Sundance

Please allow me to reiterate, those of you who want to drill holes in your roof should first do yourselves a favor and see how flimsy the OEM units are. There is no reinforcement in the roof, and you can deform the sheet metal with your hands just by giving the rack a good twist. I don't see it being of much use (see my previous post). Of course, if you want it just for the 'cool factor', this advice is moot - carry on.

donbrew

OR, a tape measure to state measurements.

I think the structural integrity may come from the "optional" cross bars, at least to the engineer types. Force vectors, etc. that I know nothing about.

I suppose, if you cared enough you could pull the headliner and install some reinforcement. Come to think, I have seen a couple of HHRs with actual working ladder racks.

Sundance

Yes, Adrian Steel offers a roof rack system that accommodates ladders and they include this disclaimer: "Due to the roof capacity of the HHR, the maximum load the VPHHR can accommodate is 50 lbs." And note that they put their mounting 'feet' nearer the outside edge for more support that the OEM rack.

Graphics Guy

Sundance does make a good point. The roof is pretty weak on our little vehicles. My Panel, purchased used, has got all kinds of ripples and dips on the roof that, at first bothered me -- now I just try not to look up in that direction. I smoothed all the dings out of the body, but smoothing out the roof would have required cutting and welding a hole new roof panel on!

One of my fixes, or rather "Band Aids" is to install a roof rack to hide some of the imperfections. Additionally, since I do vehicle graphics -- wraps, street designs, commercial/fleet stuff, I sometimes need a ladder to work on upper vehicle panels and roofs. I intend to sometimes carry a lightweight ladder on the rack for this purpose. With the cross bars in place, I believe the rack will be much less flexible, and strong enough for my light-duty purposes. I didn't want a real Adrian-type ladder rack because I think they just don't have the cool factor Sundance mentioned.

And since I am a graphics shop, I'm going to try to duplicate the factory template that will be arriving this week, so that it will be available to others who need it. No guarantees I can do this until I'm holding the original in my grubby little fingers though.

santonib1

Do you or anyone have a Template also looking to install a used Roof Rack on my 2007 HHR , and a trunk wing , also need a template , and side steps
Bart in NJ 07065

firemangeorge

This thread died in 2014......7 years ago. Graphics Guy hasn't logged in here in 4 years, so doubt you'll get a response from him.

Start a new thread asking for a template. Hiding your question at the end of a "dead thread" it will usually be overlooked.

Oldblue

Some one had a template floating around the country , but that was 10 years ago, I believe it was either kept or lost in transit.

greghoing

I saw you used to have a templete for roof rack install. Do you still have one?

greghoing

Did you ever find one? I would like one.

greghoing

Did you ever find a template for the hhr roof rack?