Hello Land Rover Forum people,

First post. Whew!

I am circling in on purchasing a 2024 Defender 110 and would like to add the Expedition Roof Rack (or close facsimile) without paying full-freight from the dealer. Has anyone had success with a particular online version? There are some on Alibaba that other threads here have referenced.

Thanks in advance for your help and I'm looking forward to joining the Defender family.

 

The ones from AliBaba are fine, just watch out for the freight charge though. The rack is big and bulky. Going OEM is always your best choice, and I would ask the dealer where you get yours serviced for a discount on the rack. Most dealerships will grant you a discount. Just ask.

 

That's helpful. Thank you!

 

The other way to approach is post a wanted to buy ad for a rack somebody had buyer's remorse on. There are several for sale on eBay, starting at $850. New, used. Have it on your car a couple of months, it will look the same. Mine has not really aged at all, but I remove it 6 months of the year in lieu of ski racks.

 

I bought a rack last August from Alibaba. It's a copy of the factory rack but in all black instead of having the silver bars. I paid roughly $1200 shipped to my door in the US. It arrived in perfect condition and had basically a modified copy of the factory instructions to install it.
I had to swap out two screws for ones that were 5mm shorter. Otherwise everything fit fine.

I was happy enough with the alibaba version that I went out and bought a ladder and lunch box at significant discounts as well. It's only been a year, but all if it looks and functions perfectly.

 

Are you getting it for looks or to use? If it’s to use don’t buy the factory one too much wasted space.

 

I live in Vermont and have a factory one for sale that I can deliver to Boston area if you're interested... not sure of your location. Price would be 1/2 of new and can help install.

 

I have had both, the Front Runner and the Expedition rack. I sold the Front Runner, it was slightly noisier and harder to fit and refit. As I said I remove mine seasonally. A lot more fiddling to get the Front Runner, just so on the roof. I do not carry a Mexican Busload of stuff up there. Normally I just use it for a work platform to extend my horizon for photography and a landing pad for drones. If I go out longer, I put a Roof Top Tent on it. The car does get more pronounced body roll the more you put up there. It is an endless argument on which is better. The benefits of either is in the needs of the user.

 

The expedition rack does look great on the Defender. A good portion of owners have it just for the looks and never use it. I admit I put one on my 23 Defender for looks hoping I will use it sooner rather than later, but that did not happen as the car got totaled courtesy of a semi-truck driver.

 

I'm in Southern California...so probably not! But thank you for the kind offer. Shipping would probably be a killer.