So i bought my 850 a couple of weeks back and the roofrails were unsightly, so i read up on the forum and started stripping them. Then i basically just sanded them, and slowly, coat by coat applied duplicolor bumper paint in dark gray and this is the finished product. I was going to wet sand them, but the finish came out so smooth i just left it as is

 

Looks good. I gotta re-do my roof rails again soon. How was it getting them off of the car? whenever I've done them I just left them on and tapped off the car, but I could probably get a better finish by taking them off and doing it thoroughly.

 

Very nice. See how well it stands up to the elements. Heat and Cold.

 

Looks good.

 

they pop right off pretty easy. from the side of the car, you just pul them towards you and they pop right off. it kinda feels like your gunna break them but dont worry. just be careful with it off cause its easy to bend at the angle. i didnt clearcoat mine or anything so i guess ill see how long they withstand teh elements. eventually ill do them right

 

Yeah, I never clear coated them. Maybe I'll try that this weekend, and throw a couple coats of clear coat on there since I have some laying around. They need a good sanding too from all the times I re-did them, you can see where the original paint is with indents and stuff, kind of ugly up close.

 

thats not a bad idea. i bought some today too for my touchup's on my paint but im not sure if its the right stuff. worst comes to worse, ill just throw it on the rails

 

I gotta do some touch up on my car too, a little bit of rust on the bottom of the trunk lid by the bumper, I want to sand it and paint it since it appears to have stopped growing, kind of nervous though, don't wanna mess it up.

 

honestly, dont be i was a bit scared too but yesterday i got my touch up paint from the dealer and started sanding some of the small rust spots with 400 grit. just mauke sure you get rid of all the rust them put a nice amount of paint on it, maybe a few layers. just make sure you pick a good day, cause mines havin trouble dryin in teh humidity. anyhows when it dries, wetsand with some 1500 till its smooth them hit it with some maguires scratch X. this stuff smooths out the coat and helps spread clearcoat. after that you should probably put some clearcoat on, wetsand one more time, them rub some of the scratch-x into it. ill let you know how it looks when its done. it should be barely noticable.
the touch up paint comes with clearcoat too which is pretty nice

you may want to carefully apply with a toothpick or so. the paint brush can get sloppy

 

I would do it with spray paint. I got some rust spots at the bottom of the trunk lid, kind along that whole flat part beneath the license plate, so I was thinking about just taping off everything around it, and sanding the rust spots nice a smooth, and then wet sanding the whole area right there, and then hit it with some of the import black spray paint from Autozone, probably wet sanding it again with some super fine grit sandpaper, and then probably another coat or two, and then a couple coats of clear coat, figure that way it would be least noticeable.

 

should turn out fine, long as you sand it all smooth and the paint matches up. if yo havent messed around with rubbing/scratch compounds such as magguires scratchx, id recommend it. a friend rubbed a couple of spots on my car where the clearcoat was cracked/scratched/faded. it kinda melts the clearcoat and evens it out really nice for a freshly painted look. its great for finishing, bottles goes for like $6

 

I'll check that stuff out. Feel a little bit better about this now. Oh well, it's a good car to practice on I think, I'll be keeping it for another year or so, so good time to learn. Plus it's really bothering and ever if it's black and doesn't completely match, it'll make me feel better.

 

Wow, those rails came out Nice! I need to do this!

 

thnx man. like i said before really easy, just clean um off good with 400 grit or so, then patiently spray it coat by coat and it should come out nice and smooth. once theyre redone theyre not very noticable, but thats the point :P your roof rails wont look unsightly and draw attention to themselves like mine did

 

I redid mine today too, and a couple other things (). I'll post some pictures when I can get back to my apartment and get them on my computer.

 

Kapka - did you use the duplicolor 106 Gray or the 109 Dark Charcoal?

 

I use black. Gives a nice clean overall look.

 

How do you remove the roof rails?

My 94's are chipped and peeling down to the metal. ghey.

 

Start down by the hood, and get your fingers underneath of them on the far side from you, and pull the rail towards you, they clips just pop out of the little holders, it's really easy.

 

How did you get the old dried goo off?