mihir_d

I am in the process of facelifting my 2000 ML320 exterior. One of the things I would like to do is give the roof rails the brushed aluminium look like the one in the picture below.

Apart from completely replacing the roof rails with brushed aluminum ones (I have heard, its a real pain to remove the roof rails) is there an easier way to this?

Is there any special paint available in the market that if properly applied would give the roof rails that look?

I am also evaluating color coding the roof rails (the Lexus GX470 does that from factory). Has any one tried that? Any opinions on that?

AsianML

I read on another forum that beneath the black paint of the OEM rails is that aluminum brush. I also read something about having to put a coat of something on it to "seal" it so it won't rust or something like that.

Do a search on benzworld.org. I believe there was a mini tutorial in the W163 not to long ago.

mihir_d

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w163...-next-mod.html

Its still a pain to remove the roof rails. I could google up this statement about getting the brushed aluminium look on roof rails from some other automotive forum.

"try duplicolor "chrome" its not really chrome but it gives that brushed aluminum look,..you can find it at walmart,..actually any of the "Chrome" paints will all pretty much look the same"

I am certainly going to try this on some scrap piece of aluminium to see the results..if I decide to go ahead and paint the rails, I will post the pictures

peid

Remove them, strip them and polish them. About one year later they still look like they were just polished. I never put anything on them other than car soap, water and a towel. Aluminum can't rust, but rather oxidize, and they don't seem to be doing much if any of that yet.

I have a write up over on another site about polishing my roof rails.

mihir_d

peid, thanks for the reply....seems like you have really done a great job with your roof rails..can you refer me to the article on how to polish them? I could not find your published article on benzworld.

peid

http://www.benzworld.org/publications.html?id=386

There you go.

ViKTORiOUS

i did the DIY, it only took about 2-3 hours, but well worth it! I followed peid's directions and it was solid, I love the way it looks!

MJ50

thx for the link peid!
i shall definitely give it a try later...

mihir_d

Since I have the factory skyview roof and associated wind deflector. The wind deflecter will have to be removed too, to get to the roof rails..

But thanks peid, I will definitely look into all your work..

dewdaltz

what about, just buying the aluminum thing from the dealer and replace your old ones. does anybody knows the part number of the polished aluminum rails. I love to take it out but hate the polish part.

mihir_d

I bet they are $300/piece - nothing less...

I will probably be trying the "chrome" paint technique, since getting them out in my case will be too much trouble...the factory wind deflector for the skyview is another beast in itself. I have heard tones of complains of rattles and squeaks out of it. I have been fortunate enough to have one that has had no issues all of the past 6 years since it rolled out of factory...

I don't want to risk taking that apart...and start a never ending squeak and rattle problem...

MJ50

what if u just paint it chrome?
http://www.holtsauto.com/products/index.html

mihir_d

Yep, that's what I will be doing...I am thinking of using a shower curtain to mask the entire roof of the truck and then mask the roof rail caps with tape and paint the rails chrome...will post pictures, once its all done...

I am confident, it will come out just right..