keysl
Active Member
Over the moon that I've got a panoramic roof sitting on top of my '94 SL. Wow what a difference.
For anybody concerned about seals and fitment etc - don't be. Although my windows don't lower a cm or two when opening and closing the doors the windows actually jump past the seal and close perfectly. When Mike and I swapped the roofs over last night only the drivers door would do this, however having applied a little silicone spray to loosen up the rubber the passenger door now closes perfectly too.
To try and put this simply for anybody looking for a panorama top. There is an outer seal, a channel and an inner seal. Very similar to a regular car. The window goes up and sits in the channel with a seal on each side of the top of the window.
On the original tintop there is only a rubber seal that the window sits tight against when the door is closed, no channel and no inner seal - hence no need to lower or raise the window.
However with a little adjustment the old style window will close against the new rubber seal but the new seal bends inward then pops outwards again once the window is sat in the channel resulting in an outer and inner seal. As I say - my driver's door window did this right away, the passenger window needed a little spray to loosen the rubber a bit.
So absolutely no issues whatsoever with fitting etc.
From the pictures below you'd also thing that the paint was an exact match. It isn't (but it's very very close!)
Original pano top colour - green/black
My car - blue/black
The interior will be dyed to match my current interior.
You need to look pretty closely to tell the difference on the exterior though. However I will be having the pano roof repainted and a little corrosion taken care of.
Massive thanks to Mike here on the forums (MD5) and a shame I had to get back home so quickly. Luckily Mike has business to take care of "ooop North" which gave me a fantastic chance to meet him relatively locally and conclude the deal. I think we were both a little suprised however at how easily the top latched to my car.
Operation wise - it's as quiet as the tintop but an utterly different experience. Hard to explain really - imagine driving a convertible but having no wind shear. When you look around the cabin you barely notice the slight metalframe that surrounds all the glass. It's "almost" like having the roof off. Difficult to put into words.
Looks wise - well Mike summed it up the instant we put it on my car. "That looks a million dollars" - it certainly does. It's completely modernised the look of the car whilst retaining that pre '95 angular look and stance. The best of both worlds in my eyes - the swooping side windows and slightly different shape back window seem to have made an absolute world of difference. Must get out and about and take more pictures to add to this thread but for now there are three below (the first one showing the old tintop and the new pano top)
So all in all very happy. It will certainly make the winter months more enjoyable and give me something to look forward to when summer ends each year.
Any q's / comments at all just fire away
For anybody concerned about seals and fitment etc - don't be. Although my windows don't lower a cm or two when opening and closing the doors the windows actually jump past the seal and close perfectly. When Mike and I swapped the roofs over last night only the drivers door would do this, however having applied a little silicone spray to loosen up the rubber the passenger door now closes perfectly too.
To try and put this simply for anybody looking for a panorama top. There is an outer seal, a channel and an inner seal. Very similar to a regular car. The window goes up and sits in the channel with a seal on each side of the top of the window.
On the original tintop there is only a rubber seal that the window sits tight against when the door is closed, no channel and no inner seal - hence no need to lower or raise the window.
However with a little adjustment the old style window will close against the new rubber seal but the new seal bends inward then pops outwards again once the window is sat in the channel resulting in an outer and inner seal. As I say - my driver's door window did this right away, the passenger window needed a little spray to loosen the rubber a bit.
So absolutely no issues whatsoever with fitting etc.
From the pictures below you'd also thing that the paint was an exact match. It isn't (but it's very very close!)
Original pano top colour - green/black
My car - blue/black
The interior will be dyed to match my current interior.
You need to look pretty closely to tell the difference on the exterior though. However I will be having the pano roof repainted and a little corrosion taken care of.
Massive thanks to Mike here on the forums (MD5) and a shame I had to get back home so quickly. Luckily Mike has business to take care of "ooop North" which gave me a fantastic chance to meet him relatively locally and conclude the deal. I think we were both a little suprised however at how easily the top latched to my car.
Operation wise - it's as quiet as the tintop but an utterly different experience. Hard to explain really - imagine driving a convertible but having no wind shear. When you look around the cabin you barely notice the slight metalframe that surrounds all the glass. It's "almost" like having the roof off. Difficult to put into words.
Looks wise - well Mike summed it up the instant we put it on my car. "That looks a million dollars" - it certainly does. It's completely modernised the look of the car whilst retaining that pre '95 angular look and stance. The best of both worlds in my eyes - the swooping side windows and slightly different shape back window seem to have made an absolute world of difference. Must get out and about and take more pictures to add to this thread but for now there are three below (the first one showing the old tintop and the new pano top)
So all in all very happy. It will certainly make the winter months more enjoyable and give me something to look forward to when summer ends each year.
Any q's / comments at all just fire away
