I have seen several threads here regarding the absence of proper roof railings for the Doblo. It's a tall car alright, the Doblo, but I too felt it would work better with the railings. And found them. A Czech company (again :bang: ) is manufacturing them. I got them installed the last day of the year 2007 and they are perfect. Since I am not yet allowed to include links, type the words: neumann and railings into your browser.

As soon as I get a shot of my Diablo with them, I will post it here. Now, it's freezing outside.

Marcin

You can order roof rails if you buy new so there must be a few Doblos out there with genuine Fiat roof rails.
Sludgeguts has the after market roof rails too, although IIRC they weren't a perfect fit...they look the dogs doo dahs though

Do you mean the lateral (side to side) bars or longitudinal ones? I phoned the local dealer who quoted me £300 odd pounds for the set of three lateral which I thought was far too dear (though don't know how this stacks up to the likes of after market brands like Thule). I didn't realise you could get longitudinal bars from Fiat? My concern with aftermarket ones is that most don't seem to use the special mounting points?

nhschris said:

Do you mean the lateral (side to side) bars or longitudinal ones? I phoned the local dealer who quoted me £300 odd pounds for the set of three lateral which I thought was far too dear (though don't know how this stacks up to the likes of after market brands like Thule). I didn't realise you could get longitudinal bars from Fiat? My concern with aftermarket ones is that most don't seem to use the special mounting points?

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Your local dealer got it way wrong i paid £129.00 for a "silver" genuine set of 3 from my local dealer.... ???? they are now 3 three years old and due a powder coating !!!

nhschris said:

Do you mean the lateral (side to side) bars or longitudinal ones? I phoned the local dealer who quoted me £300 odd pounds for the set of three lateral which I thought was far too dear (though don't know how this stacks up to the likes of after market brands like Thule). I didn't realise you could get longitudinal bars from Fiat? My concern with aftermarket ones is that most don't seem to use the special mounting points?

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They are the longitudinal kind, not the cross bars. You normally mount cross bars on top of them when needed and leave them as they are, when not. they mount exactly the factory fixing points and are supplied by an experienced company which also supplies OEM. Cost in Poland is circa 700 PLN which makes about 120 GBP or so. They are coated satin black. It is way below zero in here now and my Diablo is all covered in salty frostings so I will postpone a photosession a couple days. But promise to take pictures.

See my thoughts on these rails...
https://www.fiatforum.com/doblo/111177-new-accessories-available-2.html

The plugs (bolt covers) quickly became lost so I simply packed a load of clear sealant into the holes.
I have to say that the overall effect is rather good & the rails have served their purpose.
For ladders etc I use a couple of pieces of wood (courtesy of an old pallette) slung under the rails (so touching the square base of the rails) & held in place with a couple of cable ties.
Sheets simply sit on the rails.
I'm working on something more solid which is easily stored. At the moment, the wood sits under the rear seat & cable ties in the door pocket.
Don't need it that often but always handy to have.

nhschris said:

I didn't realise you could get longitudinal bars from Fiat?

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you can't, well not exactly, you have to order them when you order a new Doblo as they are a factory fitted optional extra only.
Fiat won't retro-fit them.

If you want genuine fiat roof bars that look good you'll have to go for the transverse alloy types which are £116 for a pair

Check out the leisure time link on the Fiat site

Hoota said:

... found them. A Czech company (again :bang: ) is manufacturing them... Since I am not yet allowed to include links, type the words: neumann and railings into your browser.

As soon as I get a shot of my Diablo with them, I will post it here. Now, it's freezing outside.

Marcin

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Hi Macin,

I've tried to find them online but those 2 words aren't quite enough (for me at least ) Could you give any more clues?

I'd love to see a picture too when the snow clears - photos make it much easier to see just how good accessories look.

Thanks

Rob

Tango Dioblo said:

Hi Macin,

I've tried to find them online but those 2 words aren't quite enough (for me at least ) Could you give any more clues?

I'd love to see a picture too when the snow clears - photos make it much easier to see just how good accessories look.

Thanks

Rob

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Alright. The weather got a bit better so tomorrow I will try and take a picture. Since I use Thule bars I have already noticed the front bar needs to be a bit longer than the rear. I will check that on the box but seems like the 120 cm bars are okay for the rear while the front needs the 125 cm.

Finally I went out east - actually the shot was taken roughly a mile from the border with Belarus - and got around to take a picture of my railings. So now you too can have a look. So?

