[Brumby Boy]

Hay guys, I'm looking to do my first mod to my SH9 XT, I want to pull the roof racks off because I'll never use them, plus they ruin the smooth clean look for a beautiful car.

Now I understand that the Forester X base model comes without roof racks there is the states, and here in OZ all foresters come with them even in the "Povo Pack" so I cant buy the bungs that are replaced by the roof rack through my local dealer and I cant find them on japanparts, so I was wondering if someone had a set they would be willing to sell me for cheap or at least get me the part numbers so I can order them.

Any help or info would be appreciated

 

[funkymonkey1002]

Just fyi its a pretty involved swap. The headliner and a lot of interior panels have to be removed to get at the bolts through the roof.

 

[Brumby Boy]

Cheers for the heads up, it's all good tho, I'm a mechanic so done plenty of involved work, had to pull a sunroof out of a 05 XTP so this should be a walk in the park compared to that.

 

[RAPTR]

I did the roof rack delete on my SH and I basically had to order miscellaneous fasteners, and roof molding. The roof moldings have sections where you can pop a plastic piece off the molding and then you can attach roof mounts if you want to. You can see the little rectangular pieces to pop off in the pic below.

 

[Brumby Boy]

Did you have to replace the entire roof moulding or just those plastic bungs? I don't suppose you still have the part numbers? the problem I'm having is that here in Australia the parts manual doesn't have a listing for them so therefore I can order them, I'm going to have to ring up a dealer over there in the states to get them, if I had part numbers it would make it all the more easy.

PS: what are those wheels? they look sweet

 

[RAPTR]

Did you have to replace the entire roof moulding or just those plastic bungs? I don't suppose you still have the part numbers? the problem I'm having is that here in Australia the parts manual doesn't have a listing for them so therefore I can order them, I'm going to have to ring up a dealer over there in the states to get them, if I had part numbers it would make it all the more easy.

PS: what are those wheels? they look sweet

A couple of things to note. No US dealership was willing to ship the roof moldings to me. I had to order them through a local dealership. A bunch of them said that they wouldn't ship because of how fragile they are and how big the boxes are that it would be cost prohibited.

You have to replace the entire roof molding on both sides. The rectangular bungs are included on each molding.
91046SC000 - Right Side roof molding x1
91046SC010 - Left Side roof molding x1

Now the question that you need to find out is that do you need the USDM part numbers or the JDM part numbers. There is some slight difference between the two.

The Wheels are Rota Torque and they are an aggressive fitment. 18x9.5 +35mm offset.

 

[Brumby Boy]

Cheers, thats the info i needed, is there any parts that go under the roof mould to seal the holes where the rack mounts? And i'll probably end up needing the JDM ones which could be a problem, cheers for the info. Much appreciated.

thanks for the info on the wheels, i was looking for 20's but now i kinda want them, what tyre are you running? 255/45?

 

[RAPTR]

Cheers, thats the info i needed, is there any parts that go under the roof mould to seal the holes where the rack mounts? And i'll probably end up needing the JDM ones which could be a problem, cheers for the info. Much appreciated.

thanks for the info on the wheels, i was looking for 20's but now i kinda want them, what tyre are you running? 255/45?

Check out http://www.subarugenuineparts.com/ in their OEM catalog and they have illustrations for all the roof hardware needed for the attachment of the moldings. Removing the roof liner sucks. There's so much trim you have to remove to gain proper access to the bolts that are holding the existing roof mounts. The other thing you get to see is all the side airbags. I love the way it looks without the big bulky racks. I wish we had the 08 FXT racks.

To fit my wheel set-up on 18 x 9.5 I had to roll the fenders and trim the fender liners. I'm also on STi struts and springs so I'm much lower than a stock SH (5.5" lower lol). I run 245/40/18s and as soon as I bought them I told myself I should have bought the 255s. I always ran 255s on my STi but I got paranoid that they wouldn't fit with my set-up and settled on the 245s. Oh well..

 

[Brumby Boy]

Too easy, thanks again for the info, ill check it out.

I'm going to get 08 WRX struts and peders lowered forester springs as soon as KYB release the struts at the end of next month and put a whiteline swaybar on the back to start off with and I think those Rotas would look good even with the dark grey of my SH

 

[RAPTR]

Too easy, thanks again for the info, ill check it out.

I'm going to get 08 WRX struts and peders lowered forester springs as soon as KYB release the struts at the end of next month and put a whiteline swaybar on the back to start off with and I think those Rotas would look good even with the dark grey of my SH

You might run into issues with trying to fit forester springs on the WRX struts. The forester struts are much much longer than the WRX and therefore the Forester springs are so much bigger. If I were you I would run WRX struts with STi type springs. I absolutely love the ride quality of my current set-up and when the struts fail I'm probably going the coilover route. KW Varant 3.

