Surprised/unpleasent discovery: the right side roof metal band is gone!

Surprised/unpleasant discovery: the right side roof metal band is gone!

Hello folks:

I was surprised that the right side roof metal band is gone! :-(

RightRoofRail


While the left side is intact:

LeftRoofRail

With our TDIs ageing anything is possible out there after thousands of miles and high speed interstate driving (like our last trip in December covering almost 4100 miles to the West coast and back!).

I need to fix this sooner than later. Suggestions, ladies and gentlemen?

not metal, it just pulls out like pealing a banana go to the junk yard and get another one

Thanks afarfalla for the quick reply.

So go to the junkyard and glue it on with ... ?

Mine is loose on one side, but still hanging on. I have a spare I am going to put in after winter.

They shrink up over time and will not stay in place.

I’m missing one of these as well, but am curious as to it’s purpose. Is it purely for looks or is it required for proper functioning?

Put a wood basket on top with a surf board, get some good uv resistant ship/cago rope the proper size to fill the channel and push it down in each side with a little bead of PL adhesive. The channel needs to be clean and rust free.

Give it that cali beach cruiser look. Finish if off with a hula girl on the dash

The trim on boats where the two halves top and bottom are joined together can have this rope set up. Lasts much longer than boats with rubber trim.


Or go to the local scrap yard and pull them. They would look fine both painted black imho if you cant match the paint.

Kravt said:

I’m missing one of these as well, but am curious as to it’s purpose. Is it purely for looks or is it required for proper functioning?

Click to expand...

it

it covers the roof and side weld seam, the seam is covered with a special caulk and the strip makes it all look pretty the strip is pushed into the channel