RS-America

It is not the weight - we have never overloaded our current rack or Cayenne roof load.
Issue for us is on extended off-road trips of 2 weeks plus we drive on very uneven surfaces. The left to right motion causes our roof rack cross bars to shift and the basket to move as well. For occasional use on paved roads the Thule system might work fine. We need a bit more robust system.
Wish we could go to Africa, intended to explore Central and South America for a couple of years but fuel for our Cayenne is not available. We will be going to Tuktoyaktuk and Coldfoot as part of a 5,000 mile one way competitive off-road rally this winter. Last time we did this the rally was 5,500 miles one way with temps of -36F
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https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-...meet-otis.html

coffeeisgood

Just these guys will drill into your Cayenne roof and install permanent roof rails, even if you have a panoramic sunroof.
https://www.rackattack.com/info/stores/denver/

I found this info & pictures from a Facebook Porsche Cayenne group post,
hopefully the owners sunroof still works, based on his comments it requires “adjustments”?

I still like the idea but not sure I would do it still...our cowl drains are so finicky in all Cayenne models, just introducing new potential leaks points “on purpose” into your Cayenne‘s interior seems like a bad idea even if it’s guaranteed not to happen.

I could only add 2 photos but there couple more

cbracerx

Really like to see the inside/headliner during this process.

Bob958S

Good news...Yes, easily done. I don't know why there seems to be so much negativity on retrofitting non rail cars. These pix are my 2011CS with no factory rails. Notice the studs are there for the mounting brackets. Makes sense too, because Porsche isn't going to weld different body parts just to get those studs for customers who 'factory order' rails. That would be manufacturing nonsense.
It's only a matter of buying the rail brackets (and rails of course) , mount, drill upward through those bracket holes, mount the rails. Voila! You don't have to get all stressed out and lose sleep over where to drill holes in your roof either

The headliner does have to come out for sure, but I'm re-doing the headliner fabric now and going to install used rails at the same time. There's another great write up here on 6speedonline.com about rail retrofits and thanks to GNAT for his great research.

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...roofrails.html

First pic is from driver seat and as you can see that body frame section is where the grab handle bracket mounts. bottom studs for grab handle, top studs for roof rail bracket. Second pic is driver side rear.






Here's my write up further down in this thread

garrett376

Thanks Bob for sharing. Any more pics of the process to share, like before the headliner goes back in? And roof view before the racks are put on?

And where did you find used racks?

Bob958S

I will definitely add more pics when complete and before the headliner goes in. I'm working today with a guy on eBay for silver OEM rails and hope that deal goes through. He's also been great on lots of pix knowing I'm trying a retrofit, and I'll compile all that together on a final DIY

Bob

z3mcoupe

No way I'd drill (or let anyone else) into the roof of my Cayenne. I'd use the seasucker or something similar. Also, if resale is important to you, I'm sure there are others out there that would not touch a car which had an aftermarket roof rack attached. I'd be too worried about leaks and rust issues.

https://www.seasucker.com/collections/bike

Bob958S

It's not aftermarket. My post was for using OEM roof rails retrofitted into a Cayenne which has been a long sought after solution

cbracerx

Go @Bob958S! Looking forward to the write up. If I have a reason to remove my headliner, I would absolutely do this.

Bob958S

As promised here's some pix of the procedure and write up

Using the OEM brackets, mark and drill from inside out. The final hole size is 3/8". That's larger than the M6 bolts on the rail, but needed to accommodate the shoulder washer. I started small and then worked the final hole with a Dremel tool'





The washer shoulder should be just high enough to compensate for the roof sheet metal, which is about 20 or 22 GA sheet metal.



I fabed landing pads for the rails out of Mylar washers and 3M double-side foam tape. During my test runs I determined some thickness is needed here and the reason for the pads. If not, it becomes to tight and you risk crushing or deforming the foam gaskets on the rails
Here you can see the final pads waiting for rails. Notice the shoulder of the steel washer just peeking through. The diameter of the Mylar washer just accommodates fitting the roof rail (see rail pic below).




Here is the rail pic where the landing pad will fit -- a very small amount of 3M 5200 is at the base of the M6 bolt. This will make the final seal inside the landing pads and with the shoulder washer. If you've ever worked around boats you know this stuff as the best exterior sealant in the world


Again, view from the inside. Also, some 3M 5200 on the shoulder washers




And the final pix








Footnote: I came across some TOUAREG rails on eBay and I can't say for certain, but they look like the exact same rails as the OEM Porsche for 958. I'm posting these pix for comparison and with dimensions if anybody wants to pursue. If true, this provides another option for finding used rails. Today, there are 7 offers on eBay for used Touareg rails and on average less than $400. Note: the dimensions are not exact. Expect about +/- 1/8"

coffeeisgood

how much of the headliner did you remove?

Bob958S

Notice the last pic ---in the background

coffeeisgood

part numbers for the (interior under the headliner) mounting brackets?
or are the brackets there, just no holes / exterior mounted bolts?

Bob958S

There's a lot of discussion on parts, etc over at Retrofitting Roofrails

I already had my headliner out to replace the fabric, so since I was following that discussion over on 6speedonline.com, I decided to pursue it. The main question being asked over there was did anybody know if the frame studs where already in place, and the answer is a 'Yes' for sure. Check my earlier earlier post on part of that discussion

lml999

So pretty much all of it?

Thanks for the write up, by the way. Much appreciated!

How big a job was removing/reinstalling the headliner on the Cayenne?

I did that job on my allroad and while it was not difficult, it was rather fiddly, probably slightly more complex as I was installing a 2002 alcantara S6 headliner on my '04 allroad. Some of the trim fitting pieces were slightly different. And there were three separate pieces on the B pillar all wanting to go back on first, and don't get me started about the A pillar trim...

I'm hunting for a CS and need roof rails. This might be an option...but I'd guess a good (trustworthy) body shop would want $2500 to do the work...plus parts...I don't think I'd take it on myself (again).

The drilling of the holes and mounting the brackets look very straightforward...

[Edit]: Found a CS with air, roof rails, pano, 14 way seats. Yay!