my sunroof rattle saga

[taxzz]

the 07 has continued to give me grief from the sunroof and while it's been the wife's truck, i've been driving it a lot more after selling my wheeler so I've really been wanting to fix it lately.

things that i've tried over the last few years

• Greasing everything
• nylon washer around the metal bars
• adjusting the front and rear position
• extensive cleansing of the seal surfaces

none of this really worked, then I figured I would attempt to re-hydrate the seal as it's pretty old at this point.

picked up this and treated the seal a few times a day for a week. it helped, but after taking a week off of treating the seal the rattle had returned.

I had seen comments in threads here and elsewhere about taping the front and/or rear of the seal surface to create a tighter seal. I never really wanted to do this, but since I was basically out of other things to try I figured why not.

That's when I found this YT video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1xqOHoqaRM

here the person uses a polymer tape that I hadn't seen or heard of before. while not cheap I liked the idea of this over any other type of tape i had seen used before.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CGC7221

I placed three layers on the front seal surface and it seems to have done the trick.

I will keep an eye on it and may end up adding tape to the sides, and even doing some cutting to get the tape to fit the rear if it returns.

 

[taxzz]

drove the 4r to the vet the other day and the rattle is back, like it never left. pretty annoying and at this point im considering more permanent solutions.

id love to hear ANY tips anyone has.

 

[SurferUK]

I am experimenting with a wedge that goes between the sunroof and the metal on the underside (Not the headliner)

I tried a piece of foam but it must compress over time and stops working.

I am also going try placing the wedge and THEN closing the sunroof onto it, if needed.

 

[shiftmx]

Looking at your avatar, do you have a full length aftermarket roof rack on it?

I installed one on my 4runner that caused the sunroof to rattle. Once I took it off, the rattle went away.

 

[Runnin on E]

I did a quick search here on the forum and found 10 threads on removing/servicing/adjusting the sunroof. There are probably more if you use moonroof. Also on this forum are links to the factory service manuals.