I just noticed plastic strips running the length of the roof on each side which are body-colour painted. I have not tried to remove them, although it seems they are held in place by clips. They are definitely not permanently affixed because I can move them slightly by hand. From surfing the net, it seems that some cars have these strips for covering the channels running lengthwise on the roof which are weld seams, which add rigidity to the roof, and the plastic strips also serve as a seal to prevent corrosion of the seam. Owners have reported that these strips came off when their car went through a touchless car wash. Anyways, has anyone tried prying them off or confirm what their purpose is? I am in Canada; I believe in the US that GT and Signature trims have the roof rails as standard and so I would assume that the roof rails cover these channels instead of the plastic strips. In Canada, the roof rails don't come standard in any trim level and if you want the roof rails you have to factory order them as an accessory. I wanted to install roof rails and crossbars anyways so I suppose this is another reason to get them.
Plastic strips runnng along both sides of roof
- Thread starter jchris
- Start date
Here's a photo...
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OK, thanks for the photo. I ended up getting the OEM roof rails as shown in your photo plus the crossbars both of which were quite expensive unfortunately. The only reason I need the roof rack is for carrying a cargo bag during summer excursions. And if the roof rails were raised rails instead of flush-mounted, I wouldn't have needed the cross-bars because the cargo bag could be tied to just the roof rails.
I guess Mazda Canada decided for whatever reason not to install the roof rails as standard on the Signature in Canada but gave us a heated steering wheel instead.
