rack question.. need response quick

[JMRQuattro]

Does anyone know how much it would cost to get a factory raised rail system put onto an A4 sedan? My girlfriend in an attempt to get me an awesome birthday present tried to surprise me by getting me the Inno dual angle snowboard rack but she got the rack for raise factory rails. And i read on Inno's fit guide that the avant that comes with raised factory rails will fit the rack she got so i was thinking that must mean if i could somehow put raised factory rails on the sedan they would work out. The problem is she ordered them from a store in cali and i'm unsure about their return policy and she ordered them a couple days ago so they have yet to be shipped and i don't know if she can cancel her order or not. Does anyone know if factory rails can be put on the sedan?

[cjonesgo]

not sure about the factory racks, but i see them regularly on craigslist. worth checking out at least. the dealer should be able to tell you what is compatible.

hmmm after re-reading your post, it sounds like she maybe only got the cross bars that fit the avant rack/rails. you will need some sort of clip system to clamp down to your roof.
or do the sedans have bolt points like some vw's and bmw's?

as far as i know there is no rail system for sedans. the factory racks are a more conventional design like thule or yakima. maybe even made by thule?

[JMRQuattro]

yeah she only got the cross bars and the actual holders that attach to the regular bars that come on most SUV's and avants and stuff. I guess i'll just have to look into it. I just found out it's already been shipped so she has to pay shipping in order to return it now

[Bibs]

i know this is the wrong place for this but I have a Thule setup(mounts, bars need snowboard mount etc) for sale, pm me if you are interested, Im in Bellevue, Wa

[dougyfresh]

So, you want the factory bars that run front-to-back on the AVant installed on your Sedan? Ain't gonna work unless you cut them shorter. They are too long for a sedan roof.

I understand your GF is trying her best and I'm sure you appreciate it greatly. I would.


Personally, after using traditional ski racks for years, I think a cargo box is the best bet. Keeps equipment clean from road debris/salt and you can store a lot more than just skis and snowboards. That is, if you go up to the mountains frequently (ie: every weekend or every other like I do).

[JMRQuattro]

So, you want the factory bars that run front-to-back on the AVant installed on your Sedan? Ain't gonna work unless you cut them shorter. They are too long for a sedan roof.

I understand your GF is trying her best and I'm sure you appreciate it greatly. I would.


Personally, after using traditional ski racks for years, I think a cargo box is the best bet. Keeps equipment clean from road debris/salt and you can store a lot more than just skis and snowboards. That is, if you go up to the mountains frequently (ie: every weekend or every other like I do).

yeah i didn't know if maybe they had an option for the sedan at the dealer or something. But yeah i really appreciated the thought, i mean i had no idea she was gonna get me those. The first time I saw them was on an A4 actually and ever since then i've been obsessed with this rack because it looks so clean. And i do go up every weekend, almost every time i go friday-sunday, and i do go random times during the week as well so i mean this is something i would make TONS of use out of. I really want to try to find an alternative to returning them so i can use them instead of having to return them because she got the wrong ones. I feel really bad because she's so sad, since she tried so hard to surprise me and be sneaky about it but it ended up wrong. She feels like it's not good enough because it's not the right one, but i couldn't be happier with the fact that she even tried.

[dougyfresh]

If you do decide to return it... Find a way to turn it all around and be positive about everything. Work with her to get the right one. Hopefully she'll understand. I've been there before and its not a comfortable situation to be in. Best of luck!

[pondside36]

Try calling the company and see if thay have an adaptor for the standard Audi sedan racks... like a u-bolt of some kind. I know my attachments slide on via a small upside down "T"

[JMRQuattro]

ok so now i've found out they don't even make the right model anymore. It was discontinued at the end of 2007 and i don't know if i can still get the hook style one for sedans. So the only option would have been the one she got, which i'm hoping makes her feel better since she couldn't have possibly got me the right one. But the next thing i'm wondering is if anyone has ever removed their factory rails from their avant. Because if anyone ever has or is thinking about it i would be more than willing to buy them from you. From the dealership they cost a lot more than it's worth to make the rack work. But i was thinking it could be a fun project to buy some avant factory vertical rails and cut and fabricate them to fit the sedan. And then i wouldn't be having this rack problem anymore. Does anyone know if this has ever been done? I might just try to find some at the local junk yard or pull apart if no one has or wants to remove their factory rails.

[lookaught]

I would go to a junkyard, or call Shokan. Very, very few people actually remove them, so I doubt you'll be able to find a set off a car that isnt wrecked.

See if there is an all Audi junkyard near Seattle, maybe ask on the regional forum.

[JMRQuattro]

^^ but how possible do you think this could be? I'm thinking it would be simply removal of the factory rails from the avant, cutting them shorter to fit the sedan's shorter roof line, welding them back together, sanding them and possibly repainting them black and then bolting them to the roof. Am i right? Or would this process be different?

[dougyfresh]

Talk to Steph (user Avanteix). I am pretty sure he has removed his roof rails (for some reason) and can help you determine if they are able to be cut down. I, personally, have never touched mine.

Although, I'm thinking you can cut the Avant rails right at the center vertical support. That vertical support is right over the back of the rear door. From that point out the back is where the Sedan roof and Avant roof differ.

