Roof Rack Dumbassery

[The Black Flash]

Fitted a pair of Halfords roof bars to our Mazda 3 to carry my surfboard on holiday. Afterwards, when I removed them, I was annoyed to see that the feet have put 4 nice dents in the roof:


I'm pretty cross with myself for that, but in my defence I didn't really torque it up to "FT" levels, just what it took to be solid. So I'm also saving some bile for Mazda, for not putting hardpoints under an area designed to take load (perhaps their official bars put the feet somewhere else, I dunno), and to Halfords for not maybe testing the darn things.

Anyone know if dents like that can be pulled out? I thought I'd heard of bodywork shops doing magic with magnets for things like this, but may have dreamt it...

[GoneAnon]

That's a bummer, but Mazda will take no responsibility for a non-approved accessory.

It looks like the black tracks are the load-bearing area so it would be worth checking how the genuine Mazda bars are fitted, then go back to Halfords and check you got the correct foot-pack, and have a word with them about the damage.

[MarJay]

Lesson of the day:

Buy official Mazda roof rack.

There endeth the lesson.

Someone will be able to sort out that dent, but it just depends on how much you want to pay. I've seen people use a little spot welder to weld on some pins, and then pull the pins level, but it requires a re-paint afterwards because the spot welder only works on bare metal.

Good luck!

[HD Adam]

[Riley Blue]

Don't Halfords sell a Mazda 3 fitting kit for their roof bars? If that's what you used and the roof was damaged I'd have thought they should be responsible.

[emicen]

If one of Halfords staff had fitted it, you'd be in with a shout. If not, pissing in the wind imho.

[Captain Muppet]

Isn't there some magic way of removing dents with freeze spray? I'm sure I saw something on the internet about it somewhere.

Leave the roof bars on, then when you sell the car list them as a feature and say you won't charge extra for them.

[davepoth]

The Black Flash said:

So I'm also saving some bile for Mazda, for not putting hardpoints under an area designed to take load (perhaps their official bars put the feet somewhere else, I dunno), and to Halfords for not maybe testing the darn things.

Really? You didn't look at the plastic bars that run through the roof one centimetre from where you were fixing the roof, and see the hardpoints for attaching the official roof rack? They're quite clear in the picture you've posted. That's the part of the roof designed to take the load, not the bit you attached the roof rack to.

[Eighteeteewhy]

It's not good OP and I feel for you, but surely you could see/feel the damage being done when you were fitting them? It's quite a considerable dent!

[Glassman]

The Black Flash said:

Anyone know if dents like that can be pulled out? I thought I'd heard of bodywork shops doing magic with magnets for things like this, but may have dreamt it...

New roof skin to do it properly.

You might get someone to pin-pull + filler it for a cheaper lash up. But whole roof would have to be painted.

[C.A.R.]

Quick bit of googling suggests that there was a problem with the OEM Mazda roof rack causing this problem. I'm assuming you have a Mazda3 from your pic?

A lot of the suggestions seem to be that a Thule product which attaches to the roof rails (there's a plastic cover in your photograph conealing an M5 thread for attaching such a thing) is the best option.

I wonder if there was ever an official recall?

It could be worthwhile going the long-way around: buying a genuine Mazda roof-rack and then reporting the damage to them? Probably not very 'PH' but that might get you somewhere.

[McHaggis]

You may not be alone, even with an official one:

http://www.mazda3forums.co.uk/index.php?topic=3725...

[The Black Flash]

Thanks for the Belms etc, my first one, I'm honoured. And I do feel an arse FWIW

I'm not expecting Halfords or Mazda to do anything about it, no chance of that and I wouldn't even try. Mazda will fairly say "shoulda used ours mate" and halfords will no doubt say "shouldn't have done it up so tight".

davepoth said:

Really? You didn't look at the plastic bars that run through the roof one centimetre from where you were fixing the roof, and see the hardpoints for attaching the official roof rack? They're quite clear in the picture you've posted. That's the part of the roof designed to take the load, not the bit you attached the roof rack to.

