GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hi all.
There are multiple rust spots with some evidence of perforation on my 2006 roof. Went to FixAuto (Collision Repair shop) and the technician suggested a roof replacement that might cost upwards of CAD $2500. Anyone else out there had the same situation? Just wondering whether this is a reasonable amount or not, and if it would be possible to repair and paint with any success and lower cost. Thanks in advance to any helpful suggestions.
Cheers.

That's Unreal! But I'd NEVER stick $2500 into an 06. I'd carefully grind out the corrosion - I doubt it goes clear through! I'd fill the resulting holes with paint-able rustproofing and repaint the spots - should cost less than $25. Might be a little crude and might not win any car shows, but seriously WHO looks at a cars roof anyway?
In the interest of full disclosure, I did get my last front brake pad set off a car at the junkyard! Just my 2 cents.

I'm with Chia. $2,500 is insane to put into body work on an 8 year old car. Even if you don't want to fix it on the cheap yourself a reasonable body shop should be able to grind out the rust spots, fill them and repaint the whole roof for 1/3 that price.

There should be some off the shelf rust removal chemical. Then touch it up with duplicolor. The roof takes a beating from the elements, dont be shocked LOL. Im experiencing some paint fade on the roof as well. I just clay & wax that area more often than before. Save your $$$. If I HAD to repaint my roof, I would gets some spray paint & start wet sanding...

Replace the roof?! Just sand down the rust to the metal and repaint. I had rust on the leading edge of the roof on my black 03 and I just sanded and painted the section between the moonroof and windsheild myself with truck bed liner....you can get it from Canadian tire

Thanks to all of you that replied. I agree that replacing the roof is extreme, it was the first "professional" opinion that I have sought... So far. I will check out some other body shops as my girlfriend does not want me learning how to repair rust on our only vehicle... She is probably right. I really appreciate all of your responses. Drive safe all.

The collision shop did not want to tackle this job only to have issues that they could be held liable for later. So they subtly advised you to do this job yourself, through quoting a high price, they figured you would not pay.

Grind off the rust put a rust stoper and a little white putty prime and repaint. I work at a autobody shop and replaceing the roof for $2500 is cheap. As to replace it you have to drop the headliner wich means seats out side panle's etc so would be more like $5+ as used roof and new roof price is $700 used $1800 new. Looking at about $500-700 at most shops just to repair and repaint the roof on avrage

gwarlow wrote: my girlfriend does not want me learning how to repair rust on our only vehicle... She is probably WRONG

W T F Your manhood just dropped significantly On a more serious note, if you don't want to tackle any of these rust issues yourself, there will be plenty of shops willing to do it for a few hundred bucks tops. The darker the color the less noticeable it will be and the easier the job will be also. Good luck

I finally found a shop that repaired the roof and colour-matched it for $600 (tax included). The guy said that it looked as if the sheet metal used in the roof had never been properly treated/sealed when the car was built. Thanks again to all who commented.

gwarlow wrote:I finally found a shop that repaired the roof and colour-matched it for $600 (tax included). The guy said that it looked as if the sheet metal used in the roof had never been properly treated/sealed when the car was built. Thanks again to all who commented.

Interesting. This same issue affected many of GM's products in the past with issues being peeling paint and in some cases rust where the paint fell off, especially the roof.

my dad used to work in the automotive finishing industry. whenever he'd see a car with peeling paint, he'd say that it was bad metal prep prior to painting. i guess that's why you'd see the same problem on similar models-at some factory somewhere, some guy wasn't doing good work.