Service declined to fix FWD pinched seal so I did it myself.

[sorka]

One of the many things Tesla has declined to fix saying that my vehicle is within spec. The passenger side FWD roof seal near the front collides with the center spine:
Click on thumbnails to enlarge



There are two ways to fix this.

#1 is if the glass can be moved on the roof frame itself. There are 10 mount bolts in the roof frame that attach from underneath through the frame. The 10 holes are oversized and allow about 4 mm of freeplay. If you're lucky, the glass will already as far towards the spine as possible which would give you about 4 mm of movement away from the spine.

#2 if there not enough freeplay in the glass mounting holes to move the glass away from the spine, then the only option at that point is to move the roof frame itself which is far more involved and requires an 80" shop support tower, proping the FWD door completely open, and removing the primary and second struts, and then loosening the roof side primary hinge bolts and roof side secondary hinge bolts. You then need to move the roof away from the spine but at the same time the door towards the roof so that what you end up with is a roof only move without moving the horizontal position of the FWD itself.

In my case, #1 was enough.

I won't list all of the steps. Their in the factory service manual online that anyone can use. The FSM will explain disassembly and assembly of components but does not go into how to adjust components.

After removing the lower and upper garnishes, interior roof brackets, and one of the bolts above the pinched seal, I was relieved to see I was in luck.



So I then loosened the remaining 9 bolts and slide the window up about 4mm.



Now the seal clears the spine.

Picture of the entire roof without the garnishes and brackets:

 

[kchau]

Mine touches a little bit on the passenger side. This seems like a lot of work.

 

[sorka]

Mine touches a little bit on the passenger side. This seems like a lot of work.

About 45 minutes. If it had been #2, it would have been 3+ hours.

Next adjustment will be the other side where I need to adjust the roof mounted bumpstop on the front, the rear door secondary hinge, and the latch. Adjusting the door on the seondary hinges requires removing the primary and secondary struts and proping the door open with an 80" support tower. This will be about a half day.

 

[kchau]

About 45 minutes. If it had been #2, it would have been 3+ hours.

Next adjustment will be the other side where I need to adjust the roof mounted bumpstop on the front, the rear door secondary hinge, and the latch. Adjusting the door on the seondary hinges requires removing the primary and secondary struts and proping the door open with an 80" support tower. This will be about a half day.

I'm just going to add this to my list of things to do in the event the trim panels need to come off or the top glass gets cracked. I don't like doing small adjustment things where there's a risk for breaking plastic clips or losing things inside the door.

But kudos to you.

 

[sorka]

I'm just going to add this to my list of things to do in the event the trim panels need to come off or the top glass gets cracked. I don't like doing small adjustment things where there's a risk for breaking plastic clips or losing things inside the door.

But kudos to you.

Yea, the only reason I did it was because it would eventually destroy the seal. If you look at the picture it was pinched pretty significantly on the spine. If your seal isn't touching and you just want to even it out, then I'd put it on the list of things to do if you have have access to glass bolts for another reason.

 

[kchau]

Yea, the only reason I did it was because it would eventually destroy the seal. If you look at the picture it was pinched pretty significantly on the spine. If your seal isn't touching and you just want to even it out, then I'd put it on the list of things to do if you have have access to glass bolts for another reason.

mine is touching, but it's barely pinching, and it only does that at full open.

 

[sorka]

mine is touching, but it's barely pinching, and it only does that at full open.

Probably ok if it's just barely brushing it.

 

[sorka]

The next issue for me to tackle on the drivers side. I had no gap between the FWD and rear quarter panel which was causing the door to rub the paint off of the door jamb on the rear quarter panel. The gap between the front of the FWD and the b-pillar was quite large. They fixed this. The gaps are now even. However, the roof also moved forward when the moved the whole door forward. The roof should have been moved back a 3 or so mm so it was in the same relative place as before.

Seal overlap on front of door:


Overlap on rear of door:


Roof applique where front of seal overlaps is broken because the roof is catching on the lip since it is too far forward:


Front roof bumpstop is also not low enough allowing the door to go too low at the end of the closing cycle before being pulled back up by the latch. The result is that the seal is bent completely backwards and will tear in a few months of usage if this isn't fixed.

 

[offah]

One of the many things Tesla has declined to fix saying that my vehicle is within spec. The passenger side FWD roof seal near the front collides with the center spine:
Click on thumbnails to enlarge

View attachment 840260

There are two ways to fix this.

#1 is if the glass can be moved on the roof frame itself. There are 10 mount bolts in the roof frame that attach from underneath through the frame. The 10 holes are oversized and allow about 4 mm of freeplay. If you're lucky, the glass will already as far towards the spine as possible which would give you about 4 mm of movement away from the spine.

#2 if there not enough freeplay in the glass mounting holes to move the glass away from the spine, then the only option at that point is to move the roof frame itself which is far more involved and requires an 80" shop support tower, proping the FWD door completely open, and removing the primary and second struts, and then loosening the roof side primary hinge bolts and roof side secondary hinge bolts. You then need to move the roof away from the spine but at the same time the door towards the roof so that what you end up with is a roof only move without moving the horizontal position of the FWD itself.

In my case, #1 was enough.

I won't list all of the steps. Their in the factory service manual online that anyone can use. The FSM will explain disassembly and assembly of components but does not go into how to adjust components.

After removing the lower and upper garnishes, interior roof brackets, and one of the bolts above the pinched seal, I was relieved to see I was in luck.

View attachment 840263

So I then loosened the remaining 9 bolts and slide the window up about 4mm.

View attachment 840265

Now the seal clears the spine.

Picture of the entire roof without the garnishes and brackets:

View attachment 840266

Hi there. Thanks so much for posting this. Would you be able to circle where the actual bolts are? My doors are pinching so I'm planning on attempting this.

Thanks!

 

[CuriousM3]

Tired this today and didn’t work for me, I was able to pull the front edge up from touching the center spline it ever time I try to tighten it drops , for the rear when I max out the play it still pinches. Gave up and just put it all back together. One weird thing I noticed was after I was done, it looked like it worked, nice even gap front to rear , but after opening it a few more times it pinched just as before. Felt defeated after about 2 hours of trying.

You mentioned the bump stop. Is that adjustable? Mine is doing the same thing pulling the door too low and pushing the seals up. Was thinking it may need shims till I read your bump stop comment.

Also manage to rip out 3 of the clips that are glued to the back of the alcantara trim. Will need to glue those back some day.