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- Narpy
- Member Since: 30 Apr 2025
- Location: Stockport
- Posts: 15
Ditch Finisher Mod For None OE Roof Rails - How To
If you’re interested in fitting after market or non OEM roof rails to your D5 and don’t want the extra expense of removing your current trims, ( often referred to as ditch finishers ), throwing away your original trims and replacing them with rather pricey replacements, this is the thread for you.
Rear Trims
The good news is, once you remove your rear trims which just pop off, the area you need to cut out can be clearly seen on the underside.
You’ll notice, the rear trims are made from plastic and cut + drill easily.
Get yourself one of these cutters in 35mm. And position it inside the cutout area and drill 2 large holes.
Once you’ve drilled both ends of the cutout, remove the central piece with a saw blade and tidy up with a file. There’s two cutouts in the rear trim so repeat for the opposite side and you’ve got both panels ready to go.
Front Trims
For these ditch trims, there is no target showing where the cutout should go so you’ll need to remove the front trim and mark it out yourself. Don’t worry, it’s super simple to do and will save you a fortune.
I placed my trim adjacent to the ditch and, using the rear trims as a cutout size guide, you need to mark this cut out to cover the attachment bolt zone. You don’t have to be super accurate with the marking out as there’s plenty of tolerance so as long as you remove material above the two attachment screws to reveal where they are, that will suffice. The foot on the roof rails is considerably larger and will cover a multitude of mishaps so again, you don’t need to be super accurate.
You can see here how I decided where to cut.
To do these cut outs, I did exactly the same as the rears, cut two big holes at either end, ( I used a slightly smaller cutter for the ditch finishers 30mm ) then remove the centre with a saw blade + tidy up with a file. You’ll notice, the front ditch finishers are made from alloy, not plastic as per the rears but take your time and remember, all will be covered and the cut out area gives you plenty of tolerance.
Once you’ve completed the cut outs ( 2 in each rear panel and 1 in each ditch finisher ) you can successfully install your roof rails as per instructions, happy in the knowledge that you’ve just saved yourself a small fortune by not buying the replacements and you’ve retained your colour coded front ditch finishers.
I hope this helps. Ian.
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