Phiz
Member
So the I guess often asked question of roof rack options for classic Pandas is showing up again I'm afraid. I've had a good dig through the forum and have seen a few different options completed and a few people who seem to have given up the trail!
What I need:
-Something I can easily mount 2 large kayaks and ideally 2 paddles to.
-Something I can complete relatively quickly.
-Something which looks as neat as possible, while being inkeeping with the panda.
-Something in the long term I can load up with gear for road trips.
Clearly the factory options are rare and getting rarer, plus the CLX ones (I think, the ones which only cover the back half of the car) don't look big enough for my requirements. I've seen Panda Panda Johns modified Berlingo rack, which looks more like what I'm after, Dragon Mans rack attaching to the door hinges which is novel but perhaps a bit more 'post apocalypse' than I'm looking for!
Given I'm going to have to drill holes in the roof (unless I worked out an arrangement off the door jambs (which I'm not sure I could get looking neat), I want what ever I end up with to be versatile and as factory looking as possible. Initially I figured I'd go down the modified berlingo rack route but a few issues came up, time, the fixed sides potentially minimising load space and also making the fixing points look as factory as possible.
Looking online for rack options for cars with no roof rails I came across systems by Rhino and Yakima where a track is riveted to the roof of the car which then accepts a range of different attachements (see pic. below).
Now I've watched the youtube instillation video for these (going on the back of a pickup truck) and they seem to just be spreading the load across the length of the roof. They certainly don't instruct you to install it above a seam, or even along side a swage line. Issues with this seem to be you end up drilling quite a lot of holes, when you don't have a rack on the tracks look a little wrong (or would on a Panda, I think it sort of works on a pick up truck) and they are seriously expensive, especially when you consider that once you have the rails you then need specific rack fittings to go on it.
So how about fitting roof rails from another car, I realise the feet will be shaped to follow the contours of the roof but surely some out there must be close? They would sit on rubber pads so I guess new pads could be carved to fit the Panda. I had a good look on Ebay, mainly for cars with a flatish roof line but roof rails which are not too long for a Panda and came across three sets on Ebay for a Kia Carens. Clearly this is a bigger car but the bars are not full length...
I contacted the seller of the cheapest set (pictured) who confirmed the overall length of these roof rails are 120cm, so just short enough for the roof of a Panda, I also asked for the width of the mounting feet, that got lost in translation but I did get some to be fair more usefull info, that the gaps between the feet are 40cm and 32cm. I'd guess from that the middle mount would be say 5cm, so if I fitted these rails and then clipped on my standard roof bars they could be 75cm apart, not the greatest of spans (compared to my Volvo roof rails) but I would guess far enough apart to secure our boats! The actual mounts look pretty big, which although shortens the useable length of the bars does mean that the weight could be spread as much as possible across the roof of the car (as does the extra central mount, which many do not have and really would not get in the way at all).
So what do you recon, a quick and easy solution for getting the boats on the roof with the option to fabricate an adventure roof rack at a later date which simply bolts on or a terrible idea which either would not fit, would look terrible or even worse would not be structurally strong enough to carry any real load?
And to close on a bad pun, Show me pics of your racks
What I need:
-Something I can easily mount 2 large kayaks and ideally 2 paddles to.
-Something I can complete relatively quickly.
-Something which looks as neat as possible, while being inkeeping with the panda.
-Something in the long term I can load up with gear for road trips.
Clearly the factory options are rare and getting rarer, plus the CLX ones (I think, the ones which only cover the back half of the car) don't look big enough for my requirements. I've seen Panda Panda Johns modified Berlingo rack, which looks more like what I'm after, Dragon Mans rack attaching to the door hinges which is novel but perhaps a bit more 'post apocalypse' than I'm looking for!
Given I'm going to have to drill holes in the roof (unless I worked out an arrangement off the door jambs (which I'm not sure I could get looking neat), I want what ever I end up with to be versatile and as factory looking as possible. Initially I figured I'd go down the modified berlingo rack route but a few issues came up, time, the fixed sides potentially minimising load space and also making the fixing points look as factory as possible.
Looking online for rack options for cars with no roof rails I came across systems by Rhino and Yakima where a track is riveted to the roof of the car which then accepts a range of different attachements (see pic. below).
Now I've watched the youtube instillation video for these (going on the back of a pickup truck) and they seem to just be spreading the load across the length of the roof. They certainly don't instruct you to install it above a seam, or even along side a swage line. Issues with this seem to be you end up drilling quite a lot of holes, when you don't have a rack on the tracks look a little wrong (or would on a Panda, I think it sort of works on a pick up truck) and they are seriously expensive, especially when you consider that once you have the rails you then need specific rack fittings to go on it.
So how about fitting roof rails from another car, I realise the feet will be shaped to follow the contours of the roof but surely some out there must be close? They would sit on rubber pads so I guess new pads could be carved to fit the Panda. I had a good look on Ebay, mainly for cars with a flatish roof line but roof rails which are not too long for a Panda and came across three sets on Ebay for a Kia Carens. Clearly this is a bigger car but the bars are not full length...
I contacted the seller of the cheapest set (pictured) who confirmed the overall length of these roof rails are 120cm, so just short enough for the roof of a Panda, I also asked for the width of the mounting feet, that got lost in translation but I did get some to be fair more usefull info, that the gaps between the feet are 40cm and 32cm. I'd guess from that the middle mount would be say 5cm, so if I fitted these rails and then clipped on my standard roof bars they could be 75cm apart, not the greatest of spans (compared to my Volvo roof rails) but I would guess far enough apart to secure our boats! The actual mounts look pretty big, which although shortens the useable length of the bars does mean that the weight could be spread as much as possible across the roof of the car (as does the extra central mount, which many do not have and really would not get in the way at all).
So what do you recon, a quick and easy solution for getting the boats on the roof with the option to fabricate an adventure roof rack at a later date which simply bolts on or a terrible idea which either would not fit, would look terrible or even worse would not be structurally strong enough to carry any real load?
And to close on a bad pun, Show me pics of your racks
