Roof bar mounting stud

smartmonkey · Post by **smartmonkey** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:53 am

Sikaflex-221 is the correct product. Araldite and silicone are not reliable (silicone for goodness sake). It is a gap filling flexible adhesive that is used in the assembly line to glue wings and captives on. You can get it from the paint suppliers - most accessory shops won't stock it.

vanvliet · Post by **vanvliet** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:25 pm

Fair comment about silicon.Why do you comment that Araldite would not be reliable for this application ? Have to say that I have never had a problem with it ,if everything is prepared properly . Seems a lot of money to buy a tube of Sikaflex( about a tenner from boating chandlers -you need a gun to apply it -same as tubes of silicon) for four captive nuts.
The the black stuff on the captive nut couldnt have been too great either as it came out!
BTW - I think that these nuts were actually fitted in the roof to attach a roof lifting cradle, not a roofrack

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:32 pm

Hmmm - Sikaflex-221 sounds like interesting stuff. I wonder if it might be useful in the repair of cracked ABS bumpers (maybe for sticking a backing plate across the split prior to filling etc.

Sounds like I'm about to discover another interesting product. I'll put the old Araldite back in the drawer

Lewy · Post by **Lewy** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:49 pm

Vanvliet - haven't seen one of those - they look pretty cool - where on earth did you find that site?

Matt - go long man - its the only way on summer waves - and even when it gets big you can sit outside the line up - wind up the shortboarders and pick 'em off early - did this at Fistral last week in good solid swell great fun - good shortboarders will be able to go for and nail the waves outside there with you but there are always crowds sitting inside you that wont.

The shortest I go is 7' 2 - I'd love to think I'd be able to go sub 7ft thruster but just don't think I've got the paddle /skill in me - 41 this year

I do have got a nice McTavish 7 7 Carver thats billed in Aus as the old gits performance board - I've put it away for the last couple of years having too much fun on other easier boards - but now I reckon I'd get much more out of it - It flies in solid clean waves and paddles pretty easy too - closest thing Ill ever get to a thruster I reckon.

Oh I got the stainless steel racks from AVA Leisure when I got the van couple of years ago - they stay on the van but I rarely use them these days and use the straps across the grab handles. Think they still do them.

smartmonkey · Post by **smartmonkey** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 10:48 am

I am not too keen on araldite in some circumstances. It only bonds well to certain plastics and I can never remember which ones it doesn't like. It forms and excellent mechanical bond where the hardness comes into play but this counts against it for vibration failure. A roof bar tugging on a captive nut in a flexible panel makes me think vibration failure is likely. The manufacturer would tend to use a semi-flexible glue like sikaflex in this application and that certainly seems to be the case. They don't seem to have done a good job of aplying it here but you can be a bit more generous yourself.

If you do use sikaflex be careful when you apply it. I think one tube could easily cover your self, car, drive and most of your house. Mask off the areas you dont want black and wear gloves. Clean and abrade the captive insert and the hole and use a bolt to insert the captive. Remove the bolt before it has set. Use panel wipe or acetone to remove the contaminants in the glue area. You can trim of any excess with a stanley blade after it has set.

andyfb78 · Post by **andyfb78** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 11:10 am

If you really want to ensure it will never come free, use Permabond...
if prepared properly it is stoopidly strong, I built a racing car tub bonded together with the stuff, no issues.
But it is very expensive (£600 for a large paint pot size) and takes three days to set fully before it can be loaded.....
I would, and have had my life depend on it...

pippin · Post by **pippin** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:44 pm

Not sikafelx

just in case anyone does a search it is

SIKAFLEX

I realise it is just a typographical error.

bongolow · Post by **bongolow** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 4:41 pm

I bought some Sikaflex on ebay but before I used it I checked the other studs and realised, after I'd cleaned the crud out, that there were bolts in the others coming up from below. I had a look round and found a square headed bolt lurking behind the AFT runner.

So the studs are actually held in by these - I must have unscrewed it when I removed the roof bar. It is possible to manipulate it back into position without removing any of the roof lifting mechanism, so I used a dollop of Evostick on the stud to seal it and a drop of Locktite on the thread.

The other rear stud was loose so I did the same on this. The front two seemed tight so I left them alone.

Some pics...

vanvliet · Post by **vanvliet** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 5:40 pm

Yep As it is part of a lifting mechanism it makes more sense

dandywarhol · Post by **dandywarhol** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:27 pm

Excellent Vincent - I found a loose one tonight as I was fitting new roof bar spacers - I'll have a look at it over the weekend.

Roof bar mounting stud

Roof bar mounting stud - update