Took a ride over to the sunroof shop today to size up my Fit sport for the install of a Webasto Hollandia 524 Panoramic sunroof.

We laid the cutout template on the roof of the car and figured out where it would go. Its front edge will probably line up with the the edges of the sun visors inside the car. The back edge will be over the rear passenger headrests, and the dome light will be moved back there.

With the panoramic roof installed there won't be much sheetmetal left! To the point where I was thinking that after it's put in, I might get some glossy black vinyl and black out the metal around the sunroof up to the black channel line from the back edge of the sunroof to the windshield to give it the look of the factory skyroof. Kinda just to fool the eye into thinking it's all one piece, making the fact that there's a rectangle on a tapering roof a bit less obvious. (Stormtrooper - please send me the photoshopped image you made - it does not appear on the other post anymore and I want to color in the area I'm talking about.)

I'd thought about replacing the front map lights with the dome light, but now I think I'll keep them and let the shop move the dome light back. If I need light up front, I can always turn on a dome light. The other thing I'd thought of was having the dome light's feed from a door being open tapped into the map lights, so they go on with a door being open. Could probably manage that with a diode. This way turning on a map light won't turn on the dome light.

As for wind noise, he said it will be obvious because air will be flowing over the raised lip and the frame and two sections of glass, but it ought to be bearable. The way I look at it, I didn't buy the car for the serene nature of it. I bought it for its rambunctious nature. The Civic I test drove was attempting to be serene. Boring. The Fit lets you know what it is doing. Not to mention that I'm going for this big giant roof because I want to open up and let air in. All year round. That's what I enjoy. I see so many people driving around with sunroofs and convertible tops they never open. Why'd they bother then?

The headliner will be cut for the opening, and recovered with foam backed fabric, which is nicer than what's in there right now. The Fit has low-end fabric over board with no foam. The way I'm looking at it, I'll get more sound deadening than what I've got now.

There's a 3yr/36000 mile warranty against anything including leaks. I was under the impression that it was 5/50K. I think what it comes down to is the quality of the install. When I looked in the shop there was a new Civic getting an inbuilt. They do work for local dealers, they're not a consumer drive in type shop. I'm pretty confident that between the quality of the roof and the quality of the work, I won't have to worry too much about leaks.
I will confirm the warranty coverage with Webasto.

I'm excited and nervous. But I know I'm going to enjoy the already enjoyable Fit even more once this is done.

 

What price did they give you? if you dont mind me asking

 

Blackening out the roof will look nice I think, kinda like the Scions.

Good idea with the Dome lights/Map lights. Please post a pic when you can of the placements.



I'm also thinking about the skyroof, instead of the sunroof. They also make the 700 in different sizes so I might just get the largest size possible. On the 524 the panes open on top of the roof? or are they like regular sunroofs, and slide under the roof. That might be a deciding factor for me.

Agreed with the sunroof, I kept my old ones open even in snow, even just a little.


Congrats and enjoy it!!!

 

Yeah, I think the blackout idea on the rest of the roof metal inside the black strips would be good. If not all the way back, then just to the back edge of the sunroof.

Now that I think about it, the map light kinda is the switch, so a door trigger wire to the map light would require some modification of the map light itself. So that might not work. I'll just let them move the dome light back. If I need light up front I'll use the map lights. And I've got those LED lights I put in over the cupholders that I can use to light the floor. Whatever.

The 524 is two panes of glass, the front one slides back over the back one. Nothing goes into the roof, and for the most part, the sunroof assembly is above the surface of the roof a little. There's a frame that goes in the opening they cut, and the frame is braced to the side rails of the car in the area where the Fit's grab handles are. The bracing is 3/16" steel plate. Bent and cut to fit. Since the seals are all above and over and around the cutout in the roof there's no need for tubes running down the A-pillar. I saw them fishing the tubing down the A-pillar of the Civic they were working on today. That was getting a built-in factory style roof.

 

Sweet! How much weight does it add?

 

Thats right TKZ1, you did do the LED mod for the cup holders.

I've never had a sunroof that goes over the roof, and I always found those types a little awkward, but the skyroof is almost the whole roof!!!! Now that I like... It seems like I need to think about this a little more, skyroof, or largest possible sunroof. I would think that the skyroof that you're getting will not decrease the interior height as much as the sunroof, so that is another factor.

Thanks for the info, and Congrats again. It's gonna look real nice!!!!!!!