Removing Roof Rails
 

My 2004 v70 has silver painted roof rails. The paint on them has faded and chipped and makes the car look old. Can I remove them? Will I need to get replacement molding to fill in the space. Would that end up costing more than just having them painted?

chipped paint on roof rails
 

Do you mean the longitudinal rails are painted silver? Or do you mean the cross bars are silver? The reason I ask is that the longitudinal rails on my 2004 V70 are black, but the crossbars are silver.

If it is the fixed longitudinal rails which are chipped, could you use touch-up paint?

The longitudinal rails can be removed, but you would need new full length plastic cover strips to cover the channel. The cost of doing this professionally would be significant and you would no longer have the roof rails. These rails along with crossbars are extremely useful for carrying things on the roof, e.g. a car top carrier for travelling, a canoe, bicycles. In my opinion you would be reducing the utility and resale value if you remove the rails.