removing railcaps

[emsmatt]

Im planning on blackning out the chrome and ive read all the threads, i think. I need some advice/help on popping off the endrail caps on the roof racks. I have bad luck with 'just going for it' and would appreciate a little advice before I break something.
Also, I belive the rails are metal and not plastic so what should I use instead of the Fusion for plastic that comes so highly recommended to get those done correctly?

 

[abug1985]

Im planning on blackning out the chrome and ive read all the threads, i think. I need some advice/help on popping off the endrail caps on the roof racks. I have bad luck with 'just going for it' and would appreciate a little advice before I break something.

Its a real pain to get the caps off. They're not designed in a way to come off easily. I took mine off this summer to install factory crossbars to hold my Thule kayak rack and now that its winter, my Thule ski rack. Perhaps someone else has a better way to explain it but, if I remember correctly, there are two "clips," both located on the inside of the cap. One is located on the top of the cap where it meets the rail and the other is located on the bottom towards the rear of the cap.

Go slow as the caps are way too easy to break. Take a thin putty knife, slip them under the clips to make them pop up and the cap will come right off.

Its much easier to put the caps back on...as you'll find out.

Cheers,

A.

 

[SoCalBurt]

Cool keep us posted on this mod emsmatt! I wanna do the same but i couldn't figure out how to get the caps off till now. I got some of my chrome pieces blacked out and this weekend plan to do the Roof rails and the side molding under the doors.

 

[emsmatt]

Thanks Abug, i'll give that a careful shot and let the others know how it goes.
SoCal, Im planning on getting all my removable chrome done this week but i have know idea when i'll be able to do my non-removable chrome ie, door handles, front/side chrome strips since its suppposed to rain up here for like the next 3 months and cant count on a few consecutive days of dry weather.

 

[SoCalBurt]

Thanks Abug, i'll give that a careful shot and let the others know how it goes.
SoCal, Im planning on getting all my removable chrome done this week but i have know idea when i'll be able to do my non-removable chrome ie, door handles, front/side chrome strips since its suppposed to rain up here for like the next 3 months and cant count on a few consecutive days of dry weather.

For the front and back chrome accents i ended up covering the vehicle and masking the parts i was gonna paint. I know most have gone with actual paint such as Rustoleum or Krylon Fusion but i chose a product called "plasti-dip" its sold at Home depot and its like a spray on matte black rubber. Its held up great! It sprays just like paint and the end product is a semi rough texture that compliments the 4R very good. Its held up to rain, sand, pressure washers, i'm glad i went that route. The roof rack however i wanna use krylon fusion in a matte black.

 

[terminator]

I did these caps recently..

Used painters tape along the cap and roof pry area and a plastic putty knife. Pry the 2 release tabs loose, then twist off..

 

[Will733]

Pry it off. Using a screw driver or putty knife to get under the bottom of it, just pull it out and up to get it to clip off. Once you finally get a "feel" for the first one, it's really easy.

 

[nashman69g]

If you would like a pictorial, it is under the misc section, under crossbar, or the FSM from the link in my sig.

 

[dognick]

Thanks for the pic. I'm painting mine right now.

 

[SoCalBurt]

Nice! thanks for posting that info Terminator now i got a general idea of how to go about this process