Cross Bar Disassembly to Change Color

01-12-2026

OEM Cross bars are a nice product at a good price, but my M60i is all shadow line on Marina Bay Blue, so I didn't like the silver cross bars. This is a how-to on the quick disassembly to either wrap or powder the cross bars to a color of your liking.
1. Unlock the ends
2. Pull the rubber insert out
3. Located the circular tape pieces over the holes towards either end and remove
4. Locate the tab in the now opened hole and pull that tab up
5. Slide the end off
6. Label the ends and push the tabs back down so you don't lose them
7. Have powder coated or wrapped and then reassemble in the reverse

Now I just have to figure out if I shadow line them or body color them....wrap I can change, powder coat is more permanent but will last forever...decision time...

An image attached to this post, provided by the poster

01-20-2026

To bring this full circle, I had the crossbars powder coated gloss black to match the rest of the trim and finished the install today. The crossbar mounting location was a bit ambiguous but I eventually ran my finger down the inside of the roof rail and there are two small bumps on the rubber trim that mark the install location.

BMW T-track is wider than standard T track, requiring BMW specific T bolts that I found at FCP Euro. The ski rack is a Yakima Fat Cat. The little risers between the crossbars and rack had to be cut down by about 1/2" because the BMW T bolts are about that much shorter than the Yakima set. I am very happy with how this turned out.

02-11-2026

Thanks for sharing this! appreciate it. I also not a fan of the silver cross bars

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Cross Bar Disassembly to Change Color

Cross Bar Disassembly to Change Color