Drip rails on roof paint issue

[sting me]

Are these just pressure-fit in the roof? Or are they clipped or screwed from the underside?

 

[MerlintheMad]

Are these just pressure-fit in the roof? Or are they clipped or screwed from the underside?

Clearly, you are not a @rocket23 fan, or you would already know that they clip on. Talk to him, or read back over some of his posts on how he took his off, buffed them down to the metal and put them back on. (I love creative frugality!)

 

[BAM]

So they are just not painting them but leaving them black? My Stinger is black so I imagine it may blend in okay until the rubber fades.

How do your new ones look?

Picture of mine's replaced. Top feel like hard rubber and that's what my service rep said it was, not sure about the steel others are mentioning. May be steel underneath.

 

[rocket23]

Yes steel underneath.

 

[Heath68]

Thank you for the replies. I was hoping to post here once I had my moldings replaced however the dealer is still waiting on the parts.

On the plus side, they said they would paint them however, I wonder if that is a good idea since it will happen again. Also while they were looking at my vehicle I mentioned the window trim, the aluminum stuff, and they agreed to replace that under warranty as well as it has the water marks others have noted.

I was informed that I am the second Stinger owner at this dealership waiting for the same parts. Just putting this out there for anyone else wondering about warranty claims. It’s all new to me.

 

[rocket23]

Thank you for the replies. I was hoping to post here once I had my moldings replaced however the dealer is still waiting on the parts.

On the plus side, they said they would paint them however, I wonder if that is a good idea since it will happen again. Also while they were looking at my vehicle I mentioned the window trim, the aluminum stuff, and they agreed to replace that under warranty as well as it has the water marks others have noted.

I was informed that I am the second Stinger owner at this dealership waiting for the same parts. Just putting this out there for anyone else wondering about warranty claims. It’s all new to me.

Leave 'em unpainted....A little armor all or tire shine will go along way ........or strip 'em down to the metal like I did....course My car is silver so it kinda looks allright.

 

[Snicklefritz]

Eech. Scabrous. The cracking wouldn't be so bad. But the fading/discoloration is beyond ugly.

I ordered from "Kia Parts Now". And they were as usual very quick getting my new drip rails to me. Trouble is, only the LH side is unpainted black rubber. RH is Ceramic Silver, WTH?! I get to send it back for a replacement that is unpainted.

My plan is to take the suggestion above and apply a shiny clear finish to the bare rubber. I am thinking of going ceramic coating. I would get the kind that goes on with a pad and just apply the ceramic with the drip rails in place. Should work to glossify the matte/flat bare rubber and approximate the piano black accents all over the car - the closest of which lies directly ahead bordering the sunroof.

I'll keep this thread posted on my progress. Next step is to first get the RH replaced with an unpainted one.

 

[Snicklefritz]

Kia Parts Now is flakey. I was on the phone yesterday morning for what felt like half the morning. Talked to a live "tech" three times and got nowhere. Kia Parts Now website has an email window that you fill out with your information/questions - I had the dickens of a time finding my way to it, but finally did. You put in your VIN and email addy. Why the VIN is required I cannot fathom. And if your VIN fails their decoder you cannot send your email query. You may see where this is going already. Both my Stinger VINs failed to decode, ergo, I could not talk to anyone who is a "parts specialist" to assure that I would get an unpainted RH drip rail replacement when I send back the Ceramic Silver one. I explained what was going on to the third live voice I waited for on the phone, and she said, "Oh, you will need to go to the dealer." WTH?! Nobody with a live voice is a "parts specialist" who can help with "technical" stuff like ordering an unpainted drip rail. Bizarro world stuff.

I printed out a "return merchandise authorization" form and sent back the RH drip rail requesting a refund. I had to pay USPS postage to do this.

I ordered an unpainted RH drip rail from the dealer and according to the guy should have it tomorrow or Thursday.

 

[Snicklefritz]

RH drip rail came in - that was gratifyingly quick.

Out of the many ceramic wax offerings, from Griot's to Meg's to Turtle Wax, I took the Turtle Wax "Ceramic acrylic black wax". Since the rubber coating on the drip rails is black I figured a wax that is black wouldn't hurt, when trying for a deeper and hopefully glossy black finish.

Uh, no. It didn't work at all. I may be protecting the bare rubber from sun and weather, but that's about all. The finish didn't change one iota from untreated, as you can tell by comparing the first pic with the finished project pics.

So, I am open to suggestions, advice, experience, in how to gloss up my new drip rails without painting them. And that includes clear coat. It will just craze like the original blue paint and clear coat already did.

 

[Snicklefritz]

Developments.

I had the brilliant, logical idea of using tire shine. The first one I selected of the many offerings was Meg's “hot shine reflect tire shine”. Indeed, when you hover over the drip rail you can see yourself in the brilliantly reflective surface. The dealbreaker is that it DOESN'T DRY! I left it overnight and it still was wet to the touch. Stupid. I took it back to O'Reilly and exchanged it for a spray bottle of One X Pro High-Gloss Tire Shine. This is evidently O'Reilly's competition with Meguiar's. My application method is rather cool, in my opinion. It is really annoying to have to clean off the paint when applying these "tire shine" sprays. And the idea of removing the drip rails each time is a bad one. So, I need a way to apply the tire shine without getting any on the paint. I bought some 2" wide foam brushes and cut one to the width of the drip rail. Then I held it in front of the tire shine spray bottle and got a liberal amount of the liquid into the foam, then I did a single pass on the drip rail end to end. One X Pro "High-Gloss" Tire Shine does seem to be drying okay. But I must not know what "high gloss" means, ha hah. Satin, maybe, but not high gloss. Still, they look pretty good I think.

Yeah, I moved them to the Silky Silver. My other set of drip rails is coming, probably tomorrow. And the body shop said that this pair cannot be given a gloss coat, or painted at all, because I have impregnated the rubber with tire shine compounds. So, If I want truly piano black gloss from clear coat or gloss black paint, I need to give the shop untouched drip rails. I am considering doing that on the Micro Blue.

 

[Snicklefritz]

That's "Pro X One", by the way, not "One X Pro", heh.

But the clarification is moot at this point, because I am on spray bottle number THREE, which I am taking back to O'Reilly, because the danged schnozzles only work the first time, then crap out and all you get out of them is a little spit that moistens the schnozzle and won't spray onto anything. What's up with that??? I think the compound is good, but the delivery hardware - the schnozzle - is a cheap pos. At least, that is my personal experience.

 

[Snicklefritz]

Now I am trying "Mother's Back to Black", the bottle, not the aerosol can. If I get the foam brush wet first, the creamy liquid will penetrate the foam enough to treat one entire drip rail. I am not following directions. For this job I am letting the stuff sit unbuffed. It has a nice sheen that is water repellent, so, it won't just wash off in the rain. After a car wash it is easy peasy to just put another coat on.