Permanent Roof Rack

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by Connoisseur_of_fine_cars

Looks like the bolts have to go thru the thin sheet metal. I wonder if the setup is stronger enough to handle a mountain bike. During high speed Interstate travel, I reckon there is tremendous amount of drag force on the bike and rack.

Where the one in the thread is mounted is definitely just to the single layer of the roof. It is actually quite a bit stronger than you'd think, and the rail-type roof racks actually stiffen the sheet metal quite a bit.

I did some hydraulic ram body work on Crashy recently. (I was trying to get the passenger side of the car from the A pillar to the C pillar back up to where it started, so I can mount a plexi windshield for plowing this year.) I was amazed as to how much force was required to get the large dents (>10" diameter by >3" deep) to pop back up.