stet

FYI the best tire gages are the pencil type. All the digital and bourdon-tube types are questionable. Maybe yours is good, just check it against a pencil gage.

I appreciate that, this is how old school drum brakes were reset, so it makes sense. I will report back, once I find a steep hill to test the result. Thanks !!

Thanks for the reply, I will address it more formally when I put the car in for its first service.

The airborne filth in Long Beach is unbelievable. My house air filter turns pure black in just a couple weeks. Driving down the road you are inhaling asbestos and kevlar brake dust fines. Now it is not that big a deal granted, but I am very happy to have my cabin air filtered out. If for nothing else, to grab the black dust in my area which is coming from the Port of LB and LA as well as the nearby 710 Freeway.

I parked in my bud's driveway, about a 20 degree slope. I like to engage the parking brake to hold it, then engage the transmission in park. I was surprised that the parking brake would not hold the car still, and I had pressed the brake completely for sure. It creaked loud and the car went down the hill. Went to the dealer, and apparently there is a separate drum brake in the rear wheel for the parking brake (never seen that setup before). They told me they test the parking brake by putting the car in gear on a flat surface, then seeing if it moves with the car in drive and idling. They told me to engage the tranny in park, and apparently there is nothing "wrong". That makes me a bit nervous next time I need to park on a San Francisco type hill, I guess I will make sure the tire is curbed, brake engaged and tranny in park. Hate to pinch the tire though. What are your thoughts on this? I thought the parking brake should be able to hold it on a hill, am I wrong? Should I drive a bit with this aux brake partially engaged to rough it up so it will take a better bite (I am sure that is a bad idea and won't try it)? Any issue with loading up the tranny with a 30 plus degree hill? Will it "pop" when I disengage it? I'd like to know your thoughts.

I put some industrial velcro on both sides for attachment, no need for the straps around the headrests but left them there. Didn't like how hard it was to remove the hooks from the sides. It's working great, my interior is black so the black velcro doesn't ever really show and holds the thing in tight. I was bummed that it was not the retractable type. It's chinzy, but it works.

I got the one off ebay and it fits perfectly all around. Very happy with it. Is large since it rolls up instead of folding, but it is a perfect fit with 100% coverage and stays in place nicely.

Looking at it further and pulling up the plastic strips, I noted: The plastic trim has a separate plastic structure under it at the location for the factory rail. There are indented drill points in the roof under these. The plastic strip appears to be permanently snapped into the roof in a number of spots. Finally, there is a canopy airbag system under there, so drilling through the roof that close to the edge is out. It boils down to removing the whole headliner then doing the install. So I will go to the mod guy at my dealership and see if he can take it on, I am pretty sure he can.

Yeah that's cool and clean. I am sure you will not have any problems whatsoever. I want more of a permanent setup, and want to use the discontinued wing riders because they are paid for, somewhat stronger (with the tracks) and look really cool. Yakima tells me that the tracks are 1-5/8 wide, and the slot in the roof with the plastic trim is only 1-1/4. As I said, the factory units are on top of the plastic trim, so now I am looking into whether I can shim it all together tight with the track on top of the plastic trim. Can anyone explain how the factory unit is mounted? Or I could do it in another area outside the trim channel, but that would be really non-elegant. So now my main question is whether there are any side curtain airbag parts or wiring in the area directly under the plastic strip channel. Also, I want to know how that plastic strip is mounted so I can remove it without permafarking it, so I can more carefully and directly drill the holes in the roof. I want to be able to carry a large roof box or two 15 foot ocean kayaks. Thanks for the link though, your setup won't let you down.

I want to install Yakima roof tracks so that I can mount my Yakima wing rider cargo system (now discontinued). I did not feel that the factory system was strong enough. Plus I have the wing rider system left over from a previous vehicle. These are nice airfoil shaped cross bars about 4 inches front to back and an inch thick. The are curved and match the profile of the roof nicely. My roof does not have the sunroof/ vista roof. Question: does anyone have photos or info regarding the removal of the black plastic strips on the roof? I have not yet figured out whether the Yakima tracks will fit in the slot, hoping they will. If not, I could machine a backing strip to go under the tracks to raise them a bit. What I want to do is remove the black plastic strip, then drill and mount the tracks with the blind fasteners. Once the track is in, I want to reinstall the black strip up to the point where the tracks start. Then seal up the interface with some high quality RTV. Of course, drilling the holes has to be done with care and they have to be sealed completely. I am not sure how long the blind fasteners are and am hoping they will fit. Or what would be even better is if I could remove the headliner so I can install just-right length fasteners and nuts, but not too confident about ripping out the whole headliner without professional help. Also hoping when I blast through the bottom of the track, I don't blast through a wiring harness. Regarding the stock rails, looking at them at the dealership I saw that they just sit on top of the black plastic strips. Are there holes underneath already drilled or is this something the dealer drills during installation? I asked a few guys at the dealership about the black strips and nobody knew. If I could get that part of the service manual I would be really jazzed. Thanks