I was kind of on-the-fence whether to remove the cross bars or not. Even though I never use the roof rack, I couldn't come up with a good reason to remove the bars. I never considered the ease of washing but now I think I'll go ahead and remove them. And the reduced air drag should be another plus.

Once again I get smarter because of this forum. And thanks for the picture.

 

Yes, we wanted to see what they look like without the crossbars. They do look ok. Mush easier sliding that wash mitt without the bars. You can clean the moonroof easier.

 

I've only washed the car twice, and yes, I did find the crossbars to be annoying when trying to dry the car. It's difficult to get all the water out from the bars, and is annoying when water keeps dripping onto the roof...

I think the antenna looks OK without the crossbars.

Oh, and that license plate is a photoshop job.

 

Yeah...I kinda' figured. Hence my smiley.

FWIW I did this same "mod" on my old Denali, for the same reasons. Aesthetic is certainly secondary to the functional benefits of not having them mounted. They're in the garage for when the vehicle is eventually sold, and I suppose, in the rare possibility I may actually use them.

 

Now if they just put that antenna smack in the middle, then it is more pleasing to the eye.

 

And made it a color-matched shark fin...

 

If it was centered!!!

 

I have a faux shark fin antenna on my 1st Gen TL, color matched. Nice, real nice.

 

Acura does it right - as does Audi - by incorporating satellite radio into the single color-matched and well-positioned sharkfin. For most vehicles an external antenna is still a necessity - why not make it look good?

 

Removing the cross bar will actually make cleaning the snow and ice off the roof a easier job.

 

My 1st gen TL had a Panasonic internal coil antenna that sucked big time. The car looked clean without the external antenna, but reception sucked. The integrated radio-SAT is the key, the shark fin, color coordinated antenna works like a charm. Car Wash...friendly, too.

 

The Lexus IS comes with a color matched Sharkfin – lets hope the next generation RX does too!

 

A roof rack different designing from RX300! Mine an 01 RX300 easy to deleted. I don't think so for RX330~350 removel roof rack.

 

An RX300 antenna even more sucks.....

 

Agree that the old RX antenna was not as pleasing to the eyes.