XSeries-forum

Anyone know if there is anything I can do to restore this roof?
Cheers

Has it spent life parked under a tree?

Easiest option would be a bodyshop visit and ask them to machine polish the roof/glass, may as well do the entire car, results will be surprising and remove paint swirls at the same time.

Normally £250 cash when I've had the wifes Subaru done.

If you fancy some hard work something like 'Duraglit', a wadding polish for metal but thats a big space for hand work.

Not sure as I've only just bought it, the material doesn't resemble metal though it's something like a hard plastic/glass material.

Surely the roof structure is metal with a glass panoramic sunroof

Has the roof by any chance been vinyl wrapped? Not personally seen X models with the roof a different colour to rest of the car from factory? Could be wrong though!

This needs a response from an X3 owner.

OP, what year is your car? The more i look there's what looks like a central 'patch' running through the middle if the roof. Oxidisation or whatever that staining is looks pretty heavy duty and well established.

Professional help by way of an initial bodyshop assessment would be my first port of call.

Why did you buy the car with this issue?

It's a 2010 x5m, I bought it because it's the colour I want and thought this would be an easy-ish fix. I've included more pics as the roof is black but the car is metallic grey.

As an X6 owner i'm not conversant with X5 nuances but i don't think I've ever seen a black roofed X5. Maybe as has been suggested the roof has been wrapped. Is the glass as stained as the 'painted' area?
I can only think a body shop visit will be paramount in resolving this oddity.

Not sure if it's been wrapped but I'll get a body shop to check it out.

OP, does the black on the tailgate spoiler have the same problem as the roof panel? Looking at your images, I would say that if the roof has been wrapped whoever did the job is very good. I'm calling bad paint job by, or on behalf of, someone who thinks black roofs are "cool, innit!"

If thats rust on the edge moulding trim you need a bodyshop anyway, imo.

If the shark fin is grey and matching the main bodywork which it appears, i think the roof may be wrapped. If it is that may be a bonus. Remove it to reveal hopefully unmarked Space Grey (?) underneath

sapphireblack wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 8:20 amIf the shark fin is grey and matching the main bodywork which it appears, i think the roof may be wrapped. If it is that may be a bonus. Remove it to reveal hopefully unmarked Space Grey (?) underneath

Could be my screen or my eyes, or both, but it looks black to me.

Could indeed be, maybe X5Ms have a black roof, i dont know. What i do know is the car seems to have been unloved. That staining and what looks like rust suggests an uncaring owner to me. Dont think i would have bought it

The new pictures seem to look more like it’s painted than wrapped, and as sapphireblack has said, looks like bits of rust and some chipping near windscreen in last pic. The pano glass also looks to be stained, and and the staining seems to be more populated to the centre on the entire roof and onto the rear spoiler! Looks like something has been on it, or it’s been parked under something!

Intrigue is getting the better of me now

Perhaps a black roof is/was a factory option. Looking again it seems the major roof contamination isn't confined to the black area. There's evidence of the same issue on grey paint as well