Hi,

I'm wanting to remove the factory roof railing on my 245 volvo kombi (1993). I can not see any visible bolts,screws or anything that would loosen it.

So i thought i'd ask the volvo community if anyone knows before i start looking under the roof liner for screws.

any help would be appreciated.

 

You have to drop the headliner to get to the bolts holding it. Once removed you'll have to plug up the holes and you will have paint discoloration where the bases were laying on the roof... These late style racks were factory installed, unlike the earlier ratty US dealer jobs, and look and serve well. I personally wouldn't remove them--I have gotten rid of plenty of early ones but these are nice...

 

Thanks for the reply, not what i wanted to hear. Its a hassle taking off the headliner. yeah they look good, but i'm gonna replace the rack with something better.

 

What, that goofy basket is better? The attachments damage the rain gutters and leave marks on the paint. The racks you have are stronger, much better looking and quite versatile as you can adopt all kinds of cross bars to them, etc. And they are aerodynamic so when you are not carrying whatever, they induce minimum drag.

 

Lev when you say "these ones" do you mean 1990 and later factory installed roof racks for the 240? I think i have the later model, but what is the difference? One is black and one chrome?

Thanks

 

I've been using Yakima rain-gutter mounted rack bars on my volvos for years, caused zero problems with the rain gutters on either our 87 240 sedan or 92 740 wagon. or our old 93 960 wagon.. they hold 200 lb loads easily, you darn near can lift the car with them. I mount big bikes on them, cargo boxes, etc.

 

When you removed the old roof rack, did you completely remove the headliner, or just around the sides to get the old plugs out?

 

if you're asking me, mine didn't come with a roof rack. the gold 960 in the ancient small pic did, but we never removed it.

 

You guys have good points. The factory rack is pretty sturdy, but the aftermarket like Thule and Yakima have all sorts of stuff that can easily be added. Having to remove the headliner to get the factory rack off has got to influence your decision. IPD sells plugs for the factory rack.

I have a Yakima on my 240. Since it did not come with a rack there was no difficult decision. The Yakima makes wind noise then it is empty on my 240 sedan. On the wagon, I move it toward the rear and it is quiet. It can hold a Sunfish sailboat, no problem. I don't know if the factory rack could do that. Let us know what you end up doing.