High top guttering

If you have the type of guttering that is attached with black nylon screws into stainless steel stand-offs then, in relative terms, you're lucky (because previous types of guttering have been bonded in place).

However... you need to be very very careful because the vacuum-formed gutter (which is actually just a covering trim - it carries no rain water away) gets brittle with time/sunlight, and you cannot get replacements - so do not damage them!

On my van (not a Symbol, but similar in design, I believe) the screw fixings were just a standard metric size cheese-head nylon bolt. You may still be able to get them from A/S but, if not, they are widely available.

Assuming you do have the stainless stand-offs, you can expect a few of them to unbond themselves from the roof during the process, if my van was anything to go by.

I cleaned off the factory double-sided tape residue, and used a 90-second epoxy glue. Araldite make one called Fusion, though I used something else as I happened to have it on the shelf. Be warned - it's a messy job, and I resorted to masking tape on the back so that once slapped in place the tape stopped it leaking out too much until it had set. I also masked the side of the van below it as it's not easy stuff to remove if you get it where you don't want it!

Another option, which I've not used but a chap I know who runs a car body repair shop recommends, is "double sided mirror tape" which is like 3M VHB on steroids. It's ridiculously sticky - far better than the stuff that A/S used from the factory.

newterry wrote:Hi,
If you do take them off then when re-screwing apply a liberal dose of Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure( yes there is such a thing) to the thread to prevent future water ingress.

Hi Terry - we are probably talking about different designs here. The type which have stainless steel standoffs present no risk of water ingress - the screw holes are "blind" and there is no path through to the interior of the van (they are literally stuck onto the surface of the hightop). I would definitely not use Craptain Crolley's in that situation, because when it sets you will probably never get the nylon screw out again - either the head or the stem below the head is likely to shear off instead.