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MG MGB Technical - Britax sunroof shoes

Does anyone know where I can obtain replacement shoes/sliders for a Britax Webasto-style sunroof? Failing that, any suggestions for suitable material for fabricating new ones?

Cheers.

~Mike
Mike BGT

Mike You could try www.webasto.co.uk/home/en/homepage.htlm this is website for webasto england. It has facilities for you to enter your location to find a dealer in your area who may be able to help. Jim.
j soutar

Good morning Mike,
I am on a hunt for the same bits and not having a lot of luck. If you find a source I would be grateful if you would let me know.
Getting a bit irritating having to open and close the roof from the outside as it twists in the runners and jams up.
Good luck
Regards
Graham
G J WITHNELL

Jim,
Thanks for the link, unfortunately there's not a dealer/fitter local to me but I'll give the HO a ring later. Did Webasto take over the manufacturing rights to the Britax roof does anybody know?

Graham,
I have tried making my own with a reasonable degree of success. My first attempt was using leather as per the original Webasto roof spec. More recently I made some up using the plastic from a slimline DVD case which appears to have a similar density to the original shoes, is exactly the right thickness and the sandwiched design provides a natural slot for the metal roof blade. These were profiled to fit over the metal roof blades using Araldite as a filler/securing agent. These were quite successful but the Araldite has quickly separated from the plastic of the DVD case. I shall re-try this idea taking extra care to fully key the mating surfaces of the plastic. I'll catalogue my attempts this time with a camera and hopefully be able to report back with more success.

Of course if I could source OEM spec parts then so-much-the-better.

Oh, anyone any suggestions as to what's the best lubricant/grease to use on the aluminum runners?

~Mike
Mike BGT

Mike. Bad news im afraid. I have spoken to my trimmer who informs me that no one is producing Britax sunroofs or parts anymore. only way is used on ebay or make your own. Best of luck Jim
j soutar

Thanks for the help guys, but as I suspected this has to be a DIY job.

Right, I had a go at DVD case shoes MkII last night, and this time it has been very successful.

Please excuse the series of posts, it's the best way I can catalogue how I made them.

I started off with a slim DVD case, these are the ones that are about 6mm thick when closed. I used an old Computer magazine cover disk, but these cases are readily available from many stores for a few pennys each.

Mike BGT

Another image of the case to give a clearer idea of the type of case I used...

Mike BGT

Remove the sleeve and tear off the clear plastic cover.

Mike BGT

The two shoes (these ere the longer front ones) were cut from the top and bottom of the case. These dimensions of these are 102mm x 12mm. The middle ones are shorter, sorry I don;t have the dimesions, but MkI seems to have sufficed here!

That plastic is easily cut using a Stanley or craft knife.

Mike BGT

The next step was to score the inside surface of the case with the knife to provide a good key for the Epoxy resin glue (something I omitted to do on the first attempt and which caused them to fail early).

The shoes are then secured to the metal blades of the sunroof cover using two-part Epoxy resin glue (Araldite or similar). Here you can see I used wooden clothes pegs to secure the shoes whilst the glue was drying. Masking tape was used to protect the fabric of the hood from any glue spills or drips.

Once the resin had had sufficient time to set (1-1.5 hours), I used sandpaper to file down any overspill of glue and also to remove a slight lip on the edge of the DVD case. The ends of the shoe where also given a slight chafer to facilitate fitting into the aluminum roof channel.

The roof was then carefully fitted back into the frame and the trusty jar of Petroleum jelly (Vaseline) from my toolbox was used to provide lubrication.

Success! I now have a roof than gave be slid open with one hand and doesn't catch on the rails. Time will tell how long these will last, by so far it looks like a good fix.


Mike BGT

Oops! The above should read "The ends of the shoe where also given a slight chamfer to facilitate fitting into the aluminum roof channel."
Mike BGT

Mike,

Thanks for the DIY tip.
The photos certainly give a view of how it all comes together.
Just need some dry weather to open the roof up and play

Regards
Graham
G J WITHNELL

This thread was discussed between 17/06/2007 and 21/06/2007

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