Roof Bar Drama!! Advice needed

[agent_dess]

Hey Guys,

Most of you will know i purchased a roof bar for the car.

Went to install it today and all the brackets fit except the driver side!

Turns out the hole is too far back so i cannot push the bracket pin into the hole.

I called Lexus Edinburgh to ask for advice/warranty fix, they said they have not seen this issue before, its not under warranty (as if anyone would ever think twice about measuring all the holes to make sure it was all aligned!!)
They said there is nothing they can do and when i asked if i purchased the Genuine Lexus roof bar (made by Thule by the way)... how would they resolve this same issue?, they said they would go back to Thule and query them.
I told them i have measured all 3 other holes and they are in sync and the only problem is the driver side.  You can see from the photo measurement is off wildly!  Now i know this would have been machined at the factory during manufacturing but lets admit some dozy idiot drilled the hole too far back!
Best advice they could offer was speak to Lexus Customer Relations....  This is going to be a tough one to fight as they will do everything to avoid resolving it.

I could remove the grommet and carefully drill the hole further out which would allow the bracket to clip into the hole... but before i going trigger happy what would you guys suggest i do in this instance?

I would add that i can fit the front driver bracket on the passenger side and it clips in no bother, but i cannot fit the passenger bracket into the driver door.. it has the same issue.

Passenger door:

 

Driver door:

 

Here is a view of the bracket and pin:

[agent_dess]

I did what any self respecting man would do...

Took a Dremel to it 😀

 

I couldn't save the plastic grommet, it was almost like taking out a wall plug from a wall which always falls apart, then with the Dremel I grinded a bit of the metal, I applied some touch up paint to blend in any minor damage to the surrounding paint work.  Once bracket goes on it will completely concealed.

Job done.. going to Lexus Customer Relations would have been a waste of time and would have dragged on for what only took me 10mins to fix!

[agent_dess]

To finally wrap up this thread I had a 💡 moment while at the gym this morning.

So when I got home I rummaged through the toolbox looking for a wall plug and lo and behold I found a perfect fit, only problem was it was white so I thought for a moment.. Sharpie 😂 but I couldn't reach in the hole then it occurred to me and so I went straight to my wife and asked to borrow her black aryclic nail polish 😁 

waiting on it drying now but once fitted it will blend right back in with the car.

[RONNIE W HODGEKINSON]

Good Grief Dess This was a tricky one To Resolve What Idiot drilled the Hole on the drivers side In The Wrong Place...!!!

However... I Think you did the right thing You applied a bit of science and resolved the problem  Well Done..!! Not many people would have Thought That through..!! As the saying goes " Your problems are only as big as you make them " !!!!!!!!!

[agent_dess]

Finished outcome can be found here:

https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/139920-bike-rack-for-is300h/?do=findComment&comment=1313180