I just installed a set of roof rails on my 1995, the donor car was also 1995. The rails are a light grey, due to being outside for over 15 years. I could smear them with vinyl protectorate to darken them a bit.

Because this is my 'project' car, I was wondering if I could sand them first with 400 grit to get some of the oxidation off before coating them. Or would this be too messy and look bad later? I am not sure that the sanding result would be uniform. I guess I could try an area on the 'inside' of the rails and see how that looks.

I do not want to 'paint' them with bumper cover stuff. The grey matches the door handles, and I might want to try something there also.

My 'free' roof rails are missing a couple of small plastic covers, exposing the T25 screws, so it is not 'perfect'. I also intend to remove the black plastic over the windshield side strips and leave them as polished aluminum.

Klaus
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Keeping it running is better than buying new