Yes, and that is where the roof bars attach and bolt through. The problem is clearly that they also extend on to the main part of the roof with a big rubber foot, causing the dent. I will check that they sent the right foot pack though.

Eighteeteewhy said:

It's not good OP and I feel for you, but surely you could see/feel the damage being done when you were fitting them? It's quite a considerable dent!

Well, err, obviously not, or I would have stopped. That said, I did only do it up till it felt solid, I wasn't hanging on it with a breaker bar or anything.

Anyway, sounds like it will have to stay as a memorial to stupidity, or perhaps a warning to others. At least it's the missus' car...

[emicen]

The Black Flash said:

Thanks for the Belms etc, my first one, I'm honoured. And I do feel an arse FWIW

I'm not expecting Halfords or Mazda to do anything about it, no chance of that and I wouldn't even try. Mazda will fairly say "shoulda used ours mate" and halfords will no doubt say "shouldn't have done it up so tight".

davepoth said:

Really? You didn't look at the plastic bars that run through the roof one centimetre from where you were fixing the roof, and see the hardpoints for attaching the official roof rack? They're quite clear in the picture you've posted. That's the part of the roof designed to take the load, not the bit you attached the roof rack to.

Yes, and that is where the roof bars attach and bolt through. The problem is clearly that they also extend on to the main part of the roof with a big rubber foot, causing the dent. I will check that they sent the right foot pack though.

Eighteeteewhy said:

It's not good OP and I feel for you, but surely you could see/feel the damage being done when you were fitting them? It's quite a considerable dent!

Well, err, obviously not, or I would have stopped. That said, I did only do it up till it felt solid, I wasn't hanging on it with a breaker bar or anything.

Anyway, sounds like it will have to stay as a memorial to stupidity, or perhaps a warning to others. At least it's the missus' car...

You got off quite lightly tbh, I recall a bloke on another forum standing on the roof of his GT3 to get something off a shelf in his garage. THAT was a pisstaking...

[Watchman]

OP has my sympathies. My old Toyota Avensis (hateful car in every way) had no way to mount a roof rack except by using one of those flat-foot types with a clamp that goes into the door frame. It's s stty type of mounting. I'd never have considered adding "roof rack hard point mounting" as a requirement when buying a car in the past but I bloody well will from now on. I had to tighten it up as much as I'd dare without it scratching the paint off - which just wasn't enough for me to feel secure.

My brother's Ford Focus has no mounting points or hard areas either. Useless useless cars.

Mind you, my wife's Merc ML has those roof rails. What the farkin' hell is the point of those when a low-profile hard-point mounting does the job better and without adding another 4 inches to the height of anything you want to put up there?

Subaru Legacy is the answer here.

[The Black Flash]

McHaggis said:

You may not be alone, even with an official one:

http://www.mazda3forums.co.uk/index.php?topic=3725...

Interesting, cheers. Makes me feel a bit less dumb.

[s3fella]

Overloaded?

Surely even a longboard for a fatty would not do that?

[The Black Flash]

Watchman said:

OP has my sympathies. My old Toyota Avensis (hateful car in every way) had no way to mount a roof rack except by using one of those flat-foot types with a clamp that goes into the door frame. It's s stty type of mounting. I'd never have considered adding "roof rack hard point mounting" as a requirement when buying a car in the past but I bloody well will from now on. I had to tighten it up as much as I'd dare without it scratching the paint off - which just wasn't enough for me to feel secure.

My brother's Ford Focus has no mounting points or hard areas either. Useless useless cars.

That's the type I'd used before, on an Almera. A fairly bodge-ey design you're right, but then it did survive a half dozen trips, including one with two cases and snowboard bags on, without ever denting the roof. Which is one reason it never occurred to me that this might happen here.