How-to remove an opensky roof

This isn't a guide listing every tool needed and nut and bolt but it will give an overall help to anyone planning to replace their opensky sunroof. I've assumed that by attempting to do this yourself you have at least a basic DIY mechanic skill level.

First up is just the basics of disconnecting the battery and discharging the system (attempting to open a window is a good source).

Next remove all of the interior trim that will prevent the roof lining from being removed. This includes the sunvisors, interior light units, grab handles and all A and C and D pillar covers.
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Then remove the B Pillar covers. To do this you will need to remove the top mounts of both front seatbelts with a 17mm socket.
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Now that you've removed all the items above its time to remove the headlining. The headlining is held in place by a series of clips around the sunblind of the opensky and also the edges of the headlining. It's also held in place by 2 hex head screws and 2 8mm bolts. The photos below show the locations.
Photo 1 shows the two in the recess where the front interior light used to be
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and photo 2 shows the mounting points at the rear which are underneath the D pillar covers.

Next you will need to manually open the roof. In the centre of the electric motor for the roof is a small hole for an allen key. Insert an allen key head onto a ratchet and turn anticlockwise to open the roof. This will then reveal a hex head screw in the runner of the roof. The photo here shows the location but with the screw removed.
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Now that the headlining is removed and the two screws in the runner are done its time to remove all of the 10mm bolts that actually hold the frame in place.
The first photo shows the location of the mounting points at the rear.
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and photo 2 shows the mounting points at the front.
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These bolts are also accompanied by 3 further 10mm nuts along the front of the roof and 2 at the rear but their location is more than obvious when removing.
 
You are now almost ready to remove the roof but first you need to make sure that you close the roof again using the same procedure as used when opening it.

To remove the roof you will need to press upwards from the inside of the car with a fair amount of pressure. My favoured technique is to drop the back seats down and lie with my back against the back of the flat seat. I can then place a foot at each side of the roof and press up with my feet slowly in a sort of leg press.

It's important to try to push equally with both legs so that the roof has equal pressure across the frame.

Repeat the process at the front of the roof.
 
Your next job is to actually lift the roof from the car and this is definitely a 2 person job partly due to the weight but also the actual size of the roof.

I'll upload a photo of the roof of the car on sunday once this roof has been collected by Joe to give a further indication of the mounting points.
 
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I've never refiited an opensky roof, simply because I don't have one on my own car but the rubber seals around the roof will need to be replaced before refitting.

I'm hoping that a member who has bought the sealing kit will be able to add to this thread the part numbers required for a mpre comprehensive guide.

Total removal time is less than an hour but then I've done around 5 if these roofs so I'd allow for 2 hours if its your first time.

Anyway hope this has helped and I'm happy to offer further advice via this thread if needed.
 
That's great info Steve!

I'll try and do a reverse / refitting guide after I've collected the roof from you.

Joey

The bit that looks the most daunting is removal of pillar trims. Removal of the rest seems to be super sized Mechano
 
That's an excellent guide Steve. Many thanks. I'd better get down the gym and do some work on the leg press! Can you post a photo or two of the bits that usually break/stop working (and so lead to the need to replace the roof)?
 
there are two things that go wrong:
- the cog on the main motor starts slipping
- the wires aren't taut.

There's no real reason to replace a roof completely, there are parts available if you go looking for the above issues and some others to avoid issues happening in the first place.

- Bret
 
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Joey and I lifted the roof out today but unfortunately due to the limited size of my garage this is the best photo I could get of the empty void.

Good to see you again Joey, let me know how refit goes.
 
there are two things that go wrong:
- the cog on the main motor starts slipping
- the wires aren't taut.

There's no real reason to replace a roof completely, there are parts available if you go looking for the above issues and some others to avoid issues happening in the first place.

Bret - what are the solutions to those problems?
 
This roof assembly is very heavy and I am weak of wrist. Im glad A2Steve is such a strapping young lad because he took the brunt of the weight.

The current OSS on my A2 has a broken rear hook clip [causing only one side of the rear panel to move on closure] and slipping motor teeth [manual or power wind], so in this instance I felt a total replacement is the most cost effective solution when compared to the cost of parts, or an OSS service.

If your motor is not functional. you can unscrew the rear mounting point of both glass panels from inside the car and manually slide the glass sections along the runners to open the roof. I have done this occasionally on a hot day dry days to open the roof, but its a faff.
[will attach pictures when i take some]



Also everytime I go outside for this.. job that involves windows down, roof off and all rubber seals removed with battery disconnected it rains.. so Ive not got very far



Thus far I have found it unnecessary to remove A pillar trim, B pillar trim OR C-pillar trim as the headlining isnt fixed behind these, just tucks over the top and can be manipulated out, with relative ease.

