Roof Rack Delete How To with Pics

C

CBCTDI

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2011
Location
Acton, Ontario
TDI
2013 Golf Wagon, 2006 Jeep Liberty, - 2000 Golf, - 2005 Passat Wagon, - 1990 Nissan Terrano
I'm missing a roof rail cover...dealer only choice?

Anybody know of a source (besides dealer) for item #8 in the OP diagram (front left rail "end cover")? I've been searching here and other places using various combinations of roof/rack/rail/bars/covers/cap etc. and can't find the specific part anywhere (search results are swamped by results for OEM and aftermarket crossbars).

Appreciate any info, thanks!
 
shane.short

shane.short

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2015
Location
Oahu, Hawaii
TDI
2001 Jetta Sedan 5spd, 2000 Jetta Sedan 5spd, 2011 JSW DSG(sold back to VW)
Try parts.com. Look under body hardware > roof > luggage carrier.. find the OEM part # and then try googling the #.. ecstuning has oem parts
 
Last edited:
C

CBCTDI

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2011
Location
Acton, Ontario
TDI
2013 Golf Wagon, 2006 Jeep Liberty, - 2000 Golf, - 2005 Passat Wagon, - 1990 Nissan Terrano
Thanks, but no luck either place...at least with the existing search tools on their sites. Might actually have to start talking to people...or just go to a dealer...PITA at any time for me, and even more so at this time of year...was hoping for an easy click-and-wait solution.
 
frugality

frugality

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 19, 2003
Location
Spring Lake, Michigan
TDI
none, 2016 GTI
It's most likely a dealer-only part. If you were in the U.S., I'd point you to 1stvwparts.com, which is a VW dealer in Washington state and has it for $49.68 ($69.00 list price), but usually the shipping pretty much kills the savings anyway if you're only getting 1 item. Might as well just go to the dealer.
 
C

CBCTDI

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2011
Location
Acton, Ontario
TDI
2013 Golf Wagon, 2006 Jeep Liberty, - 2000 Golf, - 2005 Passat Wagon, - 1990 Nissan Terrano
Thanks frugality, I suspect you are right.

p.s. checked ECS, they said since the 2013 golf wagon wasn't sold in the US, they don't know the part #, however if I knew the # they could probably get it.
 
frugality

frugality

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 19, 2003
Location
Spring Lake, Michigan
TDI
none, 2016 GTI
The Golf Sportwagen was known as the Jetta Sportwagen in the U.S. from 2009-2014. The part should be the same. You guys got different interior trim configurations, and some things like engine heaters, but it's essentially the same vehicle that came off the assembly line in Puebla, Mexico.

As of 2015, it's known as the Golf Sportwagen down here, too.
 
N

not2shabby

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2013
Location
Westerville, Ohio
TDI
2010 Jetta Sportwagen
Just removed the racks from my '10'. I've been using it for courier work lately so 2 or 3 more mpg's sound good to me. I kinda like the look...a little longer and sleeker to my eye. I'll report back if I see significant improvement.
 
D

Darth_Furious

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
TDI
2015 GSW, DSG
not2shabby said:
Just removed the racks from my '10'. I've been using it for courier work lately so 2 or 3 more mpg's sound good to me. I kinda like the look...a little longer and sleeker to my eye. I'll report back if I see significant improvement.
Click to expand...
you should notice a significant reduction in wind noise, especially on the freeway.
 
N

not2shabby

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2013
Location
Westerville, Ohio
TDI
2010 Jetta Sportwagen
Darth_Furious said:
you should notice a significant reduction in wind noise, especially on the freeway.
Click to expand...
Bingo! I like the look too. Hard to tell if MPG went up or not, no 2 days are alike doing dispatch courier work, but today was a lot of downtown/less freeway and I ended up at 37.7 mpg. I average anywhere between 34-38 usually, so I'm leaning toward believing it did help.




For now I just cut some small circles of black Gorilla duct tape to cover up the holes until I find a better solution. They held up to 75 mph cruising just fine.
Now I'm thinking to black out the chrome strip around the windows and do the wheels black....
 
Last edited:
S

stoner-tdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2015
Location
cypress, TX
TDI
jetta sportwagen
old thread I know.....

