Got my OEm 'style' roof rack installed. I should have listened to you guys.

One of the joys of the internet is the anonymity it brings. With that, we can share our screw ups much more freely so others can learn....

I ordered a 200 dollar OEM 'style' roof rack from ebay last week. Many of you said to stick with OEM, but I was out to prove you wrong.

It arrived last night. Well packaged, each part was individually wrapped in foam cushion and bubble wrap. Thats when it started....

The instructions were bad. Bad even by chinese knock-off standards. It kept referring to parts that weren't with the kit. I was a little confused but got to work.

Heres the BIGGEST problem- the metal mounting brackets were almost 1/4 too high. No matter of bending them or pushing them down worked. I had to CUT THEM IN HALF and reweld them to a proper height. I was going to just return the kit but Id already torn out my rain strip moulding so I was committed. (I wasnt going to drive around all week looking for the two little plastic clips that hold the rubber in the channel....)

It took me 6 hours to install this thing. The cross bars require a prybar to open them up. I fixed 99% of the gaps with my cut/weld solution but there is still one small buckle near the front that only I will ever notice...but it will forever haunt me. All in all, sure, it looks exactly like OEM, and it will serve my purpose (the most the rack will see is my canoe 4-5 times a year) but it was NOT worth the complications.

Stay away from these OEM 'style' racks unless you want to waste an entire afternoon and have access to a welder.

 

Looks good , but you should of listened to the internet (because everything on the internet is true)

 

I like to live fast and take chances, what can I say?

 

yeah, there is often a BIG difference between OEM, and OEM "Style"...

 

I understood that going into this. I just figured for the 150 dollar difference, Id be able to bend a bracket or replace a screw here and there. Now that I see yours, I can tell you that my 'OEM STYLE' rack is about 1 inch longer than stock. Its not really OEM at all. 8*(

Like most guys here, I am a tinkerer. With enough time and money, I can fix anything. I ENJOY fixing stuff. When I was younger, I had *far* more time than money. It was fun then, spend a few bucks and MacGyver anything until it worked. As I get older, I find myself at that impasse where I have almost enough money, and almost enough time.....its totally a 1st world problem, but I have to decide if I want to save a buck and cob-job it or pay a few more bucks and be done with it. I have to cob-job my 40 year old Corvette every time something breaks down....but my 2 year old truck, when Im adding accessories?

Age is teaching me that I need to stop cob-jobbing shit and just spend the money.

 

the oem roofrack has a potential to leak if not installed correctly, I can only imagine an oem style roofrack being even more likely to leak

 

I don't think it's spending a few more bucks and being done with it . I think it's spending money and doing it the right way , when you buy cheap you get cheap . You have a nice truck , why cheap out on it ?

 

Someone once told me," it only hurts once"

Reference buying cheap or paying more for quality.

 

You got it

I realized years ago when I was starting out in my trade that I wanted tools but I wanted To get all my tools but I wanted good tools . I realized in the end I didn't want a tool box full of Japanese junk in the end . It took me longer to get nice stuff but now I got a toolbox full of high quality tools that everybody envies . I take excellent care of all my stuff so it will last a lifetime , and I carry that over to my vehicals also (they don't last a lifetime but they are in excellent shape when I sell them and move on). I don't always have ton of mods but the ones I do have are high end.

 

I have some great news for you, OP.

My OEM roof rack went in quickly, with no issues... and you could save 15% on car insurance with GEICO.

 

You get a 10k,20k ,30k dollar truck, why put shit on it and junk it up .... I'm not saying the OP put shit on his truck either , his rack looks good he just had to go through more work in the end . Someone else that wasn't as mechanically inclined might of just slapped it on and called it a day and in the end they get what they pay for

 

The cheap almost always comes out more expensive.
Edit. I leaned my lesson with sliders. Lol

 

we win some, we loose some... thats how it goes...

 

There is "cheap" and there is "less expensive" - there is a difference. Not withstanding the OP's experience, the aftermarket is thriving on less expensive alternatives to OE.

 

I learned years ago that "Cheaper" quite often means "More Expensive" in the long run! And, I got my roof rack from a member on here who took it off his truck so I got it used, and saved money even though it IS an OEM rack. Check out the stuff for sale on TW in the threads, and you can save money quite often even WITH shipping. My Access Cover bed cover was bought used as well, just a hint...

 

Im not against used parts. Id spent some time calling around reputable wrecking yards and nobody had anything. I looked at the for sale items here (albeit briefly) and didn't see any racks for sale.

Well, for the time being, my Chineseium rack is installed and doing its job. Maybe Ill put an OEM on it in a few years.

 

Yeah, quite often finding what you are looking for on here IS a matter of timing, no argument there... my list of scores from here included the roof rack, the bed cover, headlight eyebrows, "chrome" mirror covers...

 

Hope it doesn't leak!

I had to go to the dealership 3x to fix the leaks on my OEM roof rack. They did the install, thank god for warranty lol!