I rebuilt the sunroof mechanism with new (NOS) cables, and I replaced ALL of the seals. My first mistake was to use ScanTech replacement seals. What they sell is not original equipment. It is instead a rubber gasket with flocking material glued on to make it ‘fuzzy’. The seals are a little too thick, and the flocking comes off easily, especially during the gluing process. After it’s glued, if a corner lets go, the whole gasket will peel away, leaving just the flocking covering stuck to the frame.

After a lot of Internet searching, I found the original seal material. It is sold for old Porche autos with sunroofs. This is the real deal: true fuzzy material (no rubber) with a metal insert for rigidity. Also, the back of the seal is perfectly flat for glueing. (Scantech has the bulb at the top, so there is no flat side.) They also still sell the rubber gasket that sits behind the sunroof rear gasket. This piece is unavailable for Volvo. The only downside is the Porsche sunroof is smaller, and therefore the gaskets are not quite long enough. I had to buy two sets of Porsche seals to fix one Volvo 164 sunroof.

Why do none of the Volvo parts sites offer genuine OEM-quality sunroof seals? Clearly, the material is available if there’s a factory making the seals for Porsche. Don’t waste your time with the ScanTech knock-offs, you’ll end up with a mess, and it takes a lot of time to scrape and re-prep for the proper seals.

The following came from Pelican Parts, but there are several websites offering these parts:

Sunroof Seal (Rubber Strip)
Part #: 901-564-905-05-M127 Price Quantity Subtotal
$15.00 1 $15.00

Sunroof Seal (Velvet Strip) Long Section(Porsche)(m)
Part #: 911-564-191-00-INT Price Quantity Subtotal
$45.50 1 $45.50

Sunroof Seal (Velvet Strip) Short Section(Porsche)(m)
Part #: 911-564-193-00-INT Price Quantity Subtotal
$27.50 1 $27.50

Remember you need two of each!