Filling holes in roof

[ColoRockiesFan]

Hi all,

I could use some advice My new-to-me van was delivered Monday. YAY!

I found 5 holes in the roof which were very poorly fixed by a glob of silicone. (Both the dealer and my 3rd party inspector claimed to have not seen these). UGH!

It looks like the van had a light bar or something attached. Anyway I've called several body shops and they all want to weld, sand, etc to the tune of thousands of $$$$.

Are there any other solutions?

Thanks in advance!

[rallypanam]

That's the proper way to do it.. or keep globbing on silicone.

[bemerritt]

You could always remove the silicone, and just put some bolts and sealing washers through the holes. Depends how big and obnoxious the holes are, but if they dont leak, I'd just leave it for now.

Or, mount a light bar hahah!

[86Scotty]

I'd fiberglass/bondo them. Tape from beneath (to hold the bondo) and then sand, fill, sand and topcoat from above. Or use a Raptor Liner product or similar. Could you post a pic? Much better advice if we can see. Use Tapatalk on your phone if you don't feel like learning to post pics here.

Whatever you do, no way I'd spend that much at a body shop for a few small holes. Life is too short.

And congrats!

[ColoRockiesFan]

Thanks for the insights. No way I'm paying for the body shop repairs ... that's part of my budget for the essential items. I may just have to accelerate the high top purchase. Eliminates any future potential leaks and gives me the necessary head room!

Any way, here's some pics. The top glob in the lower photo looks like a large fungus ... how could the dealer and the inspector not seen this! My 80 year old mother spotted it within 5 minutes of seeing the van.

[BrianW]

Is the dealer compensating you at all? That's a big miss.

[ColoRockiesFan]

Not a penny ... although the salesman said that he'd send me some 0.20 plugs, free, if I could tell him the size I needed ...

Even CarChex said they screwed up and refunded my money.

[86Scotty]

They saw it, or they didn't want to see it. Either way, I know it's your new toy, but it's not that huge of a problem. It can be fixed by any of the ways above, or just left if you can't get to it for awhile. Just watch for leaks. Howbout just putting a light bar back there?

[Bbasso]

Grind, weld, grind, paint would be my suggestion but you have a roof coming one day. In that case epoxy the holes. Less than $7 to fix.

[TomsBeast]

I've been using 'silicone on steroids', this stuff called "Shoe Goo" for years now. 4 times stronger than silicone, still flexible for a no crack watertight seal. Some hardware stores and autoparts stores carry it.