Bare roof mounting

Researching buying a used CR-V.
Has anyone mounted a roof rack to a bare roof by peeling back the strips and mounting to the bolts?

At first I thought I’d need to get the EX-L or Touring trims but really don’t need all the extras just for the raised flush rails. I read using Gemini that you can peel back the strips or cut them and access the mounting bolts. If that’s possible then it opens up my options for a used CR-V.