Roof rack gone.

[bmwjnky]

I pulled mine on Thursday. I had to drill the head off one of the screws because it wouldn't come out and I couldn't pull the nutsert out of the roof. Other than that everything went fine. The shop I work at had some button head screws with the right thread pitch so I just put some ultra grey RTV on them and screwed them in. It seems a little quieter on the freeway but no change in MPG on a 200 mile trip I took this last weekend. The main reason I pulled mine is I got a real roof rack and the feet for that rack were not tall enough to clear the stock rack.

 

[ajitsmith]

I heard of people having trouble getting the screws out. Any trouble like that? Did you have to take the headliner out on the inside?

I had an issue when i removed mine to get clearance for my Inti rack. The riveted nutsert broke loose and the whole thing was free spinning. Luckily it happened on the the rear mount and i pulled the rear speaker cover and grabbed it with a pair of pliers and removed the screw. Not sure what you would do if it happened on one of the front mounts other than drilling it out.

BTW anyone know a good way to reattch the rear speaker cover? The plastic pegs are really brittle and a couple popped off when i pulled it. I plan to replace the speakers then just glue it back in place unless i can come up with a better solution

 

[azcromntic]

I had an issue when i removed mine to get clearance for my Inti rack. The riveted nutsert broke loose and the whole thing was free spinning. Luckily it happened on the the rear mount and i pulled the rear speaker cover and grabbed it with a pair of pliers and removed the screw. Not sure what you would do if it happened on one of the front mounts other than drilling it out.

BTW anyone know a good way to reattch the rear speaker cover? The plastic pegs are really brittle and a couple popped off when i pulled it. I plan to replace the speakers then just glue it back in place unless i can come up with a better solution

I recently used a product called Quick Steel to repair a broken mount on my fan shroud. So far it has held up and it gets hard enough to drill and tap. Maybe you could reattach the broken pieces with that.

 

[breathed]

I recently bought a new (to me) cruiser. I removed my rack this past weekend and it was ugly. Two nutserts had corroded to the point they were no longer fixed in the roof. One nutsert pulled out and the other five were ground down and pushed in. There was rust around every hole and paint under the outer edges of each rack foot was worn through to varying extent.

I filled all the holes with 8-32 well nuts and a bit of silicone rtv as talked about in the FAQ thread concering oem roof rack holes. They worked fairly well. There was some interference with the two forward most holes (some kind of metal bracket for the sunroof I would guess) and a couple of holes need to be enlarged slightly with a dremel and cone shaped stone. Everywhere the paint was damaged or missing was hit with some touch up paint. It doesn't look that nice, but it should provide some protection until I can do something better next year. The oem roof rack is a major fail by Toyota. If only they had gone with a gutter mount rack.

 

[Ebag333]

The oem roof rack is a major fail by Toyota. If only they had gone with a gutter mount rack.

Most of these vehicles are hitting 150k-200k miles by now. I wouldn't consider it a major fail, if a gutter mount rack was mounted that long there would be problems with the gutter mounts too (discoloration at the least, likely paint rubbed off and possibly rusting spots). I know I've seen this happen with gutter mounts just after a few years of use, let alone 15+.

Plus a lot of these come off, and there's little or no rusting. I know on the truck it was just barely rusted, so location is a big part of it as well too.

So while I think it could have been designed better, I wouldn't call it a major fail. Heck, the roof rack lasts longer than some whole vehicles.

 

[scrowley]

The caps do have a lip. They work great. Easiest solution. My X5 is black so you cant even tell they are there.

Scrowley,

Do those caps at Lowe's have a lip that will catch the top sheet metal? I want to take my rack off and this might just be the ticket. Thanks!

 

[Gumby94]

The caps do have a lip. They work great. Easiest solution. My X5 is black so you cant even tell they are there.

What size are the caps that fit the holes?

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[wesayso]

I removed my rack on my bmw x5 and found that most lowes store has a section of caps that fit into these holes. They make them in 1/16" incriments. Put a little silicone on them and push them in. Nice clean fill.

What section in Lowe's has the caps?

 

[Gumby94]

These will work!! .68 For 2 of em

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[scrowley]

those look like they will work. The ones I used had the ribbed section all the way to top. I am not sure if the ones you have will stay tight or not. I think the caps are in the hardware isle. They are in there. I asked and knobody knew so I looked through all the drawers.

These will work!! .68 For 2 of em

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[Fireguy]

Could you use metal tape and then something like QuickSteel or JB weld over it? Then sand and beeline it.

 

[breathed]

Most of these vehicles are hitting 150k-200k miles by now. I wouldn't consider it a major fail, if a gutter mount rack was mounted that long there would be problems with the gutter mounts too (discoloration at the least, likely paint rubbed off and possibly rusting spots). I know I've seen this happen with gutter mounts just after a few years of use, let alone 15+.

Plus a lot of these come off, and there's little or no rusting. I know on the truck it was just barely rusted, so location is a big part of it as well too.

So while I think it could have been designed better, I wouldn't call it a major fail. Heck, the roof rack lasts longer than some whole vehicles.

I suppose major fail is a bit strong. The oem roof rack is as good as any other manufacturer, but compared to the quality of the vehicle it's attached to I would consider it substandard. Hey, nobody's perfect.

 

[jlg32281]

When I pulled mine, I took my dremel tool with a wire wheel and shined up the area around the holes and then sprayed a rust inhibitor that is also a primer on. Then I used some screws that match the nutserts with a neoprene washer on them. After that, I masked of retangles around the area and hit it with some bedliner from a can. I think it worked out great.

 

[ElPolloBlanco]

- for those asking mpg talk is a non - issue here- ...... it's a straight six , with softball sized pistons,....really

HA HA HA

 

[JohnR]

I've come up with the perfect solution to covering the holes, assuming your nutserts didn't get pulled out. I just finished doing my truck. It's a grade 12.9 socket head cap screw, through a stainless steel and rubber washer.. perfect size to cover the nutsert and the surrounding area.

 

[Ebag333]

Bet those rust.

 

[Gumby94]

I've come up with the perfect solution to covering the holes, assuming your nutserts didn't get pulled out. I just finished doing my truck. It's a grade 12.9 socket head cap screw, through a stainless steel and rubber washer.. perfect size to cover the nutsert and the surrounding area.

Nice. That looks good.

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[Gumby94]

Sweet dewalt too.

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[JohnR]

Bet those rust.

Maybe.. they didn't have any metric SS shcs in stock, unfortunately... this is just a temporary measure til I can buff off the rust / dirt, put some self etching primer and paint etc then reinstall these. But I bet they last a few years how they are now! If not, I'll literally give them one squirt from a plastidip spray can, and they'll never rust.

 

[Ebag333]

I have the same ones. Mine rusted within a few months. And this area is not known for rust being an issue. (I have unpainted mild steel extensions on my front upper shock mounts, they've been there for a few years and only have a couple tiny specs of rust.)