2009 Honda Fit Base - Black Color - Located in Florida Keys.

Walked out to my car and saw that the roof shattered. What is the roof made out of that would cause it to crack like this. No impact damage as there is no dent. It had to have happened within two days as I had washed it and I am sure I would have seen this amount of damage. I took this picture about a week later which is the reason for the rust stains. I did however take the temp of the roof on a mildly hot and sunny day 90 degrees and it read 150 degrees F on the roof top.

Does anybody know what the roof material make up is. I put a magnet to it and it is metal, but I just don't see how metal would crack like that. Looking at the edges, there is no bondo or filler material. Anybody hear of this being an issue with these cars.

 

I'm gonna hazard a guess just to get the conversation started.
I'm certain that the roof is made of steel just like the rest of the body panels. This seems to be corroborated by the rust as seen in the pictures.

Now you state that you are in the FL Keys. Great place. Spent over $600/night on my honeymoon down there. With a temp reading of ~ 150, the steel wants to expand and expand it will and expand it did however...

I see that you have roof racks for a kayak with some attached directly to the roof. Now I don't see the details of how its attached but I'm guessing that it prevented the expansion to some degree. When the steel buckled, well... paint like this don't like to bend so it cracks. Plus the fact that the paint has been baking in that fine FL sun for years, it cracked.

I have no idea if I'm right but that's my guess based on what I see and read.

Discussion below.

 

Wow, never saw that before! I would go with the roof rack hypothesis (prevent roof from expending in the heat).

When I washed my 2005 Accord this spring, it was nowhere near that heat. But as soon as I shot water on the front window, it cracked in two places. That never happened to me either, even in a super hot summer day. Maybe the almost 18 years front windows had some "time damage" and it cracked that time.

 

Maybe try talking to honda before hitting the body shop.. maybe get your insurance people on the phone too. that looks like a material defect.

 

Well, I went back out to take a picture to show that it is not just paint that was cracking/peeling but a layer of what I though was the metal roof skin. I bent a corner up so I could get the metal underneath layer to show in the picture, but when I did that, a section broke off. It felt light so I magnet tested the piece and it is not metal. There is definitely a metal layer underneath ie the rust, but then either a plastic or bondo layer above which is what cracked. I burned it and it has a plastic smell to it, but it turns to powder. Plus, I actually am not sure what burning bondo smells like. I am leaning towards bondo as it is somewhat grainy when I try to slice off an edge. Is the outer layer for sure metal on these cars? I would actually be fine if it is bondo as that means I can patch repair it fairly easily. I was planning on doing the roof in truck bed liner paint anyway to protect from the saltwater that is dropped on it from my kayak plus the extreme heat that it absorbs.

 

That is a ton of body filler. Hail damage car for sure.


It had nothing to do with any roof rack install.

 

Might be worth it to bend down the roof liner from the rear to see underneath.

 

I imagine the color Black attracted the heat too but, i dont believe that is all.

 

I guess you bought the car used and didn't know what happened to it before?

 

I'm leaning towards the Bondo theory/hail damage. I really don't think it came from the factory that way but I could be wrong. Very interesting.

 

No Fit came with body filler covering the roof.

 

Bought used a couple of years ago so don't know history of the roof.

I did find this post in regards to the Fits thin metal roof. LINK
Hail or like what this person posted, his friend got chased by a dog so he jumped onto the roof and dented it. The repair was to fill with bondo and paint.

I think in the short term I am going to get a square patch of thin aluminum or hard plastic and cover the section of damage. Primarily to keep the water out and the rust to the minimum. Then when I have free time, chip off the unbonded bondo parts, scrub the rust off the metal, re-bondo, and then cover the roof in textured rubber paint or some bedliner paint.

