I never really liked how the silver roof rail looked on my avant, so I took them off, sanded them down and painted them using some flat black paint (with an undercoat of primer).

It's pretty easy to do. Just remove the rails by using an allen head screws on the back side of the rails (I think there are 3 per side).

Check out the finished product....

Oh man that looks great! Did you do the window trims as well? I want to de-chrome my car badly.. Your car looks great.

OT: any word on the leak down results?

Yeah, I blacked out the windows as well, but I used blackout tape for that.

I think I used this stuff:

Trimbrite Automotive Blackout tape
http://www.amazon.com/Trimbrite-T9005-B ... B00029XD62

We did a compression test and everything checked out. all cylinders were between 140-180. I'll send you a mail with more details.

Thanks, I'm going to do that along with the rails as the east coast air ate into the finish enough that even power tools aren't pulling it out!