I want to remove mine because we will never use it, I see some have done it.
Are there holes left in the roof and if yes then what did y'all do about them?
Clif

 

I think that most people here who claim to have removed the roof racks (myself included) are only referring to the crossbars not the entire rack. Removing the rack itself will leave holes in your roof that would have to be repaired and painted.

 

My 07 does not have cross bars just the two that run the length of the roof. I would think the area is painted and would simply need a rubber washer and a chrome (or painted) shorter screw.
Clif

 

After removing the crossbars, the remaining rails run front to back and shouldn't affect the aerodynamics of the FEH by more than a negligible amount. Removing the head rests seems like it would have about the same impact on gas mileage.

 

With the huge front cross section and the nearly vertical windshield... I personally suspect the cross bars don't matter much either. The aerodymanics are dominated by the front end.

I've seen someone say that Ford puts them at the back of the slides in the beginning for MPG reasons. The real reason probably is to help them fit on the car carrier during shipping.

 

 

So I reread my original post:
and I didn't see anything about mpg questions or concerns. I said I will never use it so why clean around it, it adds extra work to the wash process and has NO use to me.
I will pull of my headrests to see if it makes cleaning my roof any easier but I suspect it wont

 

LOL! They might work out as sponges. Side note: I took off my headrests for the backseat because they block my view so much, and I seldom have passengers in the back. I suppose the 10lbs removed will increase my MPG by about .0001!

 

Try not to take it personally. Threads develop in a linear fashion each post feeding off the next. Often the comment is on the last post not the first. That's kind of the fun of it--to see where it leads.My comment was directed at the post immediately before it. At the time I even remembered that you'd never mentioned MPG so the good natured teasing and such wasn't even directed at you.In the winter I even take my X-bars off for snow removal. I put them back in the summer because to me it looks funny without them.

 

Or it could have something to do with the optional moon roof...

And sorry about the gas mileage comments. It was 2:30am when I posted that.