Roof rack..

So I bought this 03 Jetta TDI wagon from a guy. Seems like it had a factory roof rack on it and they took it off and starting to rust a little. I wanted to get a roof rack, but dont have the brackets or whatever in the windowsills. Is there anyway I vould get a roof rack like there was on it? Like to cover the spots again.

Here's a few pictures of what I mean.
https://ibb.co/duT87k
https://ibb.co/c6mNYQ
Thanks in advance!

Sorry , sober as a judge. More mistakes in one day !


For the MK IV, Thule and Yakima have roof racks which have custom fittings which attach to 2 lugs at the front and 2 lugs at the rear.
You'd be lifting the rubber strip running front to rear and you can see those lugs.

They may still be available but very pricey.

I may be wrong, but it does not look to me as if there was a factory roof rack on before you bought the car.

Too bad NB is a long way from me, I have a set of Yakima racks for the MK IV (2003 Jetta) and a Yakima slim cargo box for sale. Picture was taken a few years ago.
I also have 2 bicycle carriers to go with this setup.



The picture below is just the rack sitting on top of the roof, not attached.

For the MK IV, Thule and Yakima have roof racks which have custom fittings which attach to 2 lugs at the front and 2 lugs at the rear.
You'd be lifting the rubber strip running front to rear and you can see those lugs.

They may still be available but very pricey.

I may be wrong, but it does not look to me as if there was a factory roof rack on before you bought the car.

Too bad NB is a long way from me, I have a set of Yakima racks for the MK IV (2003 Jetta) and a Yakima slim cargo box for sale. Picture was taken a few years ago.
I also have 2 bicycle carriers to go with this setup.



The picture below is just the rack sitting on top of the roof, not attached.

Sorry screwed up

Not my day

I dont have anything under the rubber, would it be something I put there myself?

From the pics linked in the OP, it looks like the PO removed the factory "front to rear" rails.

While some cars (Saab for example) allowed for both rail mount or the style that mounts to the roof/door jamb, the MKIV Jetta wagon was not design to support both.

I won't say it isn't possible to use the style that mounts to the top of the door jamb, but I think you'd be better off sourcing a set of the front to back roof rails (with new mounting gaskets) and HOPE the PO didn't fill the holes with anything permanent.

Your best bet might be to watch over on VWVortex for someone parting out an MKIV wagon.

Good luck

Jetta_Pilot said:

Sorry , sober as a judge. More mistakes in one day !


For the MK IV, Thule and Yakima have roof racks which have custom fittings which attach to 2 lugs at the front and 2 lugs at the rear.
You'd be lifting the rubber strip running front to rear and you can see those lugs.

They may still be available but very pricey.

I may be wrong, but it does not look to me as if there was a factory roof rack on before you bought the car.

Too bad NB is a long way from me, I have a set of Yakima racks for the MK IV (2003 Jetta) and a Yakima slim cargo box for sale. Picture was taken a few years ago.
I also have 2 bicycle carriers to go with this setup.



The picture below is just the rack sitting on top of the roof, not attached.

Click to expand...

You're talking Jetta sedan and Golf 5-door

Jetta wagons have raised side rails for cross bars

as rexNICO pointed out, the previous owner removed the side rails on the wagon.

If you really want to go back to factory racked, you're going to need to go exploring under the vinyl "dots" the previous owner placed over the remaining holes in the roof. Did they fill the holes with anything, or just stick the dots on and call it done?

If you can find someone parting a MkIV wagon, there's usually not much call for the rack rails. It's the plastic end caps that tend to get damaged or broken that other people tend to want off a parted wagon.

To actually reinstall the rack, you're likely going to need to drop the headliner, or at least much of the upper trim pieces around the windows. I seem to recall that second hole over the rear door is a bolt going UP into a threaded point in the rack.

Dig around using the search for the threads from the early years of the MkIV chassis, and find the ones about removing the wagon roof rack. There were quite a few users who did that modification to their wagons.

In 5 years of owning a MkIV wagon, I've seen two MkIV wagons in the wrecking yards of South Florida. Once you have factory rails, you can go with Thule Crossroads foot packs, and the corresponding bars (aero or non-aero), to build a setup to take most any roof mounted accessories. I've got boxes (15 & 18cu ft), kayak hull supports and bike trays to fit the Thule racks on both our VW's.

Okay cool. Seems to be something there not sure. I'm thinking of just painting it.