What roof rack for painted top?

[eblivr72]

Not sure how the wires got crossed, but this picture better depicts the issue. These slots are the issue

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[Squatched]

Sucks I and others asked several times on social media if the rack would work on painted tops after seeing reports and pictures it would not. They always dismissed the concern and said yes it will work on the painted tops. I ended up buying a second hand one and of course it won’t fit haha

 

[BuckinBronco69]

It looks like a bunch of the info on their product page now lists that it is not compatible or to reach out to them, despite that not being there in the past.

 

[C6ZZGT]

There are different part numbers for the top itself BUT only the original part numbers for the rack itself,3dr or 5dr.
VINs from painted top roof rack equipped Broncos are needed to see which top part number is used and compare to non rack equipped.

 

[TrailRax]

Not sure how the wires got crossed, but this picture better depicts the issue. These slots are the issue

Sadly our Bronco roof rack won't fit on yours currently. Feel free to still reach out to our customer service and they can explain the Ford situation in better detail.

 

[TrailRax]

We have identified inconsistencies in the slot measurements, as a result, we must evaluate painted hardtop applications on a case-by-case basis until the manufacturer provides a definitive resolution.
For anyone else with a painted hardtop looking to buy our rack, please reach out to our customer service team.

 

[Aaron1121]

I have a new 2025 4 Door Bronco with Painted hard top, and my measurements look exactly the same as the pictures above. The new 2026's that are arriving at the dealership are also the same.

I'm interested in buy a Rack and Pakrax. Can you please let us know when you support the 2025 / 2026 painted roofs?

 

[Cpt.America]

MAN am I bummed. found these posts too late. I did 99% of my research on which racks to get or to avoid on youtube, and also found a post here from earlier this year where the first couple of replies were along the lines of "yeah, the trailrax works fine with painted hard tops"... so my wife bought the hard top for us.

Spent all weekend getting it together and getting it up on top... but the rear brackets seem a little off. Watched trailrax videos talking about how because the foam was brand new it would feel tight, and to just tighten carefully and slowly and carefully, like the directions say... then out of nowhere.. SNAP... sounded like a firecracker going off in my garage. It snapped my roof.

I called trailrax and left them a message on Sunday, asking for a call back on Monday... they didn't so I called them again this morning and was told the problem was with the roof and I had to talk to Ford. We bought the bronco specifically to do some overlanding with our family, and are going to need to store stuff on the roof. Now the rack is worthless, the roof is broken, and I have the distinct feeling we are going to be on our own, in the middle. Ford will blame trailrax, trailrax will blame Ford.... and we lose.

My heart is broken.

 

[BadlandBill]

What about those of us who already bought the rack last year and installed it on our painted tops? Not the best fit but seems to be holding up so far. Will you be sending replacement brackets for us for safety?

 

[Squatched]

Yep, sucks I asked so many times and they weee always dismissive with the concern saying yes it works. Now I have a rack sitting around I can’t use.

 

[Cpt.America]

Yep, sucks I asked so many times and they weee always dismissive with the concern saying yes it works. Now I have a rack sitting around I can’t use.

They told me the opposite. They said the shallow tops wont work and the weight rating of their rack would have to be dramatically reduced, so they weren't making brackets. They said they wouldnt, and couldn't, do anything until ford was done with their investigation.

 

[Aaron1121]

I’m sorry that happened, it is a real bummer.

Would it be possible for you to take a picture of the roof, and let us know the response from Trailrax?

I have a 2025 with a painted top and had some mixed messages from them. It would be good to understand the issue and how they support it.

At best, they should try to work with you and Ford to determine what happened.

At worst, they should at least provide a full refund for the rack.

If they told you it would work with the painted top…..and it didn’t, depending on the state it was sold in they could be liable if the product wasn’t fit for purpose or not advertised properly. However, it would be your word vs theirs about following the installation instructions.

 

[BuckinBronco69]

MAN am I bummed. found these posts too late. I did 99% of my research on which racks to get or to avoid on youtube, and also found a post here from earlier this year where the first couple of replies were along the lines of "yeah, the trailrax works fine with painted hard tops"... so my wife bought the hard top for us.

Spent all weekend getting it together and getting it up on top... but the rear brackets seem a little off. Watched trailrax videos talking about how because the foam was brand new it would feel tight, and to just tighten carefully and slowly and carefully, like the directions say... then out of nowhere.. SNAP... sounded like a firecracker going off in my garage. It snapped my roof.

I called trailrax and left them a message on Sunday, asking for a call back... they didn't so I called them again this morning and was told the problem was with the roof and I had to talk to Ford. We bought the bronco specifically to do some overlanding with our family, and are going to need to store stuff on the roof. Now the rack is worthless, the roof is broken, and I have the distinct feeling we are going to be on our own, in the middle. Ford will blame trailrax, trailrax will blame Ford.... and we lose.

