So I purchased a Rola rack for my 4Runner with my Christmas bonus this past January. I installed it sometime in Feb and have been using it since. About a month ago I took the truck out on the highway after a pretty heavy rain storm. When I got to my destination there was a horrible coating of rust colored water all over the roof and sides of the truck. I had seen some posts about people having similar problems so I went and put a good helping of silicone on all possible gaps. Well its unfortunately gotten worse. I contacted realtruck.com where I purchased the rack from. Not only are they taking the old one back but also sending me a replacement. Great website and customer service BTW. Anyways, how the hell can I keep this from happening again? When I used the silicone last time I did it while it was assembled and on the truck (see pics). Anyone else have this problem?

The welds look like complete crap on that thing, it's gonna be hard to keep moisture out of it...

Sorry to hear about the BS you're going through with the Rola. Glad you got some pics up, those welds look like I was thinking about ordering one!

Had the same issues, here is what I did......

Unmounted it from the truck and cleaned everything up.
Let it sit a dry for a few days.
Reassembled and used shower chalk around the part that mounts together and let set.
Painted with Rustoleum, 3 coats and 2 coats clear.
Put wind deflector back on and sealed those screws with shower chalk as well.


No issues as of yet. Multiple cash washes and rainy days.

Quality on these things is pretty poor but its expected for the price.

So I took the rack off the truck today to get it all packaged up for shipment. This wonderful concoction poured out all over the place....


And the inside looked like this....


Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh................ and I was even thinking of getting the extension. Lame! I might just take the new one when it comes, craigslist it, and by something else. Ideas?

Maybe i dont want one now....lol

How much? ship it to my house and tell them you moved

i think you got a bad one and that sucks man mine hasnt done any of that and the welds are a little better, i still like mine but you get what you pay for still

Yeah I hear ya. The thing is I love this rack. Before buying it I was a little skeptical if I would ever use it but now im convinced this really is a great piece of equipment. I literally now throw everything in that basket, and with a simple ratchet strap or two, im on my way. Please don't let my bad experience deter anyone from buying on of these as there are some people like thorridder who have no problems. My reason for this whole post was to share and experience and hopefully figure out a way to prevent this from happening to the new rack.

btw best part of this rack is the 8979834792374987234 different ways I can use it to strap something down without being limited to 2 crossmembers.

Hate to see this happen to you. Unless you feel like spending $400+ I would probably take the new rack and seal it up really good. It looks like you did a good job on the first one, but I guess use even more.

It's hard to beat this rack for the price.

I was thinking about getting the Rola rack because the price seems good, I guess you have to clearcoat the hell out of it when its new and hope it doesn't rust and seep that sh!t out.

What about using a rubberized rocker coating or bedliner? That stuffs pretty thick and would definitely seal any voids. More scratch resistant and less upkeep than paint IMO.

I siliconed the crap outta mine and haven't had an issue. Good luck man

Quick update because I think followup on this site is vital! So I packaged up and sent my Rola rack back to realtruck.com (completely paid for by them). I got a call a few days later stating that they are ready to give me either a replacement rack, a gift card for the full amount I paid to their website, or all my money back on my credit card! Amazed that I was offered soo many options I chose to have them send me another rack as I found multiple uses for it and my truck looks naked without it. They are not only sending me another rack but since I found another site with a lower advertised price they sold me the rack at the cheaper price and issued me a gift card for the difference plus $5.00.
I really have to say that this site is amazing! I highly recommend Realtruck.com to anyone on this site 100% not only for taking care of a problem that was a manuf. defect but also for their outstanding customer service! Cheers!