2000 V70 Wagon Cartop Carriers

bbolander · Post by **bbolander** » 17 Nov 2003, 20:28

We're going to get a hard shell cartop carrier for our 2000 V70. It doesn't have factory roof rails or rack. We've looked at the Volvo, Yakima and Thule products. It looks like all of the towers attach with clips to the top of the doors.

Has anyone had any experience with these carriers, either postitive or negative, on a similar Volvo?

Post by **matthew1** » 17 Nov 2003, 21:53

I've got Yakima Q towers, bars, and an expedition basket for my 850 (same as 70). They work ok, no complaints. They're heavy and bulky, and they do take up a bit of space when not on the car, so putting them on/taking them off is a cycle best left for when you have a buddy and for when you need them. You wouldn't take them off just to go to the grocery store, etc.

The Volvo 'official' brand of racks is Thule, and I have no idea if and what the advantage to that brand would be for a Volvo, but I wouldn't be suprised if there was one. Call the dealer and ask why Thule would make more sense than Yakima.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 18 Nov 2003, 16:45

We're thinking about changing directions and getting the 2000 V70 roof rails from Volvo. The Dealer said they should install them rather than us trying to do it.

Has anyone had any experience installing the roof rails?

rainman · Post by **rainman** » 19 Nov 2003, 13:29

I own a 95 850 (they accept 850 and later V70 roof bars), to which I have recently fitted roof rails myself. I am assuming that there is no difference in the fitments between a uk spec 850 (mine) and a us spec, as the screwholes (for the roofrails) are pre-drilled at the factory. Don't pay a dealer 2 hours labour to do it - get a neighbour to lend you their time and do it yourself. one thing I would recommend is looking at some roofrails on a friends V70/850, so that you can see how they should fit, and also so you can see where the plastic trim should be cut so that it just 'goes underneath' the front part of the roofrail
You'll need a hacksaw (small blade) and a torx head screwdriver (I forget the exact size) to do the job.

1) You basically unclip the plastic trim running the length of the car (which is actually plastic coated metal) by getting your fingers under it and pulling the trim towards you and upwards simultaneously.

2)DO NOT make any cuts in the plastic trim, before measuring the length of the roofrail (which has it's own piece of trim attached). The roofrail plastic trim should overlap the existing roof trim by approx 1cm at the front end of the car.

3) There is no overlap at the rear of the car. The fittings pack that is included in the box includes a small piece of plastic trim, which fits at the rear of the roofrail (you'll understand immediately when you start doing this on the car).

4) When you are certain, cut the plastic trim with the hacksaw (approx in the middle of the drivers door, using that as a marker. Obviously you can measure the overlap required exactly and mark it as such), and discard it. Lay the roof rail on to the gulley that now exists (from your removal of the plastic trim you have just binned), ensuring that you clip the roofrail into the little clips (plastic, yellow in colour I think), that are attached to the cars bodywork by tiny metal clips. (There are spares of these in the fittings pack if required, but I just re-used all my old ones!).

5) The final trim assembly is easy so I won't detail it here. I did the whole job using a Leatherman multi tool, 90 minutes, and a little bit of effort. The good thing is, if you mess it up, you can't really damage anything, so just take it to Volvo and hand over your hard earned cash.
OH BY THE WAY, VOLVO INSTUCTIONS ARE ATROCIOUS, so don't expect too much of them. I found them to poorly drawn, inaccurate and confusing (I assume they presume that you will give up and go to a dealer for help).....but hopefully my instructions will help you... Hope you get on ok!.

bbolander · Post by **bbolander** » 20 Nov 2003, 23:25

Thanks for the great input on the roof rails. My son owns the Volvo and he and his wife decided to go with the removable bars from Volvo made by Thule and the Mountaineer cargo box from Volvo. They wanted to keep the look without the roof rails when the box wasn't being used.

