Rain rail leak in corners

by **back_in_black** » Tue, 26 Mar 2013 9:42 +0000

Fitted new vinyl top over the weekend. The rain rail needed plenty of attention because the last roof used nuts and bolts in the old pop rivet holes and made them bigger. Anyway loads of 007 and tape later it all looked good. Fitted the roof and torqued the nuts of the rain rail in proper order.
When doing the water test it leaks in the same place on both sides. Its on the left and right of the rear window. If I take it essy on the water it works fine. If it pools it looks like the water comes down the back of the rail.
Any ideas??
I've had the rail out again and redone the fitting twice same issue. Close to just putting the hard top back on!
HELP!!!

by **sifpilsen** » Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:55 +0000

Sounds like the lip of the rain rail is not under the lip of the edge of the chassis. The top of the chassis should have a rubber lip under to make sure all water goes into the rain rail. Check that first.

I did not have this issue when fitting my soft top due to prefitted rain rail, in a soft thick vinyl-like material, easy to pull under the edge to make it tight.

by **back_in_black** » Wed, 27 Mar 2013 9:46 +0000

Hi sifpilsen

Checked this a few times. It's tucked in all the way round. The rail has a good bit of damage around these two bolt holes. Tried fixing its twice now so I think the next step is a full patch of plastic all the way round the rail at these 2 points.

Any chance the rail "overflows" if too much water is sent in at once?

Will we see you in LImerick Sunday week?

by **leamyj** » Wed, 27 Mar 2013 8:29 +0000

Have the drain holes been cleaned out lately?

by **back_in_black** » Wed, 27 Mar 2013 9:36 +0000

Drains clear and working. If I pour water down the center of the window it clears at first but then pools on either side of the window and starts to leak in behind the rail at the bolt to the left and right of the window. Too cold to take it out tonight to you have another look so it'll be tomorrow or Friday.

by **charged_rs** » Wed, 27 Mar 2013 11:26 +0000

back_in_black wrote:Drains clear and working. If I pour water down the center of the window it clears at first but then pools on either side of the window and starts to leak in behind the rail at the bolt to the left and right of the window. Too cold to take it out tonight to you have another look so it'll be tomorrow or Friday.

if you look at the rain rail it is made of 2 materials
rubber and a hard brittle plastic - where the 2 meet can become unstuck and cause leaks.

also , what tape have you used to repair the rail ? you said you also used plenty of 007 ? what is that ?
can you post pics of what you have done so we can advise properly

there is a knack to repairing rainrails properly so they will be leak free and will last.

by **back_in_black** » Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:29 +0000

Hi charged_rs

I used duck tape and 007 is the evo-stick version of tec-7. It's an adhesive/sealant like silicone. I have read since that aluminium tape is meant to be better but lots of people seem to get on fine with duck tape.

The rail has one split. I put the tape down one side put a bead of sealant along the crack and taped over it. Don't seem to have any proplem with this one.

2.jpg

4.jpg

5.jpg

Did the same thing for all the old pop rivet holes. Put a bit of sealant in the hole and taped from the inside around the top and over the hole.
The second time this was done I covered all the bolt holes as well because some looked a bit bigger than they should be. At bolts 10 and 13 the hard plastic has more damage than the pic below it's like it was all crushed up and the soft rubber has slighty come away from it. For these ones I put the sealant in the whole bolt indent area and taped from the inside all the way round to othe side of the rail.

Rain Rail Sequence.jpg

The next plan is to glue/fix a pice of plastic to go all the way round? Something like a damp barrier medium grade plastic.

3.jpg

When the water comes in it's right on the line where the back metal sheet ends and the start of the curve begins if that makes any sense!
Any further advise would be great before I go at it again.

Cheers

by **charged_rs** » Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:02 +0000

are you sure you covered all the cracks ? have another good look especially around the bolt / rivet holes as some can be very fine

get yourself some rtv silicon - stuff for gaskets - i use black stuff
also get some proper duct tape , not cheap stuff and forget aluminium tape , it rips too easily as it will not do at all. its approx £6 a roll depending where you buy it.

same with the rivet holes

ducttape inside and outside the holes / cracks

once ducttape has covered all the holes , then smear some rtv over the edges of the ducttape to stop water getting under the tape

also - in the 2nd pic you have posted you can see the edge where the rubber meets the brittle plastic - at this join smear rtv using your thumb.- along the whole edge - end to end

let the rtv dry for about an hour

refit

jobdone

it might not look pretty but it will be waterproof and it works

by **back_in_black** » Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:22 +0000

Thanks for the info charged. Hope to get out tomorrow and sort it.

by **back_in_black** » Wed, 03 Apr 2013 4:42 +0000

Rain rail seems to be working after using a combination of tape, tape & sealant and plastic patches on the bad areas. Ran sealant the lenght of the join between hard and soft plastic. Survived the water bottle test anyways.

by **charged_rs** » Wed, 03 Apr 2013 4:53 +0000

good stuff

by **[L'e$kro]** » Thu, 25 Apr 2013 3:21 +0000

I'm hijacking the thread as I have leaks in the 2 same places, from the studs located at the corner of the windows.
The rail also cracked the same way as yours, in the middle. I fixed it with duck tape for resistance, and used aluminium tape everywhere else as it was more sticky and waterproof.

I'm on my way to get some silicone sealant during my break, I'll report back

Cheers!

Nico