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Roof rack for 2000 Solara

I'm trying to decide on a roof rack system for a 2000 Solara. I will be carrying one or two 18 ft long kayaks, 60 lbs each. I get mixed preferences from the kayak news groups, none who own a Solara, and none who have tried installing custom tracks on a curved roof, so thought I would try here.

I could go with Yakima Q towers and Q Extension kit. This would be the standard system.

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Maximum distance between the load bars would be only 30 inches though, not that long for carrying an 18 ft kayak. I might be able to go with permanently installed tracks. I could use push nuts so that I don't have to remove the headliner.
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One potential problem is that I'm not sure the Aluminum rails would bend enough to conform to the curved contour of the roof. Probably would need to flex a couple inches. Yakima service people aren't sure either. Also not sure how well the push nuts would hold versus dropping the headliner and installing washer and nuts. Has anyone here installed the tracks? If so, with push nuts, or by dropping the headliner? Are you happy with the system?

So far I'm thinking if I opt to drop the headline I should have an auto upholstery shop do it, unless someone convinces me it's easy. I haven't found any info on that. I'm thinking it's in the $150 Toyota repair manual if anywhere. It seems pretty tricky with everything snapping together.

Paul S.

Reply to
Paul Stivers
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I use the Q towers on my 92 Corolla Wagon. I never measured the distance between bars, but I would doubt it is much over 36 inches if that.

Quite a stable system.

....and you can remove the whole system easily and quickly. The SRS locks keep honest people honest and they can't remove it easily...

Reply to
Scott in Florida

One more possibility is to install a receiver hitch on the Solara, and having a support made that installs in the receiver hitch. This would at least provide some support for the back of the kayak.

Rather than trying to install the tracks for the entire length of the roof, how about cutting them into front and back pieces with nothing in the middle? You would lose the ability to adjust fore-aft, but it sounds like they are already too close so you would not have a need to move the bars closer together.

The port installed roof racks for station wagons and SUV's are attached to the roof with nut-serts, which are basically a threaded pop rivet. If you drill holes in the roof, make sure that you have some kind of stopper on the bit so that you do not penetrate the headliner. Make sure that you do not interfere with any side curtain air bags, and apply a good rustproofing to the edges of the hole. The nut-serts do not have a lot of strength to resist upward pulling so you have to make sure that the kayak is securely tied down.

Dropping the headliner and and adding reinforcement would make the racks much more resistant to the upward pull that might occure from a kayak.

Instructions on headliner removal should be in the factory repair manual. You can get online access at techinfo.toyota.com for $10/day.

Reply to
Ray O

That sounds like the way to go.

I don't think that I would do it with this car, but the people in this picture have a large canoe attached to a Mazda Miata using a hitch with what I assume is a custom support attachment.

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Pat

Reply to
pws

Great lead on this. Thanks. I'm probably going to go with the Q racks but am enjoying reading about the headliner. Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

Paul S.

Reply to
Paul Stivers

Thanks for the thought here. One downside on this method is that the boat isn't centered over the vehicle. The front and back safety tie down lines are then ineffective for preventing forward movement of the boat. Both safety lines would go slack if the boat were to move forward.

Paul S.

pws wrote:

Reply to
Paul Stivers

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