I bought the factory roof rail and crossbar system and installed it myself. It took about 90 minutes and does take a certain amount of guts (you need a special drill bit and have to drill four holes in the plastic rain gutter) but it isn't all that difficult if you're moderatly capable around cars.

To answer the original poster's question, there is a permanant cross bar that sits just behind the sunroofs. The intent (I think) is to keep soft-bottom cargo from sagging and pressing down on the open sunroof. It seems to protect the raised back edge of the sunroof panel. This rail is in addition to the two crossbars that come with the crossbar kit. Also, the factory rails and crossbar had absolutely NO noticable effect on cabin noise in my experience.

I DID notice a slight increase in wind noise when I added a Thule bike rack to the setup - which I did a few days later.

Jim2342, to answer your quesiton I used the same Thule system that I had on my freelander with zero modifications. You may want to try searching Thule's site for products that fit the 04-05 Freelander. The racks aren't very different at all.

Hope that helps.

 

I have the roof rack and crossbars. Use it with a Thule box. Dealer installed the rack and crossbars. Box fits on perfect. No problems or issues.

 

Hi

Due to height limitations of my garage, the permanent LR2 roof rails are not an option for me. Looking around the internet, I came across references of a standard Thule crossbar that mounts on top of the roof without the need of the roof rail. The references are for Freelander 2 which I believe is the European version of the LR2. Here is the reference:

http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic290-90.html

Check out this page for a picture:

http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic290-135.html

I have identified the necessary parts: Thule Rapid System 750 with the car adapter 1443 and your choice of bars. Unfortunately, the model numbers seem to be unavailable here in theUnited States(or quite possibly a different set of numbers are used). Anyone have any luck purchasing this system? Anyone know of someplace in the UK which would ship to the US?

Thanks for any help

 

Here is a picture of factory raised rails, and landrover cross bars...with a 21 Yakima skybox.....
No problem with sunroof. Hope this may help someone looking, for extra storage.

 

When you put on the thule bike rack, did you remove the permenant cross bar?
Check out the attached picture form the Accessories brochure....notice no permenant cross bar....unless i cant see it...but looks like just the two cross bars...now I'am wondering how much use the permenant cross bar is if you have the two others.

 

Thanks for all of this - I'm definitely going to consider getting roof rails for mine now!

 

I am about to install the roof rails on my new LR2. At first the instructions look a little intimidating but after careful study of the pictures it seems to be rather simple. A lot simpler than the mud guards. My only concern is popping up the plastic pieces that have to be drilled out. I don't want to break any tabs or anything when I do it so can anyone who has done it tell me if there is anything they learned about the process that I should know so I don't break anything like I did installing the mud guards? While installing the mud guards the first pannel that I had to remove to drill holes in to it I broke a support bracket that I didn't see in the instructions. The other side was ok because I was aware of it. I assume there are some sort of tabs that hook into something to hold them in place and if I push up the plastic piece from the wrong side or something I might break off a tab or two.

I ordered a 15/16 (24mm) hole saw to make my holes. I probably could have used a 7/8 or 1 in. but I don't want to mess it up. I also bought the 3M sealer they recommend so I'm set to go.

Thanks,
Dave

 

I installed the roof rails and it turned out to be a much bigger deal than it really had to be. First off I went to pop up the molding on the roof towards the back where the two holes are that the instructions says you have to drill out to 24mm. I ended up prying off the entire molding instead of just popping off the top portion of the molding. The other side popped off the way it was suppose to. I then did the front two holes and that went ok. The 24mm holes do not have to be anywhere close to being exact in front and I do not believe the back four holes have to be drilled out at all. I started to install one of the roof rails and started the front screw first and then moved to the back where I had already removed the plugs that came with the car and place the spacer guides over the plug holes and then realized that the plugs that I unscrewed are much larger than the screws I have to mount the rail. I also noticed that on top of the plug is a slotted screw looking plug. I pulled out the plug and the screws used to secure the roof rail fits the threaded hole. So even though the instructions says to remove the plugs, DON't. All you have to do is pop the plug, and I assume you don't have to drill out the molding. I had already drilled out my top molding in four places just like the instructions says to do, but I don't think you have to.

If I were to do another one today I think I could do it in about 20 min.

 

Rivetts, do you have any pics of your install? I've just purchased the rails and will probably do the install this weekend if time permits. Thanks!

 

Sorry I don't and sorry it took me so long to reply. I was having trouble posting a reply. I was logged in but it kept prompting me for a user name and password. So how did yout install go?

Dave