Putting on roof spoiler, should I remove the roof rack cross bars?

[Triton]

I have been thinking about removing my roof rack cross bars for a while now, but now that I am getting the roof spoiler I am thinking I should probably go ahead and take them out. I have never used them, nor do I ever plan on using them. But once you remove them, there is no going back if you have the spoiler unless you want to remove the spoiler to put them back. I was going to check with the person who is going to mount my spoiler if the would remove them and if not, I was going to try it myself. I'm just a little nervous about breaking those clips. I just wanted to get an opinion of some people here. Let me know what you think.

[Sub-Vibe-R]

Go ahead and do it.Just a hot day to do it, this way the platic clic will have less chances to break.

[Psychobroker]

I removed them on a normal, 70F day, and the clips didn't break.

[Triton]

Quote, originally posted by Psychobroker »I removed them on a normal, 70F day, and the clips didn't break. 70F!!! I won't see those temps until July! LOL! It's 33F and snowing here right now. If I have the person do it who is mounting it, the car should be 70F because it will be in a body shop.

[savedbyzero]

heatem' with a hair dryer.

[Vibe]

Yes-Remove them---The cross bars along with the new spoiler would look cluttered. Novaresourse had some great pics with his cross bars removed. Maybe he'll post a pic for you to see.James (Vibe)

[AKLGT]

def take them off! will look too cluttered otherwise.

[NovaResource2]

Quote, originally posted by Vibe »Yes-Remove them---The cross bars along with the new spoiler would look cluttered. Novaresourse had some great pics with his cross bars removed. Maybe he'll post a pic for you to see.James (Vibe)

[Vibe]

HA !! LOL-I knew Nova would come through............ THANKS----

[Triton]

Thanks Nova for the pics. Did you have any trouble getting those pieces off without breaking the clips? How did you get the bars over the antenna base?Quote, originally posted by silverawd26 »I say take off the entire assembly and then take it to a body shop and have them fill in the holes and paint over it after they shaved it all and made it looking nice. Then add the top spoiler. Also, if you take off the cross bars, take off the antenna and have it filled in and painted and get a glass antenna or something.That would look great, if I wanted to spend a whole lot of extra money. Besides, I don't think the Vibe would look right without the rails on there.

[Sub-Vibe-R]

Quote, originally posted by silverawd26 »I say take off the entire assembly and then take it to a body shop and have them fill in the holes and paint over it after they shaved it all and made it looking nice. Then add the top spoiler. This mod will be hard to be done. The rear end of the roof rack fit wit the top of the hatch. If you remove the whole thing, you will have 2 big holes on each side, at the top of the hatch.DisneyDJ post some pics of his vibe without the roof rackThe topic http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id ... 7/Rear.jpg

[Devlop]

If you look, its not actually the roof that the rack is mounted to, its the unisides. If you take the entire assembly off, you'll see that the metal is indented and does not follow the same shape as the rest of the uniside. THe areas that the rack attaches to are flat and don't follow the contours of the side.*edit* Oops, didnt see the link with pics of the rack off, my bad.

[Triton]

I just got done removing my cross bars and didn't break either clip. I almost broke the one on the drivers side, but it stayed together. It looks a lot better and when I get my spoiler on, it will really look good.

[satur9]

i saw a pontiac montana with an awesome spoiler. the side rails went through the spoiler. like a really big crossbar with the wings on the end. i wish i could get that. you had to see it.

[DonB]

Two questions. Has anyone noticed any difference in gas milage after removing the cross bars?This has probably been answered already, but what is the procedure for removing them? I assume the end caps on one end or the other just unsnap but don't want to break anything.

[Triton]

Quote, originally posted by DonB »Has anyone noticed any difference in gas milage after removing the cross bars?Personally, I haven't noticed any difference in gas mileage. I don't think it makes a difference at all.Quote, originally posted by DonB »This has probably been answered already, but what is the procedure for removing them? I assume the end caps on one end or the other just unsnap but don't want to break anything.Yes, this has been addressed. As a matter of fact, I got all of my tips and instructions from this site (of course ). You are correct that you have to pull up the end cap on the back and remove your antenna to do it. When removing the end cap, make sure you do it slowly and when the car has been sitting in the sun for a while. I was fortunate that neither clip broke when I took mine out. Some members have had one or both break as well. I found out that those clips are almost $12 from the dealership, but they are not required to hold it on. Hope (trdvibe) broke one of hers and she said it has not moved since she put it back on.Let us know if you have any other questions.

[mcgusto82]

you should defenately leave them. i've used them acouple of times. once for a full size matress, and another for furniture from ikea.useful. didn't think i'd ever need them.

[tecton]

man i busted the **** out of mine, unscrewd the bolts and lifted the whole thing off the roof, didnt have to remove the antenna or nothingno sense in saving it other than the rails

[BlueCrush]

Alright who is the thread resurrector? For a second, I thought Tecton was back. lol.

[kevera]

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush »Alright who is the thread resurrector? For a second, I thought Tecton was back. lol.ahahaha,Me too.I think he's in the witness protection program.

[Kamikaze]

I don't remember voting on this one but I did...funny thing is, I don't think I ever looked at the date. But I don't think I was the one to resurrect it...