My heart is broken.

I’m sorry that happened, it is a real bummer.

Would it be possible for you to take a picture of the roof, and let us know the response from Trailrax?

I have a 2025 with a painted top and had some mixed messages from them. It would be good to understand the issue and how they support it.

At best, they should try to work with you and Ford to determine what happened.

At worst, they should at least provide a full refund for the rack.

If they told you it would work with the painted top…..and it didn’t, depending on the state it was sold in they could be liable if the product wasn’t fit for purpose or not advertised properly. However, it would be your word vs theirs about following the installation instructions.

People started pointing out the compatability issues back in the fall with pictures posted on this forum.

The company repeatedly dismissed the issues until only recently.

At that point the damage was done, and as it appears now, continues to be done.

For them to take accountability would prove to be very costly.

 

[Cpt.America]

I’m sorry that happened, it is a real bummer.

Would it be possible for you to take a picture of the roof, and let us know the response from Trailrax?

I have a 2025 with a painted top and had some mixed messages from them. It would be good to understand the issue and how they support it.

At best, they should try to work with you and Ford to determine what happened.

At worst, they should at least provide a full refund for the rack.

If they told you it would work with the painted top…..and it didn’t, depending on the state it was sold in they could be liable if the product wasn’t fit for purpose or not advertised properly. However, it would be your word vs theirs about following the installation instructions.

In my first post there, is all they did. They simply said its a problem with the roof. The story is that Ford changed where the top was made to a new plant. When that happened, they mysteriously changed the dimensions of the recessed holes in the rear roof panel, and nobody knew.

The very first moment this was discovered, traikrax should have immediately added a pull down to the options for the rack

1) unpainted top
2) Painted top with 1" deep recess
3) Painted top with 1/2" deep recess

Had we had something like that on the checkout, we would have immediately stopped to figure that out.

The warning used to say "fits most Painted tops, call to verify" but it was buried way down on the page in the more details sections. Sometime between mar6 and mar24 they moved the warning up to the top of the page.

I did some extensive detective work today looking at cached copies of the site on the day we purchased, because that warning was NOT there when we purchased.

We also came here, and found posts from the company stating it fit the painted tops THIS YEAR, recently.... I had no reason to dig and look any further. It seemed like an easy decision, no brainer.

But yeah, to answer your question, I was told to contact Ford. Which as we all know might as well be an unmonitored phone line. There is no way they will do a thing.

In hindsight I probably COULD have figured this out ahead of time... but had zero...ZEEERO clues that i would need to dig any further on research than we did.

So Ford blew it by changing the top. Trailrax blew it by not protecting their customers. I am in the middle. Both companies seem negligent to me... but I will bet you $100 ford will say it was a running change "for reasons" and its Trailrax's responsibility to build a rack that is compatible with the running change.

I may be feeling a little sorry for myself, but I have never in my life felt this let down and ripped off.

 

[stom_m3]

In my first post there, is all they did. They simply said its a problem with the roof. The story is that Ford changed where the top was made to a new plant. When that happened, they mysteriously changed the dimensions of the recessed holes in the rear roof panel, and nobody knew.

The very first moment this was discovered, traikrax should have immediately added a pull down to the options for the rack

1) unpainted top
2) Painted top with 1" deep recess
3) Painted top with 1/2" deep recess

Had we had something like that on the checkout, we would have immediately stopped to figure that out.

The warning used to say "fits most Painted tops, call to verify" but it was buried way down on the page in the more details sections. Sometime between mar6 and mar24 they moved the warning up to the top of the page.

I did some extensive detective work today looking at cached copies of the site on the day we purchased, because that warning was NOT there when we purchased.

We also came here, and found posts from the company stating it fit the painted tops THIS YEAR, recently.... I had no reason to dig and look any further. It seemed like an easy decision, no brainer.

But yeah, to answer your question, I was told to contact Ford. Which as we all know might as well be an unmonitored phone line. There is no way they will do a thing.

In hindsight I probably COULD have figured this out ahead of time... but had zero...ZEEERO clues that i would need to dig any further on research than we did.

So Ford blew it by changing the top. Trailrax blew it by not protecting their customers. I am in the middle. Both companies seem negligent to me... but I will bet you $100 ford will say it was a running change "for reasons" and its Trailrax's responsibility to build a rack that is compatible with the running change.

I may be feeling a little sorry for myself, but I have never in my life felt this let down and ripped off.

I'm currently in the same boat with the painted roof and shallow pocket. Who would have thought pocket depth envy was a real thing... I jest. Quick question, was it just the foot that inserts into the pocket too long? Could the foot be trimmed down to the 1/2" and fit? Or is the width from left pocket to right pocket also further apart? I'm assuming it's only the pocket depth that's different and a shorter leg that goes into the pocket would work. Can you tell where the crack happened?

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