Shoppin' for a roof rack for the 855. A real virgin in this arena, having never procured a rack before. Talking rack and basket for camping crap.

HELP! ANY pointers would be useful.

What fits the best to the stock mounting/locating holes?

What is the best deal and where?

Thanks!
--
www.fidalgo.net/~brook4

I have a '98 V70 and use my Thule rack on it. The feet fit the holes in the upper door jamb area as others have mentioned. Beware though, everyone I know complains that the resulting distortion of the door gasket lets water drip in. I have had it happen on several occasions during storms, washing the car, etc. Because of this, I do NOT leave the rack in place on a daily basis. I have never had this happen on any other car I've used my bars and attachments on, including a Honda Accord, Nissan Stanza wagon, Plymouth Grand Voyager minivan, and my current Subarus.

I'm confused. I just asked the dealer last week and I thought he said that with my 1997 850 the rack just sets on the roof "stripe" and then hooks into the top of the door frame. He indicated only later models have the spot on the roof where the base fits in.

The hooks are holes in the door jam. Open the doors and you will
see some small holes at the top. OEM bars "grab" onto those holes
for alignment while the top of the load bar rests on the roof stripe.
The holes also make it hard to remove the bars while the doors are
locked.

Thule is made in Sweden and even the manufacturer of the dealer factory bars i was told. I just bought one and the fit kit goes in the holes. Perfect fit.

Basically, except in the top of the door frame is a tapped hole (well, holes with nutserts). All 850's have these as far as I know.
--
http://www.fidalgo.net/~brook4/oilslubesfilters.html

I'm not sure if Thule roof racks would have the pins that line
up with the holes (guess you will have to investigate). We
have the Volvo supplied roof bars that do fit the holes and I
like the setup. I purchased a Thule carrier from a shop that
just sells roof racks and accessories. It works great giving us
the extra room we need for trips.

One thing, the roof racks from a sedan and wagon are not interchangeable
(in case you buy used from eBay or something). The holes in the
front doors are at slightly different points and the bar has to be a
bit longer/wider for the sedan then the wagon. The roof
bars for our wagon have a picture of a wagon on them -- I assume the
ones for a sedan would show a sedan.

I have a Thule roof rack which I purchased for a 1996 850 Sedan. It fits perfectly on my 2000 V70. The Thule foot pads do have the part that fits into the hole in the door frame.

Good to know Thule supplied bars will work.

We purchased the OEM bars with our 95 wagon. When I purchased a 98
S70 one of the reasons was to use the same load bars and carrier.
I did make it work by cutting the front bar in half and adding an
insert that allows me to adjust the width. A bit of work, but
cheaper then new bars for the sedan. Bar looks like Frankestein's
Monster -- but it works.

Have done a bit or research and here is my two cents:
1. Volvo roof racks are made by Thule.
2. Difference between Thule and Yakima is that Thule bars are square, Yakimas are round, both are reputable and of good quality.
3. For simplicity sake and I think cost as well, Volvo roof rack bars are the way to go, they fit the best and price wise, it is the cheapest way to go. The rack fits right in the holes in the roof. If you bought roof racks from Thule, you'd have to get a fit kit and basically, you are getting the same product, namely Thule.

Thanks. Good juicy info.

I'm leaning towards Yakima (I really need to check quality) - the reason why is because the cost of the Yakima gear baskets are WAY cheapest....
--
www.fidalgo.net/~brook4