Thread: Roof Rails Mythbusters

So a few months ago, I was in the junkyard when I came across a 2000 Monte Carlo SS. It was in there due to an engine fire (go figure), and was covered in the typical, obligatory NASCAR/Dale Jr/GM stickers. So I pull out the camera to take some pics to mock later. I made my way around the car, which took a while (there were a LOT of stickers). I lifted the trunk lid to complete the tour (yes, there were stickers on the underside of the trunk lid), and saw something interesting under all the debris in the trunk. I had a feeling I knew what it was, and sure enough, I cleaned everything out of the way to reveal 2 thin, long pieces of plastic that turned out to be roof rails!!!

So after I finished screaming in glee like a little school girl, I figured I'd take this opportunity to do a Mythbusters rendition of my own: Are the 2-door and 4-door roof rails different? This is a question I've seen raised many times, despite there only being one set of part numbers for them. I started out by putting the rails on top of the car they obviously came off of, which might be the most interesting fact out of this find. While I didn't doubt the possibility they'd fit a Monte Carlo, I've never really seen or heard it discussed, so it was interesting to confirm this.




Now onto what I already knew, but what some seemed to require proof of. I found a GP coupe, ripped the "regular" fillers out of the grooves in the roof, and fit the rails into place.










Houston, we have lift-off! And now, the moment of truth. Sure, they fit the GP coupe, and even the MC, but.....it couldn't possibly fit the sedan, too. After all, surely the sedans and coupes don't have the same roof line......right? WRONG! Low and behold, the magical transition....





So there you have it, kids. Not only is there one version of the roof rails for the 2-door and 4-door GPs, but as an added bonus, they also fit the Gen II MCs! BTW, even though I knew they wouldn't work, I tried them on a Regal for the hell of it. No go. The roof is too long. Join us next week when we try to find out if Ron Blagojevich wears a hairpiece.

i like em' on the coupe's. idk why i don't on the 4 doors. weird.

They peel out of there quite easily once you pry the edge out. I'm sure you can remove them without damaging them if you don't just rip it out like I did.

Dude, you and I are going to get along well. I like your inquisitive nature and your desire to test and prove what you think. Good job!! Now go out there and find me a set of roof rails, LOL.

Good research

Yep, this has been covered quite a few times (mostly on CGP though). They all share the same roof channel. I've seen them on a few MCs and tried multiple sets on Regals, 04+ GPs, and multiple other GM vehicles. Not much of a myth, though, since they came from the factory on two and four door GPs.

I'm going for not plausible on the removing the old stock molding without damaging it. Really flimsy, bendy crap and I've removed dozens of sets of them. Pretty much one-time use items.

Looks like you had a good time though. And never know what you'll come up with in a Pick-a-part place. Good times!!

Every time I see those pictures of that damn Monte Carlo, I still get pissed that I walked by that stupid car X amount of times with the roof rails just sitting in the trunk. The car was toasted so I never even thought of looking in there. Grrrrr

Originally Posted by silverbullet

it's probably never been discussed cause the subject was mostly in the grand prix clubs. yes the roof rail will work on the 6th gen monte. there are few guys from the monte club that have the roof rail on their monte carlo. the roof channel on the gp and mc are same length. if i would of known that gm had discontinue the roof rail production i would of bought me a set earlier.

GM actually still has plenty of new roof rails. From what I understand, the problem is the company that made them for GM royally messed up and produced either 2 left, or 2 right (I forget which) sets instead of left and right sets.

Originally Posted by LowlyfeGTP

Yep, this has been covered quite a few times (mostly on CGP though). They all share the same roof channel. I've seen them on a few MCs and tried multiple sets on Regals, 04+ GPs, and multiple other GM vehicles. Not much of a myth, though, since they came from the factory on two and four door GPs.

The fact that they come on both 2-door and 4-door GPs is what started the whole "are they 2 different #'s???" myth. It certainly does not serve as evidence that they're the same. Anyhow, as I said in the original post, I realize most people already know this. Regardless, every time a discussion about roof rails is raised, a debate erupts about this. I figured I'd end it once and for all since I had the good fortune of finding these, being surrounded by an overabundance of w-bodies, and my camera on me.

Fugly - There are TONS of good yards within a 30 mile radius in the Chicagoland area. I live in a SW suburb, so I usually hit the U-Pull-It and City Auto Wreckers in Aurora, the U-Pull-It and Circus yard in Blue Island, U-Pull-It and ABC parts in Chicago/Ford Heights, Pick N' Pull in Summit and Hammond, IN, etc.

Dboy - I didn't try it on an '04+, as there weren't any in that yard at the time, but I'm almost positive the roof-line is totally different on those, so it wouldn't work.

Originally Posted by RareGMFan

Dboy - I didn't try it on an '04+, as there weren't any in that yard at the time, but I'm almost positive the roof-line is totally different on those, so it wouldn't work.

The 04+ GPs aren't nearly as different from the 97-03 as most think. The roof rails sit exactly along the channels on them. They are just too short. The 97-03 GPs have the window seals that sit over the windows, the 04+ sit under/next to the windows. The 04+ also have a hard plastic and rubber channel filler. If you wanted to use the roof rails on an 04+ you would possible have to do some shaving to the underside (which they did from the factory anyways) and you would have to fill in the channel gaps. Multiple ways to go about that.

I've played with quite a few cars, I've owned 20+ sets of new and used roof rails, ones from 00, 01, and 02 coupes and sedans, owned a Regal, 05 Comp G, and 99 and 00 GTPs when I was playing with these. Seen them on multiple Monte Carlos. Wife wanted me to modify a set for her G6. All rails have the same LH part # and RH part #.

Yes, they are available from GM again. There was a long backorder and halt to production due to production issues and packaging issues. They re-released them earlier this year.