Anyone drill their Elantra Touring Roof?

A friend got a 2009 Elantra Touring recently, and he needs to rack it.



It’s a bare roof, and he wants good bar spread so he’s planning to install Thule Tracks. Has anyone done that? Any advice about where to install the tracks, and how strong the whole thing turned out?



Thanks, Nate

Call Proline
I used their house brand tracks but they sell most brands and know a lot about installing them. I’ve been happy with mine for the two years I’ve been using them.

Factory rails
There are factory rails that I think can be added to the Elantra Touring. I bought mine with the factory rails allready installed. With the Yakima rail grabber attachments I got about 36 inches spread and could have probably got a couple of more if I wanted.



Might be worth checking into if the installed price is not too high.



Mark

Nate, Email with pics coming !

ET & i30…
You might find something on the i30 forum here: http://www.i30ownersclub.com/forum/index.php/board,6.0.html

or poke around at Rack Attack’s website.

The best would be to get factory rails

– Last Updated: Jan-09-13 9:13 AM EST –

If the factory rails look OK to you, I suggest to get them and install them yourself. I did this on a Mazda MPV and it was a very straightforward process. The factory rails should come with instructions and all necessary hardware. You might need to buy touch-up paint only. Plus, in the Mazda case, they were actually very reasonably priced at something like $120 (including factory cross-bars, which I think the Hyundai does not have). That, after some shopping for a dealer that did not have overinflated prices... Then use the rails to attach Thule or Yakima or whatever cross-bars.

Of course, you can install a custom rail system too - just measure where the factory is drilled so you can drill there too.

If Hyundai offers service similar to what Toyota and Honda offer, you could subscribe to their technical materials distribution web site for something like $10 for a few days druration and download all the detailed manuals and diagrams you want in that period. I did that for my Honda and Toyota vechcles and I can see where the wiring is in the roof, where the curtain airbags are, how the roof is attached and where, etc. - so I can drill "blind" without the need to remove the headliner from the cabin and have a reasonable assurance I won't hit something important or dangerous in doing so...