After market sunroof installion?

[underpants]

thoughts?

[flvegan]

1. 10 years ago, they tended to leak from day one.

That may have changed since then. I'd get many reports from friends, etc if possible.

[jmowreader]

2. You would be better off in both the short and long run...

by trading in your current ride for one with a factory sunroof.

[bluedigger]

3. Roof? What roof?

If I had a roof, I wouldn't do it to a vehicle I didn't plan on making a long-term commitment to. If it goes well, you won't get your money back on resale, and if it goes not-so-well, you'll take a bath.

I've seen a lot of guys take a sawzall to their Cherokees. That's a real bad idea on a unibody.

[Chan790]

4. My mom did it once about 20 years ago.

It worked out alright. The key is to get it done by someone who actually knows what they're doing, isn't going to mickey mouse the damned thing or try to do it on the cheap. If they're quoting you a price and it sounds like a good deal...the odds are they're not going to do it right or they have no idea what they're getting themselves into.

Doing it so it doesn't leak means having to cut exactly the right sized hole (meaning they should measure repeatedly and mark everything before cutting), making sure everything is flush, using a lot of appropriate water-sealants and barrier materials throughout, not using a cheap window and about 50 other factors. That cost $200 twenty years ago, I'd expect it'd cost closer to $500 today.

The nose job rules apply:

"Only consider professionals with a lot of experience performing this procedure. Ask to see examples of their past work. (Body-repair techs are vain. They take pictures of their work both to show off and as trophies. Also, like any artist they need a portfolio of their work.) Ask the ones you're considering to tell you about their worst fuck-up or failure in this regard and how they fixed it. Someone who says they've never fucked it up either isn't honest or hasn't performed enough of them to be considered."