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#1
Roof rails warped/deformed and won't stay down
SE Level Member
11-19-2018
I recently purchased a set of roof rails from somebody and installed one on my 2001 Monte Carlo. Yes I know this is GPF but I figured this forum is more active than the Monte forum and to my knowledge the roof rails are supposed to be directly interchangeable.
Anyways, upon installing it I immediately realized that the ends of the roof rail would not stay down and kept lifting up. If I press down on one side, the other side lifts up. If I press down on both sides, the middle lifts up. I used the 3M double sided bonding tape from AutoZone and made sure the channels were extremely clean before installing.
After noticing this I took the rail back off and came to the realization that the rail itself must be warped and is no longer conforming to the curvature of the roof. It seems to be slightly twisted in addition to the ends not curving down enough. My best guess is this happened when the seller was prying up on the ends trying to remove it off his car.
Has anybody had success trying to reshape the roof rails to better conform to the roof of the car? I was thinking of using a heat gun to heat it up and some kind of apparatus to help bend and twist them back where they need to be, however I'm having trouble visualizing what this apparatus would look like. I feel like if the shape was correct then the 3M tape should hold up just fine, if not I had also considered using some epoxy and clamping it down until the epoxy cures.
I'm open to any and all suggestions, really would like to get these installed correctly. Thanks!
Pictures of what I'm dealing with: Imgur: The magic of the Internet
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#2
Re: Roof rails warped/deformed and won't stay down
GTP Level Member
11-19-2018
The shape of the Monte channels might be different than the GP channels. Maybe the roof isn't as rounded.
I would do this:
Put Gorilla Glue on the ends. Put a lot of glue on, but not too much though, so it doesn't squish and push out, leaving a mess on your paint. Put a rag over the rail ends and roof so they don't scratch. Put 1 cinder block on top of each end, or 2, or 3 cinder blocks. Let the glue cure for 24hrs. with the weight of the blocks pushing down. I bet that will work. Doing it in a warm garage would help. Heat/warmth definitely makes plastic more malleable.
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#3
Re: Roof rails warped/deformed and won't stay down
SE Level Member
11-19-2018
I have spoke to a couple other Monte owners with roof rails who apparently did not have the same issue as me, so I'm not sure if it's the roof being different or just this particular set of rails being mis-shaped. Oh, and heat isnt really an issue since I live in Florida 
I'll give your suggestion a try, just feel like I should try to bend them back into shape by hand and confirm fitment before permanently gluing them onto the car. Thanks!
