I don't use my sunroof at all! To me it's a useless piece of dead weight.

Thinking about removing All hradwares associated with the Sunroof except
leave the piece of glass in place.

How much weight would this save? If I could remove >20lbs, I think
I'll do it. it'll rediudce center of gravity. It's soo hard to loose weight on the G.

Has anyone done this?.

 

The motor is very small. I say it doesn't weigh more than 2 1/2 to 3 lbs. I would say the glass is the heaviest component of the sunroof assembly plus the rails need to remain to hold the glass in place and prevent water entry. Your best bet is to remove everything including the glass, go to a reputable body shop and have them weld a thin gauge steel panel in place of the glass, body fill the seam and repaint the roof. You can replace the headliner with a solid piece of headliner material. In my opinion, it's too much trouble to go through all that for what benefit you get out of it. You would be better off removing the seats, spare tire and jack if you want to reduce the weight.

 

Your first mistake was buying an X if you really wanted a light car. I think it's rather silly to concern yourself with extracting weight from a sport luxury car like a G35. Like Mr. Gee said, it will be very expensive replace and do correctly. You will need to have a plate welded in, finished, the entire roof reshot, and have a new headliner. I'd say that's about $3K worth of work to shed about 30lbs, of which you won't notice a lick of difference in handling or performance.

If you want to dump some weight, then consider ultra lightweight wheels 17" and tires (-40bs+), a lightweight battery (-25lbs), remove the spare (-30lbs), remove the floor mats (-10lbs), replace the front seats with racing seats (-50lbs). This too will be a super expensive proposition, but the reality is that even with 150lbs+ less weight and over $4,000 spent, your car really won't be that much faster. Maybe .15 second and 1mph in 1/4 mile.

 

Please tell me your joking about weight saving measures by removing the sun roof. If not...then no comment.

 

+1... This is ridiculous.

 

Also think about how this will affect your car's value when it's time to sell the car...

 

It seems like a LOT of trouble and expense for no measurable performance improvement. As noted above, also, I imagine it would really hurt its resale value.

 

have you guys even bothered to read ma sha's previous posts?

he needs AWD (lives in maine) - he just had his HKS S/C installed on his vehicle. He is extremely conscious about every detail which makes his vehicle all that much better. He has reduced everything else that could save him weight.

so like others said - nah, i dun think anyone else has done this (prob cause it has too little benefit for too much labor)

and I think it wouldnt save too much weight at all - last time I peaked at one it was very small



if your looking for a fun, weight saving, project - i think battery relocation would be your best bet. i have yet to see a sedan do such a thing as well.

 

I don't think you would even be able to notice the difference if you did it. Just go for lighter wheels, the unspring weight savings will make a huge difference.

 

What are your goals? What is your car running now and what are you shooting for? I agree with all the posts above that the sunroof delete is a very bad idea, and that wheels make much more sense.

You have put lots of money into a car that ultimately will only go so far considering it's design. The resale is a non-issue at this point, because your other mods have made the car essentially unsellable to the public market. But if 20 lbs is worth it to you, I assume you're racing the car. Take out the back seat before you cut the roof. That would be nothing but problems.

Other options, with all due respect, is find someone on here that will give you a fair price for the car, and buy something like the STi or Evo which has the performance and AWD that you're looking for with a warranty to boot.

 

As for goals, I was shooting for low 13' to beat M3, Sti, Evo etc. I have already achived that. I run a 12.92 in my last run. I was mostly thinking
to get rid of some dead weight that's not in use. I need the back seats, I've got 3 kids.

As for re-sale, it's not a concern as I plan to keep the car for as long at it'll live. For removing sunroof, I thought someone has done this, but maybe not.

 

I don't know if they make this for the G, but one option is a carbon fiber plug(done on some Bimmers and Hondas).

 

i think you'll see more benefits by hitting the GYM a few times a week LOL!

 

Easiest way to remove the sunroof with minimal cost is to remove the glass and motor then install a peice of Lexan with the factory weather seal. Lexan isn't cheap though. I'd say the cost of the job would be in the range of around $500.

 

You don't use the sunroof at all?? I love the sunroof, always get that in any car I buy. It's up to you, but seems like a lot of work to save a handful of pounds. But, yes you're right, it's hard to shave weight in the G.