I don't know what I'm doing wrong here. I loosened the nut to the point that it isn't tensioning the little "feet" anymore, but the rails just won't come off the roof. Any advice?

 

Have you tried loosening the screws underneath the actual rail? You should get a little more wiggle room. Lay some towels or a blanket down on the roof if you haven't already.

Also, IIRC, you want to fold/push these inward, then pull out.

 

I ran into the same problem last weekend too. A couple of the feet were refusing to come out. Keep at it, wiggle the "clamps" a little so they're wide open, and pull in different directions - they'll come out eventually.

I also found that it helps to shift around the top screw in the channel that it's in (not the one that you loosened, the one at the top of the clamp in muzak's picture) . That changes the angle of the clamps a little.

 

Good feedback, thanks! Yeah, they ended up coming out by just more time spent wiggling them out. I'm assuming that over time, the more they're used, they'll start becoming easier to remove, just due to wear, etc. One thing that helped was loosening the allens a bit to gain that extra bit of movement.

Lesson learned: Though there is that rubber/plastic-y "buffer" between the paint and rack mechanism, there's still the opportunity for abrasion to occur. I definitely scuffed the clear coat a bit, but nothing that a small bit of polish won't cure. Next time I think I'm going to place a small bit of painter's tape on the roof while installing or removing.

 

That's what I meant about laying down towels. Protecting your roof. Painters tape will work just as well.