hi everyone. i just bought a preowned mini today, 2009 cooper s. it has luggage racks. long story short, the seller said he'd take them off for me whenever he had a chance but not today because he was busy. he said all i needed was a screwdriver. but no. i got home, googled about it, it seems that i need the keys it was installed with. i saw a lot of videos & websites explaining how to install them, but when it comes to removing them, not many. then i read it would leave holes :( the car looks brand new. i wouldn't want to start damaging it already. is there any other way to take off the racks without hurting the car.? please someone tell me there is.! thank you so much for reading my question.
this is what it looks like

 

These are great luggage racks but a bit of a PIA put on and take off. First you need a key to unlatch the plastic cover at each end of each rack bar. Under each cover is a brass nut with a built in groove that engages 2 levers that engage a slot in the roof. You back out the nut and this disengages the levers from the slot. You will need to wiggle the rack a bit to help disengage the levers from the slots. Sometimes I will help disengage them using a screwdriver between the rack frame and the levers. I find it best to not loosen the screws holding the cross piece to the end pieces because, if they are not put back in the right place, it makes it harder to put the rack on the next time. Once the racks are off, the slots are somewhat hidden by the rain gutters. But there are nice plastic pieces that you can get to fill/cover the slots.

If you do a search on NAM, you will find a pretty good thread that has a lot of info about these racks. Take a look for it as it may cover other questions you may have.
Hope this helps.

 

on the r56's there should be no holes left after you remove the rack. I have a Yakima rack on mine and it mounted to slots under the rubber trim at the rain gutters. So just take your time removing it and you should be fine.

 

thank you for replying to me.!
i really thought it wouldn't be so hard to take off these racks.
i'm glad they wont leave holes. i kept loooking & saw that in fact, it's attached to little slots & some of the black rubber barrier was taking off to place them on the roof. i'll make sure to follow your instructions on taking them off.
now my only issue is that i don't have the key. i couldn't see any brand name on the racks, all i saw was on the key slots, a "610" engraved on them. i hope i can find the keys on ebay or something because i doubt the dealership has them, & i'm sure a regual screwdriver wont unlatch the covers. if i can't get them to unlatch, how can i even dismantle them in the first place.? :(
thank you for taking the time to help me out. i appreciate it a lot.

 

That is the key number. As this is a MINI rack a dealer should be able to get you a new key. That's where I would start. There are some vendors that post on NAM that may also be able to help.