What to do with left behind holes?

This one comes from the Jade mail bag. We get lots of mail at Jade asking all kinds of things but I thought this one was worth sharing. It comes down to an unwanted accessory and the void left behind when it is removed. The original email is after the jump along with my suggestions.

Hello Jade Crew!
I found your link on Wikipedia’s car tuning page, and after reading your impressive resume, I felt compelled to ask the experts.

I recently purchased a one year old Outlander with the 3.0. There’s a few things available already out there (Colt Speed Ram-Air, strut braces, rear cross-member supports, Ralliart accessories, etc) and I found from Japanparts.com, a couple of different styles of rear wings. Only problem is, the truck has factory installed roof racks. The snowboard fits INSIDE the truck nicely, thank you, and I can’t think of what I’d want to strap down up there (the wife has crossed my mind occasionally)

I know you’re thinking that I shoulda just got the Evo X, but the wife & 18 month old daughter would not have it.
I’ve been trying to picture how the truck might look (the wing isn’t huge) with a few subtle performance-enhancing add-on’s (brakes are next, then rims & summer tires [oh ya, I live in Toronto, Canada] and I think it might look ok…comments?)

My question is this: do you know of any caps that might be available to cover the rack mount holes? I asked the Mits dealer where I got the truck, & I’d be the first to take them off. The service staff had never come across any such request. I like the idea of originality, and any help or advice from the pros would be greatly appreciated.
James

First off there is no need to explain the truck, many of Us have families now and need “sensible cars”. That doesn’t mean “sensible” can’t be fun too.

Nice choice on the Oulander, there are many in the crew that like those, I know of two members who are seriously considering them. They have Evoish looks and make pretty good power. The AWD will also come in handy for those Canadian winters.

On to the problem at hand, an unwanted roof rack. Now, I have never taken one off of those before but I have removed plenty of wings and there are a few options to taking care of holes left behind.

Option 1: The “correct” way to do it.

Remove the rack and then take the truck to a reputable body shop. They can fill the holes with the appropriate material. If there are huge voids they should weld in some metal and them smooth it all out. If the holes are small enough it they can easily be fillied in with body filler (bondo) you will have no problems. The shop then paints the sections it filled and presto changeo, no holes.

Estimated cost: $100 – $300 (dep. on the size and amount of holes)

Option 2: The custom Method: Carbon Fiber Overlay, what I would do.

This would be done the same way as option one where you fill the holes with bond and sand it smooth. Now I don’t know much about the shape and contour of the roof of the outlander bt if it is flat this should be fairly easy.

They sell sheets of thin flexible carbon fiber (real not vinyl) that sticks like vinyl to flat surfaces and can even ben around a pipe. Alot of the “carbon fiber roofs” you see are done this way. Meaning they didn’t go and cut out the metal and replace it with carbon fiber, which would actually reduce weight. The over the top is purely for looks.

This stuff is pretty cool and not too expensive. I found a 33 x 44 inch sheet of .25mm carbon fiber with the backing already on it for about $200. I think that would cover the Outlanders roof.

Now not only do you not have the roof rack, you have a custom carbon fiber roof.

Estimated Cost: DIY $250, Professional Installed $500.

Option 3: The “ghetto” method.

Now I will go right ahead and say that I have personally done this when I was broke and had to take off a giant wing I had on one of my cars. After I took the wing off it left 4 nearly quarter size holes in my decklid. I did not have the cash to go the fill and repaint route so I went with Vinyl. I went over to my local Vinly supplier, you may have to go to a sign shop if you don’t have a dealer near you, and picked out the color closest to my car.

The wing that “had to go” before I traded the car in:

Vinyl is basically a big sticker that comes in rolls. It comes in all kinds of colors, and even textures. Depending on how handy you are with a blade you can either cut out little patches with an xacto yourself or measure your holes and have the sign maker supply you with precut circles big enough to cover your holes.

Me I would personally get some bondo and fill the holes myself and then sand the area you are putting your sticker on flat. This way the hole is 100% sealed and not going to leak. If you are slightly handy this should be doable. It is basically like filling a hole in drywall. You “COULD” skip that part and it will still work but I won’t guarantee that you won’t have some drips going on.

Now go and clean the areas where the holes were with some rubbing alcohol. Peel the backing off your vinyl and lay it over the holes. Rub it down with a credit card or ID card to get the bubbles out and your set.

Since your holes is on the roof and nobody will really see it this is not a bad option. I am not guaranteeing that it will hold up perfect and be water tight forever so don’t blame us if you get a leak at some point, that’s why its the ghetto way.

Estimated Cost: $10-$15.

Let us know if this helped you out and how it all turns out.

Carbon Fiber Sheets: www.protechcomposites.com