I'm really impressed with the Volvo removable bars. They're all pre riveted together to fit exactly and the door frame has a hole for a pin in the tower to slip into. Once they are adjusted the first time all you have to do is to release a small handle and take it of, then engage the handle when you put it back on. The bars are even labeled so you know which side and which door the end attaches to. They were just a little more money than the Thule bars but are a lot simpler and cleaner and have nice Volvo covers on the towers. Plus the Volvo bars carry 200 lbs and the Thule bars carry 160 lbs.

We haven't installed them on the Volvo yet, but I brought the Mountaineer box home on my Jeep Cherokee with Yakima round bars on 30" centers and it mounted on them fine and the box looks great. Now I can borrow it from my son whenever I need to!

The Mountaineer attachment to the bars is a more basic quick mount style. I looked at the Thule Evolution boxes with their quick snap attachment that I like better. The Mountaineer also opens from one side only while the Evolution opens on both sides. If it were for me, I'd go with the Evolution 1600 with it's glossy silver top that looks close to the silver paint on the Volvo. The Mountaineer top is a non-glossy grey, but it does have the Volvo logo on it.

rainman · Post by **rainman** » 21 Nov 2003, 07:24

Fair enough. I used to use Thule roof bars, but changed to roofrails and roofbars togther because I found myslef carrying more and more items. The reael advantage offered by roofrails is in securing items to the roof and in getting heavy objects on to the roof in the first place. I have just carried a 3 seater sofa on the roof, and I would never have been able to lift it up there 'cleanly' without scratching/denting the car. As it was, I rested it on the roofrails, slid it up, and then turned it on to the roof bars. Securing it was a piece of cake as well.
Roofbars are absolutely fine from a weight point of view, their limitations really become exposed when carrying lengthy items (i.e. you cannot adjust where the bars fit on the car), or when securing/loading heavy items.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 21 Nov 2003, 07:54

Rainman, I agree with you and if it were my car I would have gone with the roof rails. They decided at the last minute to go with the removable ones thinking that they wouldn't be using the cargo box very often and they recalled their conscious decision when they bought the V70 not to get one with roof rails since they liked the sleekness without them better.

Thanks again for the great post on the roof rail installation. That's exactly what we needed from the forum. I've saved them and sent them to my son in case they decide to go with roof rails later on.

Post by **matthew1** » 21 Nov 2003, 11:24

"3rd party" bars like mine are very noisy when there's nothing up there. Put the sunroof back on the highway and you can't hear the radio! Somehow the aerodynamics of even small cargo items on the bars reduce/eliminate the noise.

rainman · Post by **rainman** » 25 Nov 2003, 17:23

Amen to Matthews comments!! They are so noisy if unladen! You'll be overjoyed to hear that the same is true of the bars that attach to my roof rails. It affects your fuel economymore than you would think too, so unclip them if not using too often.

marulo · Post by **marulo** » 06 Aug 2006, 01:01

Hi. I am posting this as a reply because I think it is highly related to the stuff you have been discussing.

I got a 2002 V70 2.4T. It came with no roof rails and I was thinking about having a roof box install. So after reading your comments I decided to have the dealer install the roof rails. Then, I bought the Wing-Profile cross bars (the curved ones with the T-rack system that are supposed to make no noise when not loaded). But when I went to buy a roof box [Thule Atlantis 1200: http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/product ... 11&sku=685] I was surprised to see that those box are not designed for the wing profile cross bars I have [it looks like the box fits ok on the bars, but the seller doesn't recommend I buy them].
Then I checked that the Volvo dealer installs the Mountaneer II on the cross bars [ http://www.volvocars.us/models/v70/Accessories.htm ] I have so I don't understand what I am missing.
The only thing I can think of is that there is an adaptor [between the bars and the box] the dealer has and I can't buy somewhere else...

Does anyone know if I could just go ahead and install the Thule Atlantis 1800 over the Wing-Profile crossbars?

Thanks in advance

Marulo