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MK4 3M Clear Bra Roof Rack Pad DIY
By: Steffenme1 |
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I
try to get out and mountain bike on the weekends when
I can, you know, to keep from getting too fat or lazy,
however installing a roof rack on the .:R presents
some problems......namely this......
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This
is a photo off my last car (a VR6 GTI) and you can see the debris
that builds up on the paint after just a short amount of time. This
was after only about three months, on a garaged, weekend driven
vehicle. All of it cleaned off, and with some polish
and wax was no worse for the wear, however gunk like that has
it's own bad mojo, so it won't be touching my .:R |
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So
here's what I did about it.
First I dry-fitted the rack and marked the location of the pads with masking
tape.
Front: |
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Back: |
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I
then removed the rack and placed more masking tape around the
marks I just made, this extra 1/2 inch all the way around gave
me the room I needed to install the 3m clear bra material I'd
be using. |
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And
here some of that material is. I had a hard time finding
this stuff cheaply on the net, but thankfully found a local shop
that was willing to part with some scrap. I cut four
pads for the rack itself, and four mini-pads for where the fairing
touches the roof of the vehicle. The fronts are 6
1/2" x 2" and the rears are 6 1/2" x 1 5/8", the little mini-pads
are 3/4" in diameter. |
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I
then sprayed the areas where the material was going with soapy
water and lined it up with the marks I made previously. If
you're going to do this, don't skip that step, this stuff if
hugely sticky, and you'll never get it placed correctly without
using the soapy water method. Here they are after
I placed them and let them dry.
Front: |
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Back: |
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I
ended up getting 1/4" around the base of each foot pad, so you
can barely see them at all when the rack is installed.
Front: |
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Back: |
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And
the final money shot........ |
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