geoffwoz

Attached is the bit that I got out of the Australian service manual... it seems to say you just lift it up (the rail moulding)... but I think the glue that was used by the bad repair doesn't allow that now... so hopefully there is a way to get the clip loose from the bottom... even if the Australian service manual doesn't show it.. Time to get onto the roof lining and see what I can see :-) Thanks again.

Thanks so much for sending that through, that diagram doesn't appear in the Aus service manual, so might be the difference with the US car, but certainly gives me enough motivation to get in and have another look under the liner (properly this time!). Thanks so much for taking the time out to investigate for me. I'll let you know how I go.

This is a bit of a hail Mary request but I thought I'd give it a shot in case, as I know the US cars are quite different to ours in this respect, but hoped there were some similarities with the Aus (JDM) and USDM cars enough to get an idea of how to move forward. My car is the JDM (Australian shipped) Legacy (Liberty) '07 (US '08), and I've had some issues with one of the roof rails, that did have some repairs many years ago, and the clear has completely failed on it, so I wanted to get the rail off to reduce costs and take it somewhere to be resprayed. Note: I think this is somewhat different to the US cars, as my rails are the low profile type, and they are set into the roof, not on top of a raised section as I believe the US Legacies are. The problem is I'm having all sorts of difficulty removing the rail to get it repaired. There are two "hatches" that contain a bolt in each, which I've removed. Otherwise, the rail seems to be attached by a number of fastening clips.. the front and rear sections came away without any real effort, as I think originally they were possibly damaged by the first removal, and largely attached by some adhesive, not any sort of clip into the rail. However the middle of the rail (between the bolt locations) is really well held into position, and I'm worried about cracking the plastic if I put too much pressure on. I've not been able to find any information or good photos on how to release these remaining (I think 3 or 4) clips, the rail doesn't slide back or forward , and I'm worried about cracking if I prise them up. Any idea how I remove the these pearl silver painted rails from the roof?. I guess one option is to use heat and then prise but thought before I go any further I'd see if some more learned individuals than me might have an idea Photos attached showing the rails and the clips that I can get access to (by gently lifting the front and rear parts of the rail that are free of their clips. Any assistance would be really appreciated.