I am not sure what it is actually called, but it is the trim that goes around the roof. I want to vinyl my roof, but want to do it correctly. I was wondering if that trim can be removed, and if so, is it difficult. I am sure there has got to be a way and I really don't want to have the vinyl stop at the trim and eventually come up. TIA

 

You're thinking of the drip rail. It's there to direct rain water down off the car instead of having it just run off the side. I have no idea what's involved or how difficult. You can check Realoem.com and see if there's an exploded diagram that may also give PN's if you booger something in the process.

 

Have you given a thought about what your going to do with your antenna? Will you be removing it completly?

 

well, to remove the drip rails, you must:

-open both doors

-pull at your black weather stripping, there are screws under there that you have to undo...

-once the weather stripping is pulled down (about half way down the door opening, you don't need to go much further) begin removing the screws that are underneath the roof edge.

-Once you have done that, you are almost home free, the very front of the drip edge, the piece that is over the a-pillar cover, locks in with a head and a slot, meaning it has to be slid forward before being pulled out, so, you have to start pulling near the b-pillar. The portion of the drip edge that is over the rear window just snaps in with clips, so it should pry off pretty easily.

-make sure that the drip edge is un-clipped all the way back once that is done, push the drip edge forward so that the "head" lines up with the hole in the "slot" and can be removed without any force.

Just be careful that you don't snap the front of the drip-edge off, because you will either have to glue it onto the car, or you will have to purchase a whole new drip edge...

I hope that this helps!

-Chase

 

Well, I have an '04, so the base can come off. I really don't listen to the radio because I listen to the motor when I drive, so I may just remove it totally and let the cable hang inside.

Thanks for the info. I hope to do this in about a month. I guess my next hurdle will be the sunroof

 

Thank you for this! Any tips on installing new dip rails? I have the entire part plus the two clips that are needed for installation. Should I start at the front and slide them back for the front corner piece to lock into place? Any help would be much appreciated!

EDIT: I'm not quite sure what the two clips are for. I'll try to find a diagram to see where they fit in.

 

hmmm... when I bought mine, they didn't come with any seperate clips.. can you either post a picture of them or describe them? Did you purchase your drip edges brand new?

-Chase

*edit* oh, and for your other question, you do have to start at the front so that the curved portion locks in place before you clip it in and screw it back into place.

 

I purchased the car from an independent dealer who agreed to buy the dip rails for me since the two corner pieces were missing. They're both brand new. He also gave me these:



I haven't looked at anything yet. I probably should before asking questions, but maybe someone is familiar with the process before I try to figure it out.

 

ah, I believe that I know what those are now. on the front of your vehicle, above the a-pillar covers, there should be a nub, just like each of those clips, on either side of the car. The small front portion of each drip edge, that is curved, has a hole and a slot that accepts these little nubs. I would suggest, since you got these nubs along with the rails, that you use a pair of pliers to pull out the old ones, and use these new ones in their place.

What will make things really easy is if you just slide these onto the back of your drip edges before you snap them on, so you don't have to go through the process of trying to slide them on before snapping the rest of the moulding on.

so basically, put these in the slots, and just snap your drip moulding in place, and then replace the screws that are in the door opening area.

Hope I could help. I'd offer to take apart my car and post pictures, however, I am really worried about un-doing my mouldings too much to where the clips don't grab any more. But, if you have any other questions or concerns, please let me know, I'll be happy to try and answer them or walk you through any processes...

-Chase

 

Thank you so much Chase! I really appreciate it! I may tackle it tomorrow if the weather permits.

 

Definitely post pics when you are done, this looks like an interesting project.

Good luck!

 

So I'm currently in the process of doing this. The driver's side went on VERY easily. No problems at all. The passenger's side is giving me problems. It seems like it's sitting a little too low, and I have a feeling either the front or back is going to pop out. I don't think the trim piece is straight.

On top of that, my black a-pillar cover snapped. A large triangular piece in the top left hand corner just snapped off. I think my hand hit it while I was trying to move the trim piece to the rear. It still shouldn't have snapped. Upon removing the a-pillar cover, I noticed the underlying piece was missing thanks to the idiot who replaced the windshield for the previous owner. They did an absolutely TERRIBLE job replacing teh windshield. As soon as I purchased the car, the driver's side a-pillar flew off along with the front piece on the drip rail. The front of the pass. side drip rail was already missing, and apparently whoever replaced the windshield decided that the underlying piece for the pass. side a-pillar cover wasn't necessary.

As if that wasn't enough, the little hook on the front of the trim piece, where the clip locks into, snapped as well. Now I need to get some super strong glue to glue that together. I had to pull the clip out of the car, and it bent a little bit.

So now my car is without an a-pillar cover and without a drip rail on the passenger side. I'm going to pick up a new a-pillar cover and underlying piece from the dealership and after that's on, I will try to fit the seemingly crooked drip rail as best as possible.

The guy at the dealership told me they couldn't replace the crooked drip rail, even though it's brand new and uninstalled. They'd have to order it anyway. The way these drip rails were designed is terrible IMO. I have a feeling the fronts will just fly off again on the highway.

I took some pics along the way and will post a how-to if anyone is interested. The process is easy, but when you're working with a car that had its windshield replaced by complete idiots, and a new drip rail that seems crooked, things seem to go down the hole.

 

I wanted to do this today, but it was raining here and may rain again tomorrow. Any pics of this process would help alot. I will also try to take pics.

 

Niko:

You may have the same problem with your drip rail that I did, the first one that I installed wouldn't stay clipped on the back. I just gave up and purchased another one. I have the feeling that my first one, and possibly your crooked one, were stored on end instead of laying on their side.

My suggestion, replace both of your a-pillar covers, and if your drip rail doesn't fit when you put it on, just get another one, it will drive you crazy when it pops off every once in a while...

-Chase

 

Do you have any other pictures of "Cecilia"? I can't think that I've seen a MINI where the bonnet stripes were two different colours. From what I can see in your sig picture, it looks very sharp!

 

PM sent

Once again, it is raining, so I can't do anything