Roof Rack Delete anyone?

Curious if anyone's done a total roof rack delete?

My plan is to remove, locate and seal leaks that I'm sure I'm getting from the roof rack system. I've done searches on this topic, and most talk about repairing and reinstall. I'm now wondering how she's look without a rack period.

I thought about Monsta-liner as a top coat up there to really seal it all, making it impervious to future moisture issues. The texture may look kinda like a vinyl top. Just thinking out loud.

Anyone completely removed their rack? Can it be done without it looking strange?

Yes it can, and has been done. Some have had the rack hardware removed welded, smoothed out and painted. The Rhinoliner thing, would be the first time hearing of something like that.

Sorry I don't have a better suggestion, but I would not use Monsta-Liner for something like this. It dries hard and is tough, but is not flexible at all and it chips/peals relatively easily once it's compromised. It can be brushed on smooth or rolled on with a texture.

I've used it to cover the underside of my car and a few places where it needed to be drilled through or the floor pan dented a little revealed the above issues. Prep work was sandblast to bare metal, prime with Chassis Saver Silver Aluminum (2 coats), scuff and apply Monsta Liner.

I got rid of the rack on my former wagon and am in the process of eliminating it on my current wagon.

Fix Until Broke wrote:

Sorry I don't have a better suggestion, but I would not use Monsta-Liner for something like this.  It dries hard and is tough, but is not flexible at all and it chips/peals relatively easily once it's compromised.  It can be brushed on smooth or rolled on with a texture.

I've used it to cover the underside of my car and a few places where it needed to be drilled through or the floor pan dented a little revealed the above issues.  Prep work was sandblast to bare metal, prime with Chassis Saver Silver Aluminum (2 coats), scuff and apply Monsta Liner.

Wow.  I've not had this experience AT ALL.  I'm sorry it didn't work well for you.

I'd Monsta-liner'd my entire Jeep Comanche truck like 3-years ago and I've not had a single issue out of it, besides very minor chipping here and there on my tailgate from banging things onto it (which would happen with nearly anything used on it).  I've certainly not seen any peeling.  I too would not call it "flexible", but again no issues with it covering my entire Comanche.  I suppose the body of my 4x4 truck flexes, so Im not concerned with the roof of a wagon.  I love the stuff.

I did not sandblast or remove to bare metal and I didn't use Chassis Saver.  I used a DA sander and roughed up my original paint.  That's it, man.  I dunno, maybe thats why I had such resounding success compared to your expernience.





Thanks 94Woody.  The pics are just was I was hoping for.   I think I dig the roof rack delete.  I'll let you guys know what I come up with.

I'm not saying it's a bad product, but better on a frame or something that doesn't flex as much as bodywork based on my experience. Glad it worked (continues to work) for you on your Jeep - Cool setup!

Maybe following the instructions wasn't the thing to do ? Wouldn't be the first thing I broke trying to make it better...

coolwind57 wrote:

Thanks 94Woody.  The pics are just was I was hoping for.   I think I dig the roof rack delete.  I'll let you guys know what I come up with.

I remove it since I never use it. Cleans up the roof and removes a major source of dirt trapping and rust/rot, especially here in FL. Leaves a lot of holes that need filled and misshapen areas but I am coming up with a plan that doesn't involve a bunch of metal strips being put on the roof.

Would really love to remove the raised center strips that the rub strips sit on for complete smoothness.

94Woody wrote:

coolwind57 wrote:

Thanks 94Woody.  The pics are just was I was hoping for.   I think I dig the roof rack delete.  I'll let you guys know what I come up with.

I remove it since I never use it. Cleans up the roof and removes a major source of dirt trapping and rust/rot, especially here in FL. Leaves a lot of holes that need filled and misshapen areas but I am coming up with a plan that doesn't involve a bunch of metal strips being put on the roof.

Would really love to remove the raised center strips that the rub strips sit on for complete smoothness.

Yea I think I now know what you mean by "misshapen" areas. Taking off the outboard rack pieces leaves a pretty larger channel with a bit of an odd shape. I don't think I'll take the time to weld in a metal strip to cover it or anything. I'm still in thought about whether or not to do anything with it at all. Monstaliner texturing may be all I want to do to the roof, we'll see.

I ordered my Monstaliner this morning.

I cleaned out the channels to take care of any rust in them. Sealed everything back up with new seam sealer and painted it. I will eventually find large enough piece of trim to stuff in there. Like the pieces you see on the roof of new cars.

For the rear section, I will take two of the trim panels on there now and section/join them together to cover up the wiper delete.

No welding in more heavy steel and covering it with heavy fillers needed. A guy over at ISSF has a post detailing his extensive body work in eliminating his.

Perfect world the old roof panel would be removed and new smooth steel would replace it. Even one of those sliding cloth roofs would be better than the rack.

