Jimny 3 - removal of end caps from factory longitudinal roof rails

I have heard (and experienced personally) that it is very difficult to remove the plastic end caps from factory longitudinal roof rails from a Jimny 3 without damaging (breaking) the internal plastic latches in the caps.

I am referring to the rails marked in red rectangles in the attached photograph.


Today I found this report in a South African forum:
www.4x4community.co.za/forum/showthread....ing-Jimny-Roof-Rails

The writer over there presents a method for which they claim that it works to remove the plastic end caps without damage.

I do not quite understand with certainty what did they use as the removal tools and how as English is not my primary language.
Could somebody elaborate a bit more clearly, or if you have performed a successful removal yourself, present your own method.

 

Heatshrink is just a thin rubbery plastic used around electrical connections.  Heat makes it shink around the wires.  The size you would need to fit around a typical ruler would be unusually large.

How about Duck Tape?

Roger

Basically you need a very thin tool that you can feed under the edge of the trim to apply upwards pressure. However the reactive force is applied to a painted surface which you will want to avoid scratching so you either need a set of bought plastic trim tools or you need something like the ruler in the link with something else to stop it doing damage. Of course the other option if you are strong enough is to grip the trim with your hand and squeeze the inboard edge slightly while simultaneously lifting the outside edge up and towards the centre of the car. The issue with this is you need to apply a fair amount of force quite gently, it requires technique as well as brute power.

I have done it on 5 jimnys and breaking or damaging it all the time

so I buy new ones from SUZUKI SIMS

I've not tried on a Jimny, but, the caps shown in the SA forum appear similar to those on a second gen GV which I am familiar with - maybe you might like to try my approach.

If I'm not mistaken there will be a crack where the cap meets the foot on the underside of the curve towards the center of the vehicle - I use a right angled pick or scribe and insert it into the crack/groove underneath the curve and ease the edge of the cap gently towards the center of the vehicle & upwards - if the Jimny has a similar groove there this method might work.