@The Insider The challenge I am having now is getting my land rover dealer to even sell me the rail kit! It looks like LR left the roof the exact same as any other 110 in that the channels for the rails are there, and even the holes are pre-drilled for them.

Will LR produce an official response re: roof loads and rail kits? I would love to get some sort of communication from land rover confirming the status, and what scenario's would be considered safe for operation.

What I care about:
1. Is it safe to put roof loads on the v8? (Is the roof structurally sound enough to carry loads? Some in this form have suggested that the structural stability of the roof on the V8 is less than other 110's because LR used lighter materials to save weight)
2. If so, what weight limits and/or speed limits should I take into consideration with respect to putting things on the roof?

If it's safe to do so, ideally I could chuck my bike rack up there, or very rarely my roof top tent.

Thanks for all your help! You def. come across as an insider!

 

@leebones - This is my 2 cents worth and with inflation, is likely valued at much less than that. So, this is just one enthusiast's opinion. I'm sure more of the community regulars may weigh in. First off, I'd be surprised if @The Insider responds. It's always a wonderful thing when they do, but I'm sure there's a day job and other stuff involved. Also as a representative of Land Rover, if the proverbial "crap" hits the fan one of those lawyers everyone enjoys cursing could easily subpoena this thread into coughing up his identity and therefore his liability. So the chances of him responding to your question go from nil (normal question) to far less (with this question). What is indisputable, is that Land Rover does not sanction, advertise or want you to put a rack on the V8. They have their reasons. Insider insinuated that it has to do with a lot of regulations/limits and Land Rover has to do a "least common denominator" across all countries. Meaning they have to water things down to cover all the regulations. So, here we sit. What Land Rover can do or what you can do. Land Rover won't do anything. If you do anything, it's all on you, no guarantees, you'll have to figure it out, yada yada yada. So, I'm in the camp with you! Here's what I would do. And like Land Rover, no guarantees. A lot of the arm chair mechanics do a lot of mods to their vehicles. There are a LOT of threads that already talk about folks putting their own rails on there. I'd do it in a minute. Go ahead and DIY or hire a 3rd party to do it. That's my route, ymmv. As to how much weight you can put up there, no one will ever tell you what the limit is. So, you can load what you feel comfortable with. Me, I would load to the normal JLR limits. Not sure what they are, actually, but I don't put that much combined weight up there. Certainly a bike isn't going to be over the limit that the current Defenders can carry. Heck, if you're like every cyclist I know, you are spending obscene amounts of money to lighten the bike already. Coincidentally, NO vehicle manufacturer will tell you it's ok to strap a bike to the back of their tailgate, rear window, etc. - but there's an entire market for them. There's not much weight involved which is why I've never heard of a claim. It could also be because if there's any damage, the owner owns it. Another route is to see what other V8 owners are putting up there. I haven't seen any with roof-top tents, but I'm sure there are. Also, it would not surprise me to see one with two 5-gallon fuel cans (aka, 40 pounds each). So, look around at other V8's to see what they have up there and I would feel comfortable with going with a normal rack load limit. But, it's not my V8... It's what you are comfortable with. Good luck and post pics!

 

After looking at this forum, I installed them myself. I ordered them from Rimmer Bros. plenty of videos to watch online.
Then we went on a road trip to colorado. We had a Yakima cargo box on top, hit speeds in excess of 100mph multiple times, were hit with heavy gusts of wind--ZERO problems. I have a couple of land rover mechanic patients who said they were told not to install the rails on a V8. the next time I was in my local shop they said "we would have done that for you"

 

The question I have though is, will the FrontRunner Roof Rack fit on the V8 roof? 2nd, will the dealer throw a fit and void the warranty on anything that breaks? I won’t have more than 200 lbs at any one time. That a max if I put a paddle board, plus a yeti cooler filled to the gill?

 

Ignore what everyone says. Seriously. The oem roof rack and tow hitch can be added to the v8 with no problems and full usability including a rooftop tent. Seriously. Ignore the insider ignore the nay sayers. ANYTHING can be retrofitted to these vehicles. Search both my user names mark1107 and markjlr I have the receipts to prove it under my posts. Anything.

 

Thank you sir! I just got my 2023 V8 Defender. It’s amazing!! I’ll send some photos. I can’t wait to put a roof rack on it. Thank you again.

 

I have the V8 and the front runner roof rack on it as we speak. No issues whatsoever. When I took it to the dealership for service, I received nothing but thumbs up all around.

 

Another consideration is that the OEM cross bars (probably made by Thule) are extremely strong with a solid grip on the side roof rails. Far thicker than the OEM cross bars you see on other vehicles. Your roof box won't be bobbing up and down like a see-saw when using these OEM cross bars.

Thule rates their roof boxes with a maximum load weight of 165 pounds. I figure we had about 200 pounds of rolled up rugs and other stuff in our roof box for college move-in, plus the interior stuffed to the headliner plus a hitch rack with plastic storage bins. Ours is a P400 but I'm sure the total weight was the same as a V8 with a normal load. It handled just fine, only thing I noticed was that a little more braking effort was needed to slow all that weight momentum. If I had a V8, I wouldn't have any concerns about adding a roof rack and and towing.

 

There is a lot of talk about the roof rails and loads on here but not much about the towing. Someone says the tow package comes standard but that doesn’t show up on the configurator as far as I can see for the V8.

Does the V8 come with a tow hitch as standard? Once again it is not clear on the configurator or I can’t see it. The maximum tow loads are listed the same for the V8 as all other Defenders so towing should therefore not be an issue. It is a bit confusing.

Can any V8 owners confirm what you get thanks.

 

Tow hitch comes standard on the V8. Don't have access to my car, but here is a video on the V8. At 2:00 it shows the exhaust from underneath and you can see the tow hitch.