Quest 2004-0? Roof Racks - are they reinforced underneath? Nope.

[Quest2004]

Those funky looking roof racks on the 04-06 Quests (gray round bars) look pretty sturdy right? Welllll...yes and no. The bars themselves are great and very strong. Howeverrrr, the way they attached them to the roof? That part is a little soft for heavy loads.

They rest on plastic mounts that are held into the roof sheet metal with ONE solitary nut/bolt at each mount point - four nuts and bolts total for the two bars. That's right.. one - and its is not a heavy duty screw. This screw goes into the bar, down thru a hole in the plastic, and thru your roof sheet metal - with a routine nut holding it down behind the headliner. No matter what anyone at the dealer tells you - at least for 2004's - that sheet metal is NOT reinforced at all. There is a hole, a bolt, and a nut. That's it. Those other two nuts/bolts that you see on the plastic part in pictures only hold the plastic to the roof - pretty useless. They should have used TWO bolts on each mount point thru the bar (eight total), but that's just my opinion and what do I know..

Also keep in mind that that plastic ages and becomes brittle - all four of mine were cracked pretty bad so I replaced them. I also put one of those rubber spring spacers (for suspension coil springs) on the roof between the bar and the roof sheet metal right next to the plastic mounts at all four ends. This took the load off of the plastic and put it on the rubber (I used Superior RideEFFEX - Spring Boosters from O'Reilly). To install you shave off one end on a grinder so the curved rubber side seats with the bar. The other side that rests on the roof you shave flat. Shave them right and put a light lubricant on them and they will slide right in - keep them snug. (I'll find a picture and post)

[AZhitman]

Makes me wonder if they really intended anyone to actually try and use it as a roof rack, or if it was just for looks?

Eager to see some more pics of the issue.

[Quest2004]

Apologies as I am having a rough time finding my pictures. The rack can handle small to medium amounts of weight, but if one of those front bolts/screws broke, the wind could lift the whole thing up and off the car. It is a strange design. The bars are heavy duty, but the plastic adapters that they sit on aren't. I don't think they had any intention of anyone every putting much weight up there. Remember - that is just sheet metal up there. If you put any kind of weight on ANY part of that roof other than on the far outside edge, the sheet metal flexes down - it is unsupported. I came over from the VW Eurovan group and was used to the Weekender with a wooden/fiberglass roof where you could get cute. You have nooooo cushion or margin of error on these roofs.

[AZhitman]

No worries - It's great having your insight and contributions. The Quest area has been a little quiet, but we pride ourselves on having good info for anyone who shows up looking for help... your info helps a ton!

i wonder if one could remove the headliner and reinforce the inner roof lining. Big job, but worthwhile if someone wanted to use the rack for anything more than a pair of skis.