the roof to triple ensure no leakage.

Mike

[nuc1]

I do wonder, without the attachable rail clips like the Karbonius, how did you all align the roof accurately?

I found this to be critical in my installation. I was measured gaps down to the mm with plastic feeler gauge and attached-removed the rails several times to ensure they fit as they would when fully installed.

I put the roof and rails on w/o expoxy and got the roof centered front/back/left/right. Match marked it with sharpie on the underside of the lip of the car and on painters tape on the roof edges. After applying the epoxy I clamped the roof on the rear and then put the OE rails on. Moved the roof to the match marks (was really close), checked it about 100 times, removed the rails and clamped all sides of the roof. Cleaned the OE rails up. The only thing that gave me trouble was the f'n clamps. Rest was really easy.

Mike

[bavarian3]

I do wonder, without the attachable rail clips like the Karbonius, how did you all align the roof accurately?

I found this to be critical in my installation. I was measured gaps down to the mm with plastic feeler gauge and attached-removed the rails several times to ensure they fit as they would when fully installed.

[Obioban]

Ha. Epoxied mine on, too!

[nuc1]

CSL rails installed. Epoxied to car with 08115. Didn't trust the small 3M double-sided tape mounts....and don't trust people to not rip them off the car.

Mike