Roof Wrap / Pillar Bar Bubble Solution

MONZT3R · 05-22-2014, 09:44 AM

So, I decided to wrap my roof in reck wrap 4D carbon fiber, because it most closely matched my Sebion Carbon Fiber Hatch & Hood. This post is about an issue I was having with bubbling where the pillar bar and roof meet, for lack of a technical term I'm going to call it a "drainage canal" (I get why it is there, but I really don't like how it looks, sloppy Nissan )

If anyone has wrapped their roof, you will find that if your cars left out in the blaring sun some wraps have the horrible potential to start bubbling up and peeling off in any areas of extreme changes of direction, lame. Last week I was at a show and I noticed my roof wrap was beginning to bubble up in the drainage canal in-between the pillar bar trim and where the roof goes up. (see photos)

I solved this issue by buying a black rubber door expander spline from Fleet Farm and some DAP contact stick and placing this as a rubber stopper of sorts that holds the roof wrap in place around that extreme change of direction down into this canal of sorts...

Hope this helps someone fix a problem!

Italian_NISMO · 05-22-2014, 10:00 AM

That CF wrap looks great! What website did you purchase that from?

I tried goggling it but there were to many options to pick from, yours looks like a good quality glossy CF Wrap.

kenchan · 05-22-2014, 10:09 AM

yah the cf wrap does look good in those picts.

hope the 'fix' doesnt leak...

MONZT3R · 05-22-2014, 10:28 AM

Welcome to Teckwrap - Your Tecknology Leader in Car Wrapping

I bought it off ebay and aside from extreme corners its held up nicely for the few months its been on my car. I think you will have issues with most wraps and extreme corners any how.

As for the "leak" That piece of weather stripping on the pillar bar has very little to do with keeping water out of the car, if you ever take you pillar bars off, you will see that the seal is with the larger piece of foam that does around the whole door, and as I found out the hard way, unless you get it on exactly correct and push it up into its set position, you will leak. Besides, I've been through two huge rain storms and no leaking whatsoever

Heres a few pics of the roof as a whole, you can see this ugly drainage canal, that I was talking about better here.

rAiN · 05-22-2014, 10:39 AM

how did you take off those pillars?

MONZT3R · 05-22-2014, 11:02 AM

Its scary doing this for the first time, but I've done it close to 10 times, seems to be everything I do starts with taking these bad boys off

Open doors engine hood and hatch

Step 1: According to the Nissan Service Manual, disconnect your battery and place it at lest 10ft from the car.

Step 2: VERY carefully pry off the B pillar, there are three prongs, this just pops off but you need to put your pry bar at each of these prongs to pop it off.

Step 3: pull down the black moulding, it will be taped in, so you need to pull down very hard, take note of exactly how this is attached to the silver bar (when your pulling it down you will see this) once you have the silver bar fully exposed:

Step 4: Unscrew all the screws holding this silver bar in place including the one behind the B pillar bar.

Step 5: pull the pillar bar twords you to siengage all of the pop out fasteners, stet at the trunk and move forward

Step 6: you have to pop out the pillar bar trim from the piece of plastic by the windshield wipers and next to that there will be a blue fastener which is your last fastener holding the pillar bar in

Step 7: you pull the pillar bar out carefully in a twisting motion to disengage the fastener and out comes the pillar bar

You can drive around without the pillar bars on and most water doesn't leak into your car, I drove 40 miles in rain to the shop with these off and i didn't leak.

Putting this all back is easy, just make sure you engage every fastener and put the moulding back in place and engage it into the silver bar, without doing this correctly you will leak.

Disclaimer: The first 2 times I was doing this i didn't know what I was doing and my car leaked. I quickly figured out what I did wrong and since then all 6 times I've had the pillar bars off and on, I am not leaking at all. If you pay attention to the details and remain patient, you can take this entire car apart and back together (not engine) with no squeaks or leaks.

God-Speed · 05-22-2014, 01:57 PM

Nice Job!! Looks good!!!!

05-22-2014, 11:02 AM	#6 (permalink)
MONZT3R Base Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Minnesota Posts: 17 Drives: 10 Nissan 370Z WT M6 Rep Power: 12	Its scary doing this for the first time, but I've done it close to 10 times, seems to be everything I do starts with taking these bad boys off Open doors engine hood and hatch Step 1: According to the Nissan Service Manual, disconnect your battery and place it at lest 10ft from the car. Step 2: VERY carefully pry off the B pillar, there are three prongs, this just pops off but you need to put your pry bar at each of these prongs to pop it off. Step 3: pull down the black moulding, it will be taped in, so you need to pull down very hard, take note of exactly how this is attached to the silver bar (when your pulling it down you will see this) once you have the silver bar fully exposed: Step 4: Unscrew all the screws holding this silver bar in place including the one behind the B pillar bar. Step 5: pull the pillar bar twords you to siengage all of the pop out fasteners, stet at the trunk and move forward Step 6: you have to pop out the pillar bar trim from the piece of plastic by the windshield wipers and next to that there will be a blue fastener which is your last fastener holding the pillar bar in Step 7: you pull the pillar bar out carefully in a twisting motion to disengage the fastener and out comes the pillar bar You can drive around without the pillar bars on and most water doesn't leak into your car, I drove 40 miles in rain to the shop with these off and i didn't leak. Putting this all back is easy, just make sure you engage every fastener and put the moulding back in place and engage it into the silver bar, without doing this correctly you will leak. Disclaimer: The first 2 times I was doing this i didn't know what I was doing and my car leaked. I quickly figured out what I did wrong and since then all 6 times I've had the pillar bars off and on, I am not leaking at all. If you pay attention to the details and remain patient, you can take this entire car apart and back together (not engine) with no squeaks or leaks. rAiN and kenchan like this. __________________ 412 WHP \| 306 WTQ \| @7psi \| FAV Mods of many >>> Stillen Supercharger System \| Mishimoto Cooling System \| PPE Engineering Long Tube Headers \| KW V3 Suspension \| Stop-tech Big Break Kit \| Password JDM Carbon Fiber \| JL Audio Soundsystem

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05-22-2014, 10:00 AM	#2 (permalink)
Italian_NISMO Base Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 21 Drives: 2010 370Z Nismo #300 Rep Power: 12	That CF wrap looks great! What website did you purchase that from? I tried goggling it but there were to many options to pick from, yours looks like a good quality glossy CF Wrap.

05-22-2014, 10:09 AM	#3 (permalink)
kenchan A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: N/A Posts: 76,801 Drives: N/A Rep Power: 141521	yah the cf wrap does look good in those picts. hope the 'fix' doesnt leak...

05-22-2014, 10:39 AM	#5 (permalink)
rAiN Track Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: va Posts: 721 Drives: 2012 370z mt Rep Power: 17	how did you take off those pillars?

05-22-2014, 01:57 PM	#7 (permalink)
God-Speed A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Austin, Tx. Posts: 4,365 Drives: Prototype Rep Power: 2684377	Nice Job!! Looks good!!!!