Hopefully this helps some of you who are looking for a very low profile roof bar solution. My parking situation required it, maybe some of you are in the same boat.

My Defender 90 does not have the factory roof rails, so I saved a bit of cost and also some height there. I purchased thule part 183040 to mount directly to the roof rivet inserts. I purchase four M8x60mm stainless bolts. You need a 5 sided tamper proof torxplus bit. Then I used the thule wing bar edge kit 9595.

The total solution is slick, discreet, and just about 1cm above the stock rear antennae... If I open the canvas top slowly and tuck the folds by hand, I can still fully open the top... Visit my instagram to see the end result @alps.defender

 

Any chance you could post some pics for non IGers?

 

 

Does it require drilling into the factory strips that cover the bolts?

 

183040 part number does need drilled out a bit to make room for the M8 bolt. Thule only has them big enough for M6.

No drilling in the defender rubber strips, just pop out the bolt cover plugs. Keep them for putting back if you take it off some day.

I also used Teflon tape on the bolts for water resistance. I’ve heard of using silicon also…

 

Nice solution! , only downside they are not adjustable in spacing.
I did make the Thule Edge Wingbar low and adjustable on the roofrails, did require to make 4 new brackets and a little shaving of the endcaps.
Bonus, You don't need to buy the podiumfeet set 3040

 

I wanted to follow up on this thread as I am attempting to install this setup on my V8 D90 without roof rails with a sunroof.

Fitment with a newer style Thule roof box with the clamp style attachments may be hit or miss depending on placement on the roof. I think fully opening the sunroof is completely out of the question as there isn’t enough clearance from the glass to the clamps, but it would be possible to put the sunroof in the vent position. I never use my sunroof anyway so not really an issue for me (especially if the roof box is attached, what’s the point?).

The rear bar is also in a position that would hit the glass. I’ll need to see if there’s enough leeway in the box sliders to move the box to a position where I can find a sweet spot but I doubt it since those boxes are recessed for the rails, so they sit quite low.

The rear bar would also need to be attached using one of the more forward holes in the metal bracket on the footpad side to offset the rail back far enough to clear the glass. I don’t think this is an issue but it is less than ideal. An alternative would be to make some spacers between the footpad and the roof — this might be preferred as to prevent accidental damage of the sunroof glass.