Rubber strips for OEM Volvo roof rack crossbars

Post by **SonicAdventure** » 06 Mar 2016, 19:35

Hello, I got lucky and found a set of OEM Volvo cross bars at the junk yard. However, the 3/4" wide rubber strips that fit in the channel is missing on both of them.

If there a product out there that would be a good replacement? I was thinking of that 3/4" self adhesive weather stripping stuff they sell at Home Depot, but I'd like something a little more durable.

Post by **benpineapple** » 07 Mar 2016, 07:54

I'm pretty sure you can just slice up the rubber channel strips on your car when installing. I recently found roof rails at a junkyard for $15 (in perfect shape too). When installing had to cut the channel strips on my car at the front. Used a woodworking dovetail saw (yup), it was a breeze. I see no reason why you couldn't just use and cut your existing channel strips to fit the roof rails. Would be a bit more work, but you wouldn't need a new clip system or anything.

IG-88A · Post by **IG-88A** » 07 Mar 2016, 09:02

I found those exact bars at the junkyard too, and one of the rubber strips on mine are missing as well. But I was too excited to pass on them. I was thinking of trying something like this.
https://www.grainger.com/product/GRAING ... ?$smthumb$
The only problem is these are 2" wide, and the crossbar ones are about 3/4" as you mentioned. 2" seems to be about the narrowest I can find. But there has to be something out there. If push comes to shove, I was thinking of trying something like this out and seeing if i could somehow cut it evenly to fit. I have an acquaintance who very recently started working at a rubber place. They make belts, hoses, mats and all sorts of things. I'll ask him if anyone there can cut some some rubber sheet to size and let you know if I find out anything good.

Post by **SonicAdventure** » 09 Mar 2016, 17:21

IG-88A wrote:I found those exact bars at the junkyard too, and one of the rubber strips on mine are missing as well. But I was too excited to pass on them. I was thinking of trying something like this.
https://www.grainger.com/product/GRAING ... ?$smthumb$
The only problem is these are 2" wide, and the crossbar ones are about 3/4" as you mentioned. 2" seems to be about the narrowest I can find. But there has to be something out there. If push comes to shove, I was thinking of trying something like this out and seeing if i could somehow cut it evenly to fit. I have an acquaintance who very recently started working at a rubber place. They make belts, hoses, mats and all sorts of things. I'll ask him if anyone there can cut some some rubber sheet to size and let you know if I find out anything good.

That stuff from grainger would likely work. Yes it would be kind of a pain to cut it, and it would be nicer if it came longer than 36" because you would need at least 3 rolls to completely do both bars.

I will keep an eye on that. Any idea what industry they make that stuff for? I could then search specialty suppliers for that industry.

IG-88A · Post by **IG-88A** » 11 Mar 2016, 04:43

I think a good portion of EPDM sheeting is used as industrial roofing material. I contacted the guy I know, and he's waiting for his supervisor to come back from vacation next week. He feels confident that they could probably do something along these lines. Of course, if they are able to make them, they wouldn't be adhesive. But that could easily be solved with some 3M double sided stuff.

Post by **erikv11** » 11 Mar 2016, 08:35

SonicAdventure wrote: ... That stuff from grainger would likely work. Yes it would be kind of a pain to cut it, and it would be nicer if it came longer than 36" because you would need at least 3 rolls to completely do both bars. ... .

This looks like a great solution. It's so cheap, why not try one 36" roll on each bar? Won't go all the way but will be totally functional. I haven't measured the bars but I know they are different lengths, how much longer are they?

Post by **erikv11** » 11 Mar 2016, 10:10

The short bar is 37 with about 34 inches actually exposed, the long one is 39 with 36 inches exposed (about 1.5 inches no each end is hidden under the bracket that mounts the cross bar to the rail). If you do use them, you are even going to cover the cosmetic aspect. It comes down to devising a good method to cut it down to 3/4 inches.

Post by **SonicAdventure** » 12 Mar 2016, 10:20

erikv11 wrote:The short bar is 37 with about 34 inches actually exposed, the long one is 39 with 36 inches exposed (about 1.5 inches no each end is hidden under the bracket that mounts the cross bar to the rail). If you do use them, you are even going to cover the cosmetic aspect. It comes down to devising a good method to cut it down to 3/4 inches.

Thanks for that info Erik

By the way, I managed to pull a 3" long section of the OEM padding from one of the rails for closer inspection. It actually measures 20mm wide by 3mm thick. It is semi pliable with a little bit of give to it. It doesn't appear to have been glued on at all, maybe it was a slight press fit and shrunk?

I think the stuff mentioned above from Grainger would work Ok, I think one way to cut it would be to sandwich in between two 1x4", which a tiny nail or screw at each end placed at 10mm centers. Set up a band saw and rip the sandwich down to 20mm, taking care to keep the nail / screw / fastener away from the blade. Alternatively, perhaps it could be clamped to a workbench under a steel straight edge and "ripped" into 20mm strips with a utility knife, much like one would score a piece of Sheetrock?

Blockpartie · Post by **Blockpartie** » 12 Mar 2016, 10:46

For some of the roof racks there are replacement parts available from Volvo and/or Thule. This includes rubber strips but depends on which variant of roof rack you have. What's the parts number for yours?

Post by **SonicAdventure** » 14 Mar 2016, 00:35

Blockpartie wrote:For some of the roof racks there are replacement parts available from Volvo and/or Thule. This includes rubber strips but depends on which variant of roof rack you have. What's the parts number for yours?

I know they are OEM Volvo, because the little section of the strip I pulled off had Volvo lightly impressed into the rubber. The exterior of the rails have no Volvo logos on them, but they are the ones that fit the heavier, more square rail systems from the last years of the V70 XC like 99 and 00. They loosen and tighten with a safety T40 bolt.