Hey people, have not spent more than 5 minutes searching for a thread about this but I thought I would share my $.02 with anyone who's interested. My 1996 Maxima sunroof apparently had a split in the seal in the back / middle. When I checked it out on the underside, there was rust everywhere. I ripped off the seal and found out the top edge is made from this fibrous plastic stuff that was also coming apart. No one sells this seal but even if they did, it would not do any good since this sunroof is complete trash now. They do not sell new ones anymore.

I went to the local sunroof / convertible roof guy and he agreed it was trash, and nothing could be done to restore it.

So I went to the junkyard looking for a suitable replacement. I found one that would have done the trick. It was less rusty and I figured I could just fill in the gap (yes, it had the same split as mine did) with some silicone and call it good.

Even better is, I discovered the sunroof off the 5th gen Maxima / I35 is made better and it fits! All I had to do was remove the spacers and it works great! It was 50% off today at the junkyard so that made my day! Treated the seal with some protectant and washed the glass and it's good to go! So go get one from a 5th gen. Be happy.

 

Great contribution! Gotta love backwards compatibility!

 

Thanks! Yes you do! One thing I might add is the plastic nut covers are different, so if I'm not mistaken, I'll be looking for those off the 5th gen. next time I'm out in the yard. Also when I say it is made better, I mean there is no fibrous plastic border on top. And this seal does not have a gap, not yet. It looks like they sort of added a rubber bit and then melted where it meets the seal. I'm guessing it eventually breaks free and comes off in the wind. So anyway a wind deflector is in my future.

 

It was a direct swap you’re saying? That’s good to know if that’s the case. There’s some guys that delete the sunroof and I was assuming if was because theirs failed and they couldn’t find replacements, deleted it all together. I saw Chrisman post a thread about deleting his moon roof. I had an issue with mine years ago, it wouldn’t fully close and had a leak. But that when when parts were still available.

 

Yes, just uses 4 mounting holes instead of all 6.

 

Something’s definitely wrong here ... more is always better.

 

If it works and doesn’t leak, I guess it’s ok. I wonder how many other 4th gen owners tried a 5th gen or i35 moon roof.

 

Hey, I like my delete. It’s nice to take 30 lbs off the roof.

 

That looks really good! All about what you want I suppose. At least there’s options if something goes wrong with your moon roof, whether you want to keep it or not.

 

I think Pathfinders of the same era use similar if not the same assembly as well.

 

I think that's true based on a youtube vid I saw. Nice carbon fiber piece though!