June 10, 2026
Description
This mounts to the sunroof control area and physically blocks the controls when low profile roof bars are installed (such as the Thule Wingbar Edge ones), to prevent accidental operation that may damage the sunroof. It's designed to fit the 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan (North American Region).
This has two base pieces and a removable cover plate. The base pieces are designed to be attached to the control area with an adhesive of your choice, while the cover attaches to the base pieces magnetically for easy removal when not needed.
Suitable double-sided adhesive (I used Alien Tape)
Four 3×3mm cylindrical magnets
Optionally some super glue
Base pieces (print two)
Print the piece as oriented in the .stl file.
I used Flex so that the contact with the cover plate won't rattle.
Pay particular attention to slicing and printing parts with embedded magnets. If you are using my .gcode, the parts with embedded magnets have a custom pause routine that slowly extrudes for a few seconds and then slowly moves the extruder to help get rid of excess oozing.
An optional dab of super glue in the magnet cavity will make sure it doesn't rattle.
Pay attention to magnet polarity. You may want to reverse the polarity on one base piece so the cover plate can't be installed backwards.
Cover
Print the piece as oriented in the .stl file.
Use a suitable material for the automotive environment.
Pay particular attention to slicing and printing parts with embedded magnets. If you are using my .gcode, the parts with embedded magnets have a custom pause routine that slowly extrudes for a few seconds and then slowly moves the extruder to help get rid of excess oozing.
An optional dab of super glue in the magnet cavity will make sure it doesn't rattle.
Pay attention to magnet polarity. You may want to reverse the polarity on one side of the cover (matching the base pieces) so it can't be installed backwards.
Installation
Put the base pieces into the cover plate.
Add the double-sided adhesive to the base pieces.
Carefully align the whole assembly over the sunroof controls and affix it following the directions for your adhesive.
Use
The cover plate will now come off and go on easily.
Keep it on while your low profile bars are attached, and stow it for when you take them off.
Be aware of how your use of this model could affect other systems of the vehicle (e.g., airbags).
Always refer to the manufacturer's documentation and consult the manufacturer before making any modifications to your vehicle.
I've designed the model with OpenSCAD and can try to adapt it if you need (such as a looser fit for the base-cover interface depending on your materials, or a slight tweak to the magnet cavity dimensions).
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution — Noncommercial — Share Alike
8
Adam
