What's the best way to fix some rust on my roof? Pics included

99 XJ, former police jeep.

Here's a picture of the worst spot. It looks like some kind of antenna mount? Does anyone know what kind of antenna would go on there?



It also had a light bar on it and they drilled another hole in the roof and patched it like this:



Sorry for the bad pic but the patch looks like ass, although it does not leak.

For the rust I was planning to sand it down, prime it with rustoleum, and then paint with the factory color (I got a spray can from the dealer). Does that sound alright?

Now what should I do about the hole they patched up?

Cops use cop radios and antennas. The mount is for an NMO type VHF antenna.

Sand to bare metal, prime, paint.

Find a plastic hole plug or use an over sized fender washer and a nut/bolt. Paint everything first and the use RTV silicone to prevent water leaks. The local ACE or True Value hardware store has all these.

you can get replacement ones too my jeep had one that I replaced with one for a CB, then later to VHF for LMR. They make a plastic cap that screws on to that with a good seal too. If i were you I would pull it apart sand and clean the area and replace with a new NMO mount. tessco has most everything that you need for that or a local real electronics shop. As for holes, plug them with urathane that comes in a tube like rtv kinda hard to squeeze though.

Stihl029 said:

you can get replacement ones too my jeep had one that I replaced with one for a CB, then later to VHF for LMR. They make a plastic cap that screws on to that with a good seal too. If i were you I would pull it apart sand and clean the area and replace with a new NMO mount. tessco has most everything that you need for that or a local real electronics shop. As for holes, plug them with urathane that comes in a tube like rtv kinda hard to squeeze though.

Click to expand...

Will I have to pull down the headliner to install a new antenna mount? I don't have a CB radio or anything but I would mount a CB antenna there if it was small enough...

What I would do - pull the headliner down (not that bad a project.) Clean both the outside and the inside of the roof panel down to bare metal. Use strong adhesive (liquid nails or urethane windshield adhesive) to attach a backing plate on the inside, let dry. Bondo the outside till it's smooth again, then paint the outside to match and hit the inside with some primer and/or rustoleum to keep it from rusting out. Reinstall the headliner and you're done.

A CB antenna is gonna be kinda long, and unless you use some sort of a backing plate it will buckle/flex the roof enough to crack the paint and cause more rust when it whips around.