Has anyone with a sunroof tried removing the heavy *** motor + other components to save weight? I was thinking there is probably a way to just leave the glass intact but remove everything else, so the overall weight of the roof is less than that of a regular full metal roof (not compared to the aluminum roof). Any ideas?

 

Well how much does the motor weigh? I can't imagine that all that trouble would be worth it to save a few pounds. You'd gain what, 0.043567 seconds in the quarter mile? Now if it weighed 100 pounds, well then...

 

Lexan "glass", with no motor.

 

Uhhh actually the total extra weight for the sunroof is around 30-35 lbs. This is still not ALOT however the weight is at the HIGHEST POINT OF THE CAR. Any weight reduction on the roof has a dramatic effect on handling because it lowers the center of gravity. I don't really care about what it will do to my 1/4 mile times, thats what bigger turbo's are for. I don't use my sunroof, so this is just a thought. Maybe I could replace the glass with a carbon fiber insert?! =)

 

you can read my how to fix a stuck sun roof to see how to remove it. There is a lot of stuff up there. The motor weight about 4-6 lbs. 3 bolts and it comes out.

 

What do you define as "dramatic effect on handling"? Maybe if you were racing professionally it would be worth it but otherwise whats the point really? Besides, the bulk of the weight gain is going to be from the reinforced roof itself, not the motor.

 

is there any way to replace ur roof with maybe one of the aluminum roofs? how hard do u think that would be?

 

a hell of alot harder and more expensive than just trading in your car for an base model Evo or an RS

 

Perhaps most of the extra weight is because of reinforcement, I have no idea. I can't really say much better the car will handle because of it, but any weight off the very top of the car is going to help out alot more than something from the engine bay or rear of the car (a lower center of gravity means less body roll). I am just curious if anyone has done anything like this. If all sunroof related components are removed (besides the glass/lexan) how much weight can be saved? I'm suprised this hasn't been discussed before.

 

Look at it this way. The steel-roof cladded GSR was 1 car length slower around the track than the MR in the motor trend shootout between all 3 models. I believe the difference between the MR and GSR roof is 10 lbs. So even if you removed everything to the point your car weighed as much as the GSR, you are gaining a fraction of a car length at best around a track. I tend to think that one car lead had more to do with the 6-speed and suspension than the roofs weight so you are looking at a very minimal improvement in real world daily driving.

 

Bottom line, it's not worth the trouble.

 

Alot of other people seem to think the roof adds more weight:

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...hlight=sunroof