My last kayak car was a 97 Honda Civic Hatchback, and the roof rust ended up being the downfall as the rain ended up constantly flooding the car and killed the dash wiring/ECU. Plus, it became a swamp with hoards of mosquitoes being born daily in the pools of water that accumulated in the floor pans and trunk. Couldn't drill enough holes in the floor to keep it dry.

 

I wouldn't cover it like that. Water will get in and will not get out as easily. This causes metal rot. I would plan to do something more permanent sooner. Chip it, sand it prime it and then do a full repair later but you gotta keep the water out. If you can't keep water out, then you have to let it breathe.

Just my thought and why.

 

Found a better solution. Gorilla Waterproof Patch and Seal Tape. Thick gooey tape. I got the 4" wide as the 8" was $25. It is about 1 mm thick with some ultra sticky adhesive. As you push down on the edges, the adhesive will squirt out. Plus it is rated to 200F degrees so that is just enough heat rating to cover my needs. Water, air, moisture barrier. Can be used underwater as a patch. Perfect as the flexibility to cover the warped cracking. I might do the whole roof in the stuff LOL.

I drilled holes at the end of the cracks to try to prevent further cracking and injected penetrating oil into all the orifices. Gave it a good wipe down with brake cleaner and alcohol. Over layed the edges so the water will roll over the other sections.

 

I'm skeptical but I've been wrong many times. I hope the best for you.

 

I'm also very skeptical of your repair. Maybe that tape will stick for a couple months, but when it eventually starts coming off I suspect you'll have a worse mess than you started with.

With rust you basically have four options, ordered by decreasing effectiveness:
1) Cut it out, replace with good metal, and seal the repair from chemicals (e.g., salt), moisture, and oxygen with properly applied primer/basecoat/clearcoat;
2) Remove as much rust as possible along with any previous filler or paint, use a quality rust conversion treatment to get the rest, and seal the repair from chemicals (e.g., salt), moisture, and oxygen with properly applied primer/basecoat/clearcoat;
3) Do nothing;
4) Cover up rust with a semi-permeable/leaky barrier, which over time will trap moisture and accelerate damage.

If you're not willing or able to do #1 or #2, you might as well just go with #3 where the damage can be clean and dry at least some of the time.

 

I'll add 5) for you. Read the post so you understand what is going on.

Bought used a couple of years ago so don't know history of the roof.

I did find this post in regards to the Fits thin metal roof. LINK
Hail or like what this person posted, his friend got chased by a dog so he jumped onto the roof and dented it. The repair was to fill with bondo and paint.

I think in the short term I am going to get a square patch of thin aluminum or hard plastic and cover the section of damage. Primarily to keep the water out and the rust to the minimum. Then when I have free time, chip off the unbonded bondo parts, scrub the rust off the metal, re-bondo, and then cover the roof in textured rubber paint or some bedliner paint.

My last kayak car was a 97 Honda Civic Hatchback, and the roof rust ended up being the downfall as the rain ended up constantly flooding the car and killed the dash wiring/ECU. Plus, it became a swamp with hoards of mosquitoes being born daily in the pools of water that accumulated in the floor pans and trunk. Couldn't drill enough holes in the floor to keep it dry.

 

Sorry if it wasn't clear, but I read your post multiple times and tried to offer advice (based on experience) about fixing the damage. If that's not what you were looking for I guess I don't understand why you posted.
In terms of finding a solution it doesn't really matter how the damage occurred, how thick or thin the metal is, or when/how you bought the car.
You seem pretty set on doing what you want to do, so I will just note that you've informed us that your previous car was also ruined because of rust so (respectfully) maybe your way is not ideal or, as I suggested, is actually counterproductive in terms of rust mitigation/prevention.
Good luck with whatever approach you take.

 

Then you should read it again. I never asked for advise on how to repair. I posted about anyone dealing with roof damage that I showed in the picture. That was it.

And yes I am 100 percent going to do what I want to do. Just so you understand 100%. No other input required.

 

Magic tape isn't going to fix that roof.


People these days.... smh