CBI Cab Height rack

1st post. Long time lurker:

( I regret not researching more on this rack. I should have gotten it bare metal and had it properly coated.)

I bought this rack on Tacoma Beast in july 22' (1st mistake was using tacoma beast). Installed in August 8th 22'.

Rust is now coming through the 'powder coat' all over. On the flats. In the corners. The welds. Many of the cut outs.

I contacted TB to get a claim started. Progressing to sending them photos of the rack and the condition it is in. I was initially offered a 250$ refund to cover the care of getting the rack cleaned off and re-coated.

I went to some 4 ⭐️ + rated powder coating services in 4 counties around me. Quotes were 1500$ down to 750$. Prices include sand blasting, primer, powder coating and tax.

After 2 weeks of these emails back n forth with TB who is being middle man with CBI, I was told by TB that CBI will cover 350$ of the cost to take care of the rust that is everywhere on this rack.

I am wondering if anyone here knows if I should keep fighting to get CBI to cover 100% of this cost since it is their fault for the horribly cheap 'powder coating' that I paid the extra for. There was no primer put on the bare steel. Areas were missed or extremely thin. I think it was just spray painted but that is just my opinion.

It has only been 6 months in WA weather and it is rusting everywhere. That should be covered 100%. Right? Or am I being naive?

I am including photos to show the rust coming through the coating. Or rusting in areas that were not covered.

 

Hi,

I had the CBI roof rack height bed rack on my truck for a exactly 1 year, and just swapped it out for their bed bars I purchased used from someone… changed my build… Not because of the rust*

with that said, yes their powdercoat seemed to almost chip away at some spots on the front crossbar and lots of surface rust formed on the inside grooves of the main side pieces. I would venture to say that occurs because the water pools up and doesn’t drain because it level, or because it’s on an incline and pools in the corners of the rack.

I continued to just use rust oleum black spray paint and touch up when needed. I think yours is normal surface rust but I am no expert and the pictures can’t show everything.

I would expect rust to form in minor amounts considering it is steel and exposed to rain, car washes and the outside elements 24/7/365.

If you want to battle CBI more, go for it and see what you can get. Its your bedrack and I know it was an expensive purchase.

maybe keep the $350 unless they don’t pay you until you have it powdercoated. Otherwise if they will, pocket it, but a can of spray paint, wipe and clean the rack, then spray paint it. Keep touch it up on a regular basis.

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but CBI sure seems like a problematic company based on all these stories I keep reading. Maybe it's a case of just hearing the bad stories, but I see a lot of issues.

 

When they shipped my bedrack, they only sent 4 of the 6 slot nuts to mount it to the bed rail. I called months later and they shipped it without a problem and it arrived a few days later. So while they messed up with not including all the hardware, they corrected it with out hassle.

 

I purchased the overland rack in aluminum back in spring 2020... 16 week lead time put it in the fall before I was actually able to receive and install. Granted it was a couple years ago at this pint, but my biggest gripe was the individual pieces of hardware seemed to have just been tossed into the box. Took me a while to find all the pieces I could, but was still missing quite a few. I was eager to get it installed so I purchased the missing hardware locally...

Other than that, it's been fantastic ever since. I went with aluminum (so no issues with rust) but the coating has been rock solid even after installing/uninstalling various racks, quick fists and mounting plates for storage.

 

I would say sell it and pocket the $350. Then use the funds from the sale and the $350 credit towards getting a rack from another company.

 

So wait, you bought something, used it for 6 months outdoors and in the elements, and then when theres a small amount of rust showing, you called the company who you bought it from looking for a full refund?

Powdercoat isnt a protect-all against anything you throw at it. Have you looked at your truck frame lately?

I would take the $350, buy a can of spray paint, and cover all of the "rust". Look up what an aluminum rack costs too.