In case anyone is planning on installing the premium trim oem roof rails on a base model, I will share my recent experience:
1.) you will have to remove and cut the rain gutter trim. On the passenger side, pry up the rear and with a long flathead screwdriver, push each clip forward off of its retaining stud. On the driver's side, start at the front and push each clip towards the back. If you pry up instead of pushing laterally, they will definitely break. Each trim piece will have to be cut into 3 smaller sections that you can measure by test fitting the rails. Alternatively, you can buy the crosstrek trim pieces, but cutting my originals worked fine.
2.) you will have to drill 2 holes on each side. 8 of the 12 holes are already drilled to hold the existing cross bar brackets, but the back 2 on each side need to be drilled. Put some nail polish on the tip of the rear 2 rail studs and then test fit into the existing holes to leave a mark where to drill.
3.) You will have to pull out the rear, middle, and front pillar trim, remove the sun visors, as well as the oh sht grips (press the upper tab while pulling the small cover straight out. do this for each retainer and they slide out - no prying like on 90's ones). This will allow you to pull down both sides of the headliner and expose the nuts holding the cross bar brackets (same holes for installing the rails). If you dont have an angled socket adapter, you will probably need to go further and remove the entire headliner. The nuts are all 10mm heads.
4.) slather all around the holes with silicon sealant to that they dont leak. Press the roof trim into place before installing the rails. put everything back together inside the car.
I didnt expect it to be this difficult, but its doable. Also, the holes that need to be drilled are nowhere near the side curtain airbags, so you dont have to worry about accidentally piercing them. Hope this helps someone, sorry that I didnt take pictures.
Before:
![Wheel Car Tire Vehicle Automotive tire]()
After:
![Wheel Tire Vehicle Car Sky]()
1.) you will have to remove and cut the rain gutter trim. On the passenger side, pry up the rear and with a long flathead screwdriver, push each clip forward off of its retaining stud. On the driver's side, start at the front and push each clip towards the back. If you pry up instead of pushing laterally, they will definitely break. Each trim piece will have to be cut into 3 smaller sections that you can measure by test fitting the rails. Alternatively, you can buy the crosstrek trim pieces, but cutting my originals worked fine.
2.) you will have to drill 2 holes on each side. 8 of the 12 holes are already drilled to hold the existing cross bar brackets, but the back 2 on each side need to be drilled. Put some nail polish on the tip of the rear 2 rail studs and then test fit into the existing holes to leave a mark where to drill.
3.) You will have to pull out the rear, middle, and front pillar trim, remove the sun visors, as well as the oh sht grips (press the upper tab while pulling the small cover straight out. do this for each retainer and they slide out - no prying like on 90's ones). This will allow you to pull down both sides of the headliner and expose the nuts holding the cross bar brackets (same holes for installing the rails). If you dont have an angled socket adapter, you will probably need to go further and remove the entire headliner. The nuts are all 10mm heads.
4.) slather all around the holes with silicon sealant to that they dont leak. Press the roof trim into place before installing the rails. put everything back together inside the car.
I didnt expect it to be this difficult, but its doable. Also, the holes that need to be drilled are nowhere near the side curtain airbags, so you dont have to worry about accidentally piercing them. Hope this helps someone, sorry that I didnt take pictures.
Before:
After:
