Roof Rack Protection

[WMUCarGuy]

My wife just bought a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek and this weekend I will be giving it its first detail. One thing I haven't encountered before are roof racks.

 

This car has one. I believe it is Powder coated aluminum but I don't know for sure. It's definitely not finished with normal automotive paint or the same plastic material that you see used for trim.

 

That said what kind of products should I consider using to protect the Finish on these bars?

[ZMAN024]

No harm from using H2O G&G if you are applying it to the rest of the car.  

[WMUCarGuy]

11 hours ago, ZMAN024 said:

No harm from using H2O G&G if you are applying it to the rest of the car.  

I wasn't planning on using Garden gloss this time, since it is the very first ever detail for the car. Planning on a strip wash clay bar, brilliant glaze and paint sealant. 

 

If I use guard and gloss while drying the car after washing won't I be just wasting product since I plan to do all those other steps afterwards?

[shane@detailedreflections]

We have used VRT on them and we have coated them. Guard & Gloss would work just fine on that application. 

 

Guard & Gloss can be applied wet or dry. There’s two methods. So you could carefully apply it to just the roof rack and protect them without affecting anything else. 

 

Short of a coating, my preferred method would be to just use paint sealant on them

for the longest protection. 

[WMUCarGuy]

13 minutes ago, shane@detailedreflections said:

We have used VRT on them and we have coated them. Guard & Gloss would work just fine on that application. 

 

Guard & Gloss can be applied wet or dry. There’s two methods. So you could carefully apply it to just the roof rack and protect them without affecting anything else. 

 

Short of a coating, my preferred method would be to just use paint sealant on them

for the longest protection. 

That's a good point. Perhaps I'll try a bit of paint sealant on the inside were it isn't as noticeable, to make sure the finish still look OK.

 

The finish isn't perfectly smooth, like car paint. It's also not a very rough "crinkle" powder coat. Should paint sealant still work on a finish that isn't "smooth"?

[shane@detailedreflections]

9 minutes ago, WMUCarGuy said:

That's a good point. Perhaps I'll try a bit of paint sealant on the inside were it isn't as noticeable, to make sure the finish still look OK.

 

The finish isn't perfectly smooth, like car paint. It's also not a very rough "crinkle" powder coat. Should paint sealant still work on a finish that isn't "smooth"?

 

You can try it out, but I’m sure that sealant and VRT will give you the appearance you’re looking for. I actually own a Crosstrek that’s been ceramic coated and my wife has one that hasn’t been. They’re common guinea pigs for us to try different processes. 

[WMUCarGuy]

1 minute ago, shane@detailedreflections said:

 

You can try it out, but I’m sure that sealant and VRT will give you the appearance you’re looking for. I actually own a Crosstrek that’s been ceramic coated and my wife has one that hasn’t been. They’re common guinea pigs for us to try different processes. 

Have you done anything specifically on the roof racks that worked, or didn't? I don't have any of the ceramic stuff, that's more of an investment than I'm aiming to make.

 

But have you used wax/sealant/etc. on the roof racks?

[shane@detailedreflections]

Yup. My wife’s car is not coated. It’s always maintained with traditional waxes and sealants. Paint sealant works well, as does guard and gloss. We have a small amount of quick sealant around that we still use from time to time. It’s just a spray sealant. Personally, I’d either go guard and gloss on it or paint sealant. Sealant being the more durable choice. 

[WMUCarGuy]

5 minutes ago, shane@detailedreflections said:

Yup. My wife’s car is not coated. It’s always maintained with traditional waxes and sealants. Paint sealant works well, as does guard and gloss. We have a small amount of quick sealant around that we still use from time to time. It’s just a spray sealant. Personally, I’d either go guard and gloss on it or paint sealant. Sealant being the more durable choice. 

Awesome. I'll use paint sealant, then, as that's what I'm using on the paint.