94Woody wrote:

I cleaned out the channels to take care of any rust in them. Sealed everything back up with new seam sealer and painted it. I will eventually find large enough piece of trim to stuff in there. Like the pieces you see on the roof of new cars.

For the rear section, I will take two of the trim panels on there now and section/join them together to cover up the wiper delete.

No welding in more heavy steel and covering it with heavy fillers needed. A guy over at ISSF has a post detailing his extensive body work in eliminating his.

Perfect world the old roof panel would be removed and new smooth steel would replace it. Even one of those sliding cloth roofs would be better than the rack.

I hadn't thought of a wiper delete.

I had to do some pretty extensive metal repairs around my right glass hinge. I think a leaky washer was the culprit. I cut out the bad stuff and welded in new sheet metal all around the hinge.

I just got up, so the plan for today is to go out and try to get the roof ready for Monstaliner. I expect it to arrive tomorrow. I'm going to go ahead and temporarily put the glass back on and see what she looks like without that back trim piece. I may wiper delete too depending on how things look.

Thanks for the updates.

Wiper delete works for me because it gives me some highly desirable spare parts to unload, lol.

Having the ability to weld puts you way ahead of the curve I can use the equipment at work but my skills in that department are severely lacking. I have a piece of steel that I intend to fill with holes and have one of the guys help me improve so that I can fill the 40 holes in my roof the proper way. Right now everything has a drop of silicone covering it.

Good thing I took some time to dig out the old seam sealer in the rain channel.  I found several areas of rust that needed to be addressed.  Can't see the corrosion unless you dig out the old sealer.

Looks like a store run to get a tube or two of seam sealer.


\

Typical on these cars thanks to the terrible sealer GM used. By now it has all been cracked for a long time and letting water get under it. Once you remove it all you can also take note of the terrible job they did spot welding the panels in that area.

I had this under mine.



That was driver side front. The other three corners all match. Really wish the rack would have been a low production option rather than standard issue.

Wow, looks like you had some sealant remaining at your rivnut holes.  I had none--zero evidence of it ever having sealant.

By the way, I bought some seam sealer at Advance Auto yesterday and used it.  Today, it is a bit blistered up in a few places--not bad, but nonetheless not nearly as smooth as I applied it.  Perhaps I layed it too thick or something.  

Taking the day off tomorrow from work to apply my newly arrived Monstaliner.

That sealant isn't factory. When I brought the wagon home in 17 the first thing I did was to pull the rack and clean everything up. When I put it back together I covered everything with sealer just to be safe.

By the way, I did complete the roof rack delete. I epoxy'd all holes and sealed up the rain channel with seam sealer and coated the entire surface with Monstaliner. I did decide to keep the rear wiper. I retained the trim piece that extends along the top of the windshield but I had to get creative. I cut each of the ends and using epoxy and bondo, created a pleasing contour that ended up looking just fine.

I had a lot of rust where the rear washer hose connected to the wiper assembly and had to do quite a bit of cutting and welding there. I went over it all with some fiberglass resin and cloth. No tellng how many years that damn washer line had been leaking, causing such cancer. I chose not to reconnect it.

I thought I'd be unhappy with leaving the rain channel open because it is considerable wider now that the rack isn't there but it doesn't bother me in the least. I thought of attaching/welding something along this channel to close the gap a bit, but couldn't come up with anything feasible. I think the textured Monstaliner kinda subdues it and like I say, it's not at all the visual problem I was fearing.

Deleting the rack certainly makes the wagon look less like the National Lampoon's Vacation mobile. And it instantly got rid of the moldy smell that was always present in the interior--which means no more leaks!

Cool - sounds like it turned out good. Any Pictures?

Nice. I have most everything stripped from mine. Need to fill in the holes and get things ready for paint.

Top half of my car is severely sunbaked thanks to so many days in the Florida sun. It will be a long time before I can ever get a proper paint job so I'm just going to 2 tone it for the time being.

Has anyone considered spraying the the roof with Plasti Dip to seal it? https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000LNN11G?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

I am thinking of doing this too, but my roof is not as flat with the sunroof glass.

Leaks are usually the sealer under the edges of the rack sides. There may be some rust on the rear vista glass support. You can get new well nuts for the center sliders. Be careful with the screws for the side rails, the rivnuts usually bind to the screws, and turn in the body instead of allowing the screws to be extracted. If that happens, you will be pulling the headliner to access the backsides of the rivnuts. There are some SAE size rivnuts that use a slightly larger screw, but the OEM rivnuts are no longer available. You also need to install them with an installer tool, or a homemade one. If you put new sealer in the channels under the rack edges, make sure it is to the same level as the original, or the rack will not fit properly.

Rack delete will look goofy with a Vista Glass roof because the glass will still be sitting there like a huge bump in the center of the roof.