X3 Roof Rails Rusting !!

[phuksi]

Hi,

I did my fall waxing last weekend and to my surprise I also found something bubbling under passenger side rail. I passed by my dealer (unfortunately with our other car) and stopped by to ask what is the story going to be.

My car is Canadian model but I exported it to Europe so from factory perspective they treat it as European sold vehicle. That means 2 year std warranty instead of 4 years in NA. So I am out of warranty (Nov 2005 registered) and these will not fall under 12 year paint and rust category.

It's not bad yet and only the front piece may be needed to replace (if they are available in pieces). In that case it may not be too expensive.

The only alternative so far for me is to get it fixed and apply for goodwill warranty from the factory. I will ask for preliminary response and outcome for goodwill and if they deny, then I might have them sandblowed and painted on top. That might be cheaper than replacing the parts which I assume will cost lots of €€€€€€ knowing the price level where I live.

Anyway, it seems that you hear these stories about rusting rails. To me this seems a manufacturing defect. In the US you might want to consider submitting NHTSA a case since this might be safety issue if you have premature rusty rails and load stuff on the roof. Just a thought, maybe overly optimistic...

Attached a pic.

-p