Don't know how they're mounted to the roof, but the system's good for a 220 pound load. My guess is that there's a fairly substantial fastener going through a good sized hole under each of those six columns.

But, yeah --- WHY?

Jack

Beyond that, even if you do take them off, prob. will be left with either
a) studs sticking up at the ends
b) holes in the roof

so no. Probably would require a trip to dealer AND a trip to body shop. Let me know if you make the plunge, I'd like to see what it looks like. I've seen pictures of the RS2 from overseas websites that don't have rails (don't know if they were built this way) and thought it was an interesting look. The A4 Avant would look a lot less like a station wagon without the rails, especially the bright finish ones on the 2.8.