All four grab handles, 2x T20 in each
Both sun visors, 1x #2 screw in each
Sun visor clips, 2x #2 screws (screws hidden under the top cover, these break very easily so take care and use an L-shaped puller tool)
Rear interior roof light,
Front interior roof light, reveals 2x #2 screws for headlining

The D-pillar trim however is essential.. this means removing:
The trim from inside the car covering the boot latch/slam area 3x T20 hidden under plastic caps
The false floor bracket covers, these just pull away
The four cargo anchors, 4x T40
partial removal of boot seal,
partial removal of both sides of the boot side carpet trim over the wheel arches:

Partial removal of wheel arch/boot side trim
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remove boot seal (1.)
remove false floor bracket covers and maneuver carpet over wire cargo anchors (2.)
remove inspection cover, grip along edge marked in red and pull towards you (3)
This will loosen the wheel arch trim enough to expose the locating slots of the d-pillar trim, marked in red

Partial removal of D-pillar trim:
The boot seal needs to be removed further up now along the edge of the D-pillar trim,
The trim needs to be lifted over the pictured metal hook marked in red.
(please note this image was taken at a later stage, you can see the next fixing we will deal with in the background)
82zhdRSczp0.jpg
Now with the lowest outer and middle outer point of the D-pillar trim free, The next fixing point is where the trim meets the head lining.
To unhook the D-pillar trim from the headliner it has to be pushed towards the D-pillar / pulled away from the headliner. (arrows indicate the direction you must push the
whole piece of trim to unhook that final latching tab from the headliner.
we are not trying to remove the trim entirely, just enough to gain access to the M8 hex head that secures the headliner to inside of the car.
remove this and the headliner is now only secured by a large push fit tab in the center of the roof.
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Pull the headliner downwards to un-pop it from the push fit tab, slide the headliner out through boot aperture taking care not to fold any parts of it.
 
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With headliner now removed.

We can access all of the retaining bolts for the OSS Frame from the interior. There are two T25 under neath the glass roof panels that need to be accessed externally.
For this the roof has to be open, If like me you are replacing the roof because you have issues opening and closing the roof, here is a manual motorless work around

Fig 1. [Sorry no picture of this yet]
You will need to remove the motor (3X T25)

Fig 2. Cun_R02U3UM.jpg
The rest of the access here is difficult to see so recommend a torch ideally head mounted.. you need to look in the gap inside the car between the roof opening edge and the runners.
You need to slacken the two front retaining screws (1.) in photo and remove the two rear retaining screws (2.) that hold the glass panels onto the brackets in the runners.
This will allow you to tilt the rear of the glass roof panel up pivoting around poiint (1.) and pull the roof partways open using the raised edge.
You will then need to re attach the glass panels to the runners at (2.) (I used 60degree long nose pliers to hold the screw in its location while re-tightening) you can then slide/wiggle/manipulate the roof panels the rest of the way open.


Fig 3. kXk77hrCgaM.jpg
Here are the two additional T25 head screws in the runner of the front section of the roof. These are only accessible with the roof open. I also suggest giving them a good soak with some penetrative fluid

Fig 4. We now need to close the roof manually without the motor, I found there are two metal tabs that can be tapped gently with a wooden chopstick and a rubber mallet:
These tabs are shown below.

Front UGH4iX4fOS4.jpg Rear Sms2z7WwWsc.jpg
place chopstick end against flat metal tab, tap the other end with a rubber mallet to push the roof back along its runner.

NOW finally with the roof re-closed, we need to remove all the bolts holding the OSS frame and panels to the roof structure of the car.

Fig 5.
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Front all 10mm Hex eight in total
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Rear all 10mm Hex there are eight in total

With these removed only the sealant / adhesive on front a rear corners and the weight of the OSS assembly itself are holding it in place.

make sure the rear boot hatch is CLOSED, BEFORE lifting/pushing the rear of the roof, these will come into contact and probably damage your bootlid glass.

I found the chopstick and rubber mallet useful here for tapping into the rear corners of the roof channel, then used A2Steve rear seat down, leg press technique pushing ONLY on the OSS frame not the glass panels themselves
eventually wiggled mine out.

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when you had the roof open to remove the top 2 bolts you should of also removed both pains of glass as you can access the 2 bolts that hold each peice to there runners , that way your taking all the load off the alloy channels and cant twist or bend them as such with the full weight of all the glass , although they are very strong its said these alloy channels can be damaged or bent easily
 
when you had the roof open to remove the top 2 bolts you should of also removed both pains of glass as you can access the 2 bolts that hold each piece to there runners , that way your taking all the load off the alloy channels and cant twist or bend them as such with the full weight of all the glass , although they are very strong its said these alloy channels can be damaged or bent easily

I felt it better to leave the glass panels in position for the exact reasons you describe. Logic being that applying sealant separating force upwards to the underside of the alloy rails (in opposite direction to their usual load bearing) without the weight and rigidity of the glass on top would be MORE likely to warp them.
 