Ha,
I have just notice I have gone over the 5 posts limit so I can submit a link: http://www.neumannr.cz/index_en.htm
Here, you will find more information on the railings as pictured. I have checked their website for the availability in the UK - it seems they are not there yet.

Working through the 'shop' on the site (not in English so I made a few guesses) it looks like the rails are Kč 3,910 in local currency which with the help of Google = £115, probably before tax and certainly before shipping, currency costs etc, but it gives us an idea. Obviously they may not want to ship to UK, but at least we know the rough starting price.

Marcin - weather and your Doblo look great, Are those Winter tyres to help with the snow? How is the Doblo in the snow?

Broadpete said:

Marcin - weather and your Doblo look great, Are those Winter tyres to help with the snow? How is the Doblo in the snow?

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I paid around PLN 700 which is pretty much what you have calculated. That was including tax and then an extra PLN 50 to get them fitted - it was late December mind you.

Doblo works just fine in the snow - I run Brigestone Blizzaks which I have managed to haggle from the dealer with the purchase of the car. They stick good in the snowy and muddy conditions and work good on ice too.

The only thing in the cold is the heating but this issue is worse in town when it takes longer for the engine to warm up. Other than that only the headlamp washers would come in handy but then the Doblo uses much less washing liquid which makes filling it up (through that unnecesarily small opening) less of a pain.

Here is one more of the Doblo in the snow. With railings visible.

Thanks for adding the pitures Hoota, they look great. I'll look out for them in the UK.

Rob

I've exchanged some emails with Neumann and the news isn't good.

Although they would be happy to ship to the UK the bars aren't intended to be fitted to the standard points! Amazingly they apparently get rivetted on through clear holes drilled through the roof

I quote:

Message 1;
"Our technology of fixation includes drilling in the roof and fixation by means of rivets without damaging inside upholstery. As this is not an easy operation requiring certain skills and tools, we normally do not sell these products directly to end customers but recommend them to have this operation done in service/repair shops trained by us. Many cars are already fitted with these railings directly from the factory."

Message 2;
"I have discussed the matter with our technicians. They confirmed what you say about threaded holes in the roof. I am afraid it is not possible to fit our railings to these holes.

Our system was developed some years ago as a solution generally applicable to most car with reasonable roof curvature. However it does not cover individual solutions for different cars with prefixed points. Though we ourselves do not like it much, if the customers insist on it, we do it for them. We manufacture our railings for aftermarket only and therefore we cannot develop railings exactly fitting to each and every car as this would not pay."

I hope there's a misunderstanding but at the moment it sounds like another roof rail dead end

Rob

Such a pity they don't make them to fit properly.
Then again, mine were advertised as being specifically for the Doblo - but, as you can see from my pics, they aren't anywhere near.

It's such a pity that Fiat don't install the rails to every motor - or at least sell them to retro fit (at an affordable price - have you seen the stooopid prices they charge for accessories on their website? ).

The quest still continues...........
This photo is (I think) from a motorshow in Turkey (where Dobs are made ?) and look at the great roof rails. (Probably need to click photo to get bigger size).
Anyone got any mates in Turkey? I've tried translating roof rack into Turkish and using Google but no success.

Tango Dioblo said:

I've exchanged some emails with Neumann and the news isn't good.

Although they would be happy to ship to the UK the bars aren't intended to be fitted to the standard points!
I quote:

Message 1;
"Our technology of fixation includes drilling in the roof and fixation by means of rivets without damaging inside upholstery. As this is not an easy operation requiring certain skills and tools, we normally do not sell these products directly to end customers but recommend them to have this operation done in service/repair shops trained by us. Many cars are already fitted with these railings directly from the factory."


Rob

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First of all, the railings were fitted using exactly the factory fixing points. It is true however, the technician has not used the factory drillings but fitted some other combination of fixing (not by all means rivets) in order to get the reuired holding position. And yes, I have got the trained people to carry all the fixing operation since the collection of elements that accompanied the rails jus disabled my manual skills. Other than that, the railings look stock and seem tough enough to withstand the luggage.

Hi Hoota, Sludge,

I was sceptical of their response too, who'd drill new holes in a Doblo that didn't need it?

I thought that Hoota's rails looked great and so I've asked for more details from Neumann to see what really needs to be done. The guy there types great English but he's having to translate so there might be something getting lost - this is no crititicism it's not like I can clear up the details in his language

Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of this... If its worth doing would anyone be interested in a group purchase?

Rob