You can kind of see it here in this shot of my car. My rear cross bar is immediately behind the vertical support I speak of.


Note that it won't look clean for you won't have the nice graceful sweep down into the roof like the very front and very rear of the rails provide.

You don't have much room to work with. Esp if you are trying to get snowboards up there. You won't get your two bindings in between the cross-bars. Mainly because of the graceful sweep the factory rails provide. Note how far back my front cross-bars are (inline with the front of the sun roof). IMO I don't think it'll look right on a Sedan. The roof is just too short front to back.

[lookaught]

I have no concrete evidence that it will be easy or hard, but if experience tells me anything, it will be that all custom projects turn out to be a big PITA.

I suggest you find out how the bars mount to begin with, then look at how the factory roof rack attached for the sedan as that is probably the easiest way to go about it.

I vote that you just sell the sedan for an avant and call it a day. The avants come stock with the rails and fat booty. chicks dig it.

[JMRQuattro]

haha yeah they have a fat booty. I do like the look of the avant but what is the difference in performance with the avant as opposed to the sedan? Because it's bigger, longer, and therefore it must be heavier so i would think with the 1.8t engine it would also then be slower and possibly not handle as well because of the weight. Besides how much of a bitch is it gonna be to find an avant with black interior and a MT?

[JMRQuattro]

Talk to Steph (user Avanteix). I am pretty sure he has removed his roof rails (for some reason) and can help you determine if they are able to be cut down. I, personally, have never touched mine.

Although, I'm thinking you can cut the Avant rails right at the center vertical support. That vertical support is right over the back of the rear door. From that point out the back is where the Sedan roof and Avant roof differ.

You can kind of see it here in this shot of my car. My rear cross bar is immediately behind the vertical support I speak of.


Note that it won't look clean for you won't have the nice graceful sweep down into the roof like the very front and very rear of the rails provide.

You don't have much room to work with. Esp if you are trying to get snowboards up there. You won't get your two bindings in between the cross-bars. Mainly because of the graceful sweep the factory rails provide. Note how far back my front cross-bars are (inline with the front of the sun roof). IMO I don't think it'll look right on a Sedan. The roof is just too short front to back.

hmmmm... well what if i tried to mount them closer to the windshield on the sides of the sunroof and then cut them in the middle like you said and then put them back together so they would fit just before the rear window? I don't think the flow would be any worse than an aftermarket rack system. If anything it would be better than aftermarket because for about 90% of the car it's the same shape, like you said just until the back door is where it changes. And i don't think it would be to hard to fabricate the rails themselves. I'm expecting the re-mounting to be the hardest part.

[dougyfresh]

I don't think the AVants are that much heavier than the sedan. I actually prefer the B6 Avant styling 10x better than the Sedan. The sedan's look fugly from the back. Plus the Avant is more practical for me and mine isn't sluggish anymore . SuperFast Avants FTMFW!


I'll measure how far back my roof rails start from the windshield edge when I get home from work tonight and post up. I don't think its that far. Well, far enough to make a difference.

[JMRQuattro]

^^ yeah cause i was looking at the pics and it looks like it starts closer to even with where the sunroof is so it should have about maybe an inch more space up front that it could use. But that would be cool if you could do that for me. I don't know i still like the sedan better looks wise but the avant is so much more practical. And especially for a wagon they look really good. Any other wagon like from subaru are all fugly as hell.

[JMRQuattro]

alright i succeeded in cheering her up I told her my plan so i'm gonna start to try and find and fabricate some avant rails to work. And i told her if it doesn't work then i'll just sell them myself and give her the money. Cause if she returned them she'd have to pay shipping both ways plus a 15% restocking fee on a $200 item. So she might have just ended up almost paying that $200 anyway, but on shipping and restocking. So i wasn't gonna let her do that. And i love this rack anyway and it's depressing they don't make it for the sedan anymore so i'm gonna try to make this work any way possible!

[JMRQuattro]

ok so i did a little research and i found out that the sedan and the avant are exactly the same dimensions all the way around. They are both 179" long front to back, have 104.3" wheelbase and are the same width as well. But the avant, because of the rear hatch and longer roof line, is just over 300lbs heavier. So with that in mind i was wondering if someone with an avant could take some pics of their rails and exactly which spots it's mounted on the roof line. I was also wondering if you could tell me how straight the rails are. They look like they might have a slight curve to them, but then again the height of the rails is fairly uniform across the length of the roof line which leads me to believe that they are for the most part pretty straight except for the curves in the front and the back. I'm also curious as to how exactly they are bolted on to the car, especially at the center support beam.

[fritzner]

if you decide to get the OEM rack for your Sedan, i have one for sale

http://www.audizine.com/classifieds/...uct=195&cat=35


*snowboard attachment not included..

[JMRQuattro]

^^ no i don't need it. I actually searched all over the internet on a list of authorized dealers for Inno racks and i found a place that still has the sedan model rack in stock. I like this rack because of how low it is when it's not in use. The factory rack is a little too high for my taste. And the one i've been searching for has a cool angle feature so you can set it to 2 different angled positions to make up to 45 degrees for taller bindings. It's pretty cool and it looks really good. If you ever get a chance to look it up it's called the Inno Dual Angle rack.