[OpheliaKnobbs]

Hi all, for anyone needing to take off their factory fitted roof rail the process is fairly straightforward. The rail is held on by one V shaped metal trim snap clip. You need to start with either the head or tail rail, and working from the inside simply lever (using a thin plastic door trim pryer) up the rail a few millimetres. Then insert in the raised gap a larger, angled plastic door trim and lever up. Then the rail piece should snap up and off. To remove the central roof rail between the head and tail rails you will need to remove the plastic base at the head and tail rails by unbolting the two 11mm retaining nuts. Once the complete rail is removed the 4 underside self tapping screws can be removed and the roof rail can be dismantled into 3 pieces.
 

[blt]

Thanks, I just took off the roof rails on my 2011 i30 to get rid of the ants that had nested under them. I found that 6 of the 8 clips that hold the covers in place had rusted away. I live about 25km from the sea but perhaps the previous owner did (car was purchased second hand in 2015)