Just wondering is it actually necessary to remove the roof to replace the cable and any of the snapped plastic bits? if the 2 moving glass panels were removed would that not allow enough access? just a thought
 
With the OSS Removed the next stage was to remove all the adhesive residue from both the A2 roof channels and the underside of the OSS assembly.
Unfortunately the pictures I had taken of this process were lost in an unfortunate SD card corruption.

The process involved lots of lighter fluid to soften the adhesive and a combination of plastic scraping tools for the metallic surfaces and a stanley blade scraper tool for the plastic surfaces of the OSS. This was quite time consuming but left a nice clear surface to attach the new seals etc.


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The replacement seal kit consists of 6 x peices of single sided, adhesive backed, foam and a roll of double sided adhesive tape.
8Z0 877 213 A
8Z0 877 213
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1x each of the long strips of foam are attached to the front and the rear of the OSS assembly. (2x Total)
1x Short foam strip and 1x Medium foam strip go onto the left and right sides of the OSS Assembly. (4x Total)
Ill elaborate further on this below.

Front:
We will start with the Front of the OSS Assembly paying particular attention to the corners:
Here we apply 1X of the long foam sections.
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Above is the original adhesive foam front corner from the OSS removed from my car
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I slightly reconfigured the layout, cutting a small section of the medium side foam peices, interlocking the two, this gives a much flatter mating surface on fitment of the OSS assembly to the A2 roof channels.

Rear:
Here we apply 1X Long foam section.
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Above is the original adhiesive rear foam corner of the OSS removed from my car. Note the blob of black goo where a previous owner has attempted to repair the leaky OSS previously fitted to my car.
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1x long rear foam section is applied first, note the curvature created as this peice is stuck down. Also note that the width of the replacement foam strip is greater than the originals fitted. This can only be a good thing.
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This peice is then over lapped with the 1x small side foam. I did cut the excess overlapping foam off after this photo.

Left and Right:
1x Medium and 1x Small applied to both the left and the right sides of the roof (4X peices total)
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These have a triangular section that interlocks shown above.
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The key part with these side sections is to make sure the laser cut section is lined up with the hole in the roof (this is for the small hex head to pass through the OSS into the roof channels)
 
To aid with the application of the side sections and to be sure the laser cut section lined up with the hole through the OSS,
I'd advise applying the 2x Medium foam sections starting from the cut-out and working your way out from there.
3zyoN3b-a9k.jpg
To do this I split the backing paper in two at the cut-out section and folded the paper backing outwards into two tabs
(the photo actually shows the folded tabs pointing in the wrong direction.. fold them to the opposite side of the cut out.. this will make them easier to remove)

With all the adhesive backed foam applied to the OSS assembly it is then time to move onto preparing the roof channels.

JgofBIEqxhU.jpg
The OSS assembly itself has 2x drain holes on the left and 2x drain holes on the right. there are 4x total. (one pictured above)

Unsure what the 'metafol band' actually is.. from the german OSS guide..
Ive used some Bostik flashband, which is an aluminium foil bitumen adhesive backed tape (intended for use a in roof flashing repairs)
Flashband will provide a watertight seal and is also a very good anti resonance material.
VOS65WOd7S0.jpg
The goal here is to create a drain channel (in red) that water (blue arrow) from the (pictured above) roof drain holes can travel down.
I have applied flashband in the same manner on all four corners of the roof.
On top of this flashband I have applied a strip of the double sided adhesive tape (not present in photograph)
this is the only place I used the double sided tape as this was the only place the double sided tape was present on removal.

(Top tip for NON OSS A2 Owners, seeking a reduction in rain noise in your A2.
Remove your headlining as per the earier stages of this guide. Apply strips of flashband to the underside of your A2s roof, This will dull and reduce the horrendous noise experinced in the cabin when heavy rain/hail stones hit your aluminium roof)


Before refitting the OSS assembly all seals had a visible layer of lubricant applied to them ( I need to find the part number for this)

After this the roof was lifted back onto the car (with the help of an assistant)
Once in position the switch gear and motor for the OSS were reatached and the roof opened.
View attachment 30334
Revealing the hole for the T25 head screw, refit and tighten

Reattach all the X 16 10mm Hex bolts
View attachment 30335
Front all 10mm Hex eight in total
View attachment 30336
Rear all 10mm Hex there are eight in total

Congratulations your OSS assembly has now been refitted.

pQjozQFeTD4.jpg
 
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Thanks for this DIY, I will use it when I repair my OSS later this fall.

I plan to build a lift, similar the Ski Box lift below, in the garage to handle the weight of the OSS. Just lift the OSS up, remove the car and then sink it down on a table.

boxlift.jpg
 
Update to removing the headliner guys.
Ive just done this and followed the destructions, the only thing that is missing regarding screws holding the headliner in is the little secret sun visor
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also has a screw holding it in place and the headlining.........otherwise quite an easy job
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