Do the holes need to be plugged? As in if I leave them out will water come pouring into my car???

I have had a few ideas in my head for them...
- delete
- CF wrap the rails
- paint white

I would like to remove them and see if the eye likes it after a few days.. if I can skip out on plugging the holes for now I will do it later.

I don't want to remove the rails to find that I need to seal the holes and seal them, and then find out i don't like the look and have to remove sealant and yada yada yada.

see where i am going :)
 
S

stoner-tdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2015
Location
cypress, TX
TDI
jetta sportwagen
i just saw the link so it looks like there is one hole in the front for alignment, but it looks like no one confirmed if it actually went "into" the car (only got an assumption).

im going to see about using the plug method, but look into using some 3M tape to seal it.
 
ATR

ATR

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Location
Baltimore
TDI
2011 Golf TDI 6MT
stoner-tdi said:
old thread I know.....

Do the holes need to be plugged? As in if I leave them out will water come pouring into my car???

I have had a few ideas in my head for them...
- delete
- CF wrap the rails
- paint white

I would like to remove them and see if the eye likes it after a few days.. if I can skip out on plugging the holes for now I will do it later.

I don't want to remove the rails to find that I need to seal the holes and seal them, and then find out i don't like the look and have to remove sealant and yada yada yada.

see where i am going :)
Click to expand...
Post #4 in this thread covers the hole problem.

In the mean time you could use electrical or vinyl tape as a temporary solution. I'm 90% sure that the holes do open into the car.
 
C

calimustang

Veteran Member
Joined
May 17, 2010
Location
Central FL
TDI
2011 JSW DSG (buyback, RIP), 2014 JSW TDI, 2015 Passat TDI, 2013 Jetta TDI.
By now, those TDI stores such as idparts.com etc should have roof rack delete kit already.... that definitely would save our headaches.
 
S

smatias4

New member
Joined
Feb 20, 2018
Location
PT
TDI
Passat
Jim'stdi said:
I am thinking of removing the factory rack. I read a couple of other threads on this and it seems that people were having difficulty removing the front and rear covers with out breaking the inside tabs off. I had success doing this and wanted to share with others how to do this.

Here is a parts diagram showing all the parts.


Here is the procedure for doing this.


It really helps if you have the right tool!


Position the tool right here and gently pry it up.


Here is the piece with the outside tabs unlocked.


Now here is the trick! Push this piece towards the center of the car and roll it up. The tabs on the inside will move out of their locked position and can then be lifted off.


Here is the piece completely unlocked.



Completely removed.



All 4 tabs intact.




One side off.


Now I would like to know what to do about the holes. I am thinking about covering them with some vinyl like they use at the sign shops. For those that did this could you repost what you did and where you got the material?
Click to expand...
hi all.
by chance does anyone have the original photos from this post?
thanks in advance.
 
Porch

Porch

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2019
Location
Asheville, NC
TDI
2011 jetta sportwagen tdi 6spd
Ditto on original photos request- looking to remove mine so I can wrap the roof in white vinyl and close the sunroof forever, then reinstall the rails. I have a temporary piece of vinyl up there now, and it solves the water entry and awful heat dome properties of the sunroof perfectly, but installing it cleanly with the rails on was impossible.
 
DivineChaos

DivineChaos

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 27, 2019
Location
Minnesota
TDI
mk6 jetta sportwagen tdi
DivineChaos said:
I've only pulled a headliner to replace a pano. If I pulled my rails I'd use a bolt together type seal. Something silicone
Click to expand...
There was a guy on here that did it. Car looked like a Volvo without the rails he saw marginal mpg improvements. He had a slicktop so I couldn't comment on extra chassis flex.
 
C

calimustang

Veteran Member
Joined
May 17, 2010
Location
Central FL
TDI
2011 JSW DSG (buyback, RIP), 2014 JSW TDI, 2015 Passat TDI, 2013 Jetta TDI.
DivineChaos said:
There was a guy on here that did it. Car looked like a Volvo without the rails he saw marginal mpg improvements. He had a slicktop so I couldn't comment on extra chassis flex.
Click to expand...
yeah he reported 3 mpg gains. my JSW averages 47-52 mpg so the extra 3 is super nice plus suspension updates coming soon so it will definitely help her big time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top