Roof rail removal

[Greg_DonWindsor]

Hi everyone,

looking for a few pointers from anyone who has removed the roof rails on their 4th gen. I’ve already and easily removed the factory cross bars, as well as the black plastic caps on the front and rear of all the “landing pads” that anchor the chrome rails to the roof itself. All T20 bolts that hold the rails to said pads have been removed, including the single T20 bolt holding the rails to the middle pad. I can still not get the rails off completely. Any tips or tricks I’m missing? This is being done to powder coat them black as I am not a fan of chrome. I found no results on YouTube or searching this entire forum. Surely someone out there must have attempted this before.

 

[Greg_DonWindsor]

This issue was solved. You may all disregard.

 

[loooney2ns]

What was the problem? 12 years of gunk? Or is there something else to look out for?

 

[Greg_DonWindsor]

What was the problem? 12 years of gunk? Or is there something else to look out for?

I discovered the landing pads themselves had to be removed by the T25 bolts that secure them to the roof, and they are freed from the middle pad by sliding the entire assembly forward. This allowed the rails to be separated from the footings completely.