Anyone using a factory rack without the gutter protection strips? The appear to be NLA and since my rack is NOS I always assumed they were in the box, but of course they aren't there. I'm sure I can make something that would work just fine, but I'm curious to what others are doing. Thanks!
My rack came with them, and they are pretty sturdy little plastic pieces that must do wonders to protect the metal down in there... No clue where you could even find a set of these, I'd just use something similar like a cut up old credit card maybe in a few layers, then use some 3M tape to affix it in there.
If anyone tries to modify the available ones from the 3 series, please post your results. I am curious how well they can work, and I am sure that others may be interested as well.
So I’m also looking at retrofitting an old rack to get a Christmas tree. Here is what I found
The screws should be M6x1.0x16mm. The original kit came with tamper resistant screws but you can achieve the same effect with a button head security Torx. The original hardware kit had a thread chaser to remove excess body paint from the mounting bosses on the car body. The bolt will be very tight without cleaning the threads first. There should be a flat washer under the mounting screw. An M6 rubber washer sits between the rack and the body nut. These can be easily found at a good hardware store or McMaster-Carr. The body protection strips are going to be difficult. You will need to make a cardboard template and cut it out of a thick piece of plastic. I think acetal would work. The OE double sided tape had 3M VHB adhesive to attach the strips to the car body. Without then, the rack will likely dent the body.
I may just fold down the seats as I haven’t figured out the plastic strips yet.
Trizzuth,
I wasn't clear. Your idea makes sense, I was just wondering if someone found another OEM gutter protector that may work. For examples, I did some browsing and the one from E82 (82710444761) seems like it may be modified to work and it is still available. I plan to look at pictures of other gutter protectors from other models that are currently available to visually see what looks closest, and just thought perhaps someone has done that exercise already and found a suitable replacement.
Terabass, All e39 should use them when installing roof rack. The problem is that BMW discontinued them, which is why we are discussing alternatives in this thread.
I am saying that regular E39's should still have them installed, so look at junk yards and so on. Plenty of scrapped E39's out there. Easy part to retrieve.
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