As for the wheels, Rota offers many color options that you may enjoy better for your exterior color.

 

[NoelSibs]

I am also interested in removing my roof rails on my SH09. However everything I have read about people having done this have all said it's more trouble than it's worth! Is this really the case? Is there some sort of manual or thread I can follow to remove all the panels required? Raptr in your opinion was it really that difficult? Brumby Boy, if you could take pictures of the process myself and others like me that are interested in roof rail deletion would be very grateful I'm sure...

Raptr your FXT looks awesome. I read your posts about blacking out the headlights and was successful in doing so as well... Thanks for that...

Good luck to both of you on your mods! Thanks for any info you have for me and those others thatnare interested

 

[RAPTR]

I am also interested in removing my roof rails on my SH09. However everything I have read about people having done this have all said it's more trouble than it's worth! Is this really the case? Is there some sort of manual or thread I can follow to remove all the panels required? Raptr in your opinion was it really that difficult? Brumby Boy, if you could take pictures of the process myself and others like me that are interested in roof rail deletion would be very grateful I'm sure...

Raptr your FXT looks awesome. I read your posts about blacking out the headlights and was successful in doing so as well... Thanks for that...

Good luck to both of you on your mods! Thanks for any info you have for me and those others thatnare interested

I had a design image in my head for the SH and it did not include the roof rack so it had to go not matter how hard it could be. Just be ready to be good at pulling plastic trim and everything should be just fine. Also, make sure you have a panel popper tool set, otherwise the percentage for damage just went up. Really, the hardest part for me was getting someone to order all the necessary parts.

As for the trim removal, start from the rear and move forward. To gain access to the "B" pillars you must pop out the ABS plug to access a screw. If you have a moon roof, you must remove moon roof head liner trim guard. Also, all over head lighting must come out. Take you time and no Hulk strength necessary.

When you are done with everything, you will be very satisfied with what you accomplished. In my area there are no Fozz's that are XT and without rails. Also, the Foresters that do come without rails, never include a spoiler. So if you have a SH FXT without rails, it's very rare. Rare points +100000 :bling:

 

[NoelSibs]

@Raptr: Here in the Philippines all of the Fozzies, XT or not have roof rails as standard... I'll need to find a way to get this tools here. I don't know if they exist in the Philippines hehehe

Thanks for the advice! Perhaps when I get all the parts and tools together I'll get started on the task of removing the roof rails. Til then, thanks a lot... This really helps a lot... Wish me luck! I hope I have the patience not to ruin anything hehehe

 

[RAPTR]

@Raptr: Here in the Philippines all of the Fozzies, XT or not have roof rails as standard... I'll need to find a way to get this tools here. I don't know if they exist in the Philippines hehehe

Thanks for the advice! Perhaps when I get all the parts and tools together I'll get started on the task of removing the roof rails. Til then, thanks a lot... This really helps a lot... Wish me luck! I hope I have the patience not to ruin anything hehehe

Good luck to you and make sure to post some pictures when you are finished. Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

[illmannered]

Raptr.. your foz looks tough.,,,

 

[RAPTR]

Raptr.. your foz looks tough.,,,

Thank you sir!

 

[NoelSibs]

When I find some time and some energy I'll post up the pics and get on it

Cheers!

Thanks for the input and info...

 

[MFB]

Very nice! I was told those moldings get damaged easily during shipment from SOA to dealer. (same as you) How did you get to convince the local dealer and what was the cost involved?

Now if you wanted a roof rack (for boat, bike, etc), Yakima would work with your current set up right?

 

[RAPTR]

Very nice! I was told those moldings get damaged easily during shipment from SOA to dealer. (same as you) How did you get to convince the local dealer and what was the cost involved?

Now if you wanted a roof rack (for boat, bike, etc), Yakima would work with your current set up right?

It was interesting because they had no issues with shipping it to a dealership but they would not ship to a residence. The cost was stealership prices.

Yeah, you can use the clamp mount or if you do your install correctly, there are built in mounts under the moldings and Subaru makes a cross bar set-up to adapt into those new mounts. Those mounts are the ones that have those built in rectangular covers on the molding.

 

[Geoffoz]

I would love to do this to my Foz, just having that classy sleek look would make it slightly more unique.
Has anyone been able to take pictures while they did this?
About how long is the proceedure likely to take?
How much trouble is it on a scale from 1 - 5?
How much is it likely to cost?