OEM Roof Rack - Powder Coat (1 Viewer)

[Murckman]

Just thought I would post this for anyone interested. I couldn't bring myself to rattle can spraying the OEM roof rack on my 02 LC.
After reading a post on roof rack removal it turned out to be pretty easy to get it off. After I removed the rack and then disassembled the rails I began to strip the paint. 14 years of sun had taken a toll on the original factory paint and the cross bars had hardly any paint remaining in the top side of them. I spent nearly four hours stripping and sanding each of the four bars until all that was left was nice clean aluminum. I brought the four bars to a local powder coat place - Powder By Design, and for $85 he did all four bars in satin black. The black actually matches exactly with the door sills. I think it turned out great.

Here's a pic of of my halfway point of stripping off paint.

Back from powder coat shop

Installed

 

[Rcmay]

When you reinstalled, did you use any sealant for the bolts that go into the roof?

 

[Murckman]

When you reinstalled, did you use any sealant for the bolts that go into the roof?

I read you should use white lithium grease, but didn't have any so I used silicone grease.

 

[TheForger]

Silicone grease will work just as well. Excellent job on this, my OEM roof rack has definitely taken a beating from the UV and general use of throwing stuff up there. Might have to look into this since an aftermarket roof rack is not in my near future (currently running a Yakima basket)

 

[SmoothLC]

Very nice.

 

[Murckman]

Thanks! Hardest part was stripping all the paint to bare aluminum and getting off any oxidation. I used paint stripper but it couldn't get all the old paint off. To be honest once the paint was off to bare aluminum (if it was clear coated) it wouldn't have looked half bad either. The new powder coat is hard as a rock and will take a beating for many years to come.

 

[CA Cruisin]

Thanks for posting! Looks great!

 

[bucfl]

Yeah, agree with others. They look great. Mine are flaking to. But, I'm just going to use Krylon bed liner rattle can spray. Some day.

 

[Greenbean]

Wow those look great man!

Dang nice!