[daniel35d]

My E91 has the tall type roof rails since it's a 2009 MY.

The low type roof rails didn't come untill 03/2010, not with the facelift as many seems to believe.

Anyway, I'm planning on retrofitting the low type and I have some questions that I hope can be answered by someone who has actually done this.

What I'm wondering is, besides the rails themself, do I need anything else? Judging by RealOEM it seems like the roof mouldings and clips is no longer needed when installing the low type?

This is how it looks for cars produced with the tall type rails (<-03/2010):


This is how it looks for cars produced with the low type rails (03/2010->).


As you can see, number 3 and 4 is gone. So I assume these can be removed together with the old rails?

What about seals? Are new ones needed?

[daniel35d]

bump

[daniel35d]

Very helpful forum I must say

[krhodes1]

There is a thread here somewhere of someone who did this, but I do not remember the details. I think it is pretty straightforward, the toughest part being the headliner removal.

I'd actually like to go the other way - I have the low profile rails and would much prefer to have the old style.

I private messaged with that guy to see about possibly buying his old rails, but never got the opportunity - he was not exactly local, but not ridiculously far way. I'll see if I can find the name and find the thread.

[krhodes1]

Turns out that thread was for DELETING the rails, but I think there is still a lot of good info in there for you.

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showt...ght=roof+rails

Good luck!

[daniel35d]

Originally Posted by krhodes1

There is a thread here somewhere of someone who did this, but I do not remember the details. I think it is pretty straightforward, the toughest part being the headliner removal.

I'd actually like to go the other way - I have the low profile rails and would much prefer to have the old style.

I private messaged with that guy to see about possibly buying his old rails, but never got the opportunity - he was not exactly local, but not ridiculously far way. I'll see if I can find the name and find the thread.

I can only find the Railectomy thread, which is about roof rail delete.

I ask specifically about going from tall to low because the low ones cover the whole part, while the tall only covers the parts where it's mounted, the rest is trim pieces between each mounting points.

So I'm curious as to what needs to be removed, what needs to stay, and if I need new or different type of clips and seals or if that is already attached to the rails themself (I'm buying used rails).

Yeah I looked at the DIY .pdf and I'm tempted to just pay someone else to do it haha. Partially because I don't have any indoor place to do it and this isn't the part of the year where I'd want to do this type of job out in the open.

[krhodes1]

Have you tried looking at the parts diagrams on realoem.com? I think if you cross-reference the two styles of rails, you should be able to figure out what is different and what is the same.

I did that years ago when I was thinking of doing this in the opposite direction. My feeling is that there isn't much different, but it's been too long for my ancient brain to remember any details.

[daniel35d]

Originally Posted by krhodes1

Have you tried looking at the parts diagrams on realoem.com? I think if you cross-reference the two styles of rails, you should be able to figure out what is different and what is the same.

I did that years ago when I was thinking of doing this in the opposite direction. My feeling is that there isn't much different, but it's been too long for my ancient brain to remember any details.

I mean, that's kind of what I've done. As shown by the screenshots in my first post.

It's also a bit confusing, because when you look at the car I selected that is newer than 03/2010, the clip is gone from the part diagram, but when you go to this part diagram, the clips are listed again.



Since I can't find anything about seals, I assume there are no rubber seals for either of the rail types?