I don't know if one of you guys tried it, but it looks like the rails only slide forward and stops at the sunroof. The only problem, I don't have a sunroof!!! It looks like these little "cosmetic" plastic inside the rails in the front could be remove easely... What is your opinion on removing them to extend the working area ( to put a canoe on top for instance ) or the rack as been designed to have the 200 pounds capacity only in the usable section?

I posted the same issue a week or so ago and didn't get any feedback. You can easily remove the plastic fillers, however, there are no 'holes' in the rail behind the filler to allow the crossbars to lock into place. I'm going to remove the rail, drill more holes to allow a more useful range of adjustments and reinstall. I just need time and a drill-press - both of which I'm lacking right now.

imo, it's a stupid design by Hyundai. It's so far back that you can't use it for a bike rack, or a cargo box or anything that you typically see on a roof rack. I'm all for saving money by designing one part and sharing it across sun-roof and non-sunroof models. But they should have made the rack fully adjustable and just moved the 'stop' to the appropriate place on the sun-roof models and allowed folks that don't have a sun roof (or are smart enough to not try and open the sun roof when the area is covered by cargo) to have rack that actually works.

You may want to give some thought to warranty, and how it applies here. :460:

If the roof rack fails because of modifications I make, then I wouldn't expect it to be covered under warranty. Modifications to the rack should have no other impact on any other warranty issue, though. It's not like I'm sticking a supercharger on and complaining about the pistons failing. I'm just tapping a couple of holes in a non-structural piece already tapped full of holes to allow the rack to move into the same position it can on any other vehichle I've seen with a roof rack.

No the only reason I mentioned it is because when one of my customers drills holes in one of the HVAC systems they have purchased from my company, and water leaks into the system damaging electronics or there is damage to a motor (rust) I as the manager of tech services and warranty notifiys the mfg and 99 percent of the time they void the warranty COMPLETELY on the machine. Same applys if for example if I were to find out HVAC system is being run on a generator. (same as running a Sante Fe on the wrong kinda fuel) I am sure if you read your warranty you will see modifications can and may indeed void it. And I am not talking about applying accents/trim to the body of the Sante Fe here. Either a warranty is good in its entirety or it simply does not exist.

I am pretty sure if you drilled the holes and then (for whatever reason) the sunroof started leaking damaging some eletrical while also destroying interior the mfg would determine it was all your fault and not cover it. They would say you modified the rack and carried weight in the wrong area of rack. All Hyundai dealers report ALL warranty work back to Hyundai and there is a permenant record kept. Its just the nature of the beast for you not to win when it comes to warranty.

This post has been edited by speaks2all: May 1 2007, 08:04 AM

I believe the owners manual show how to move the rails to the farthest point forward. Granted still no the best design, but it can be done. I read it, but the manual is out in the car.

I finally modified my roof rack and advanced the front bar all the way to the front... Took around 10-15 minutes! You have to remove the two rubber strips that glide out just by pulling on it (even easier on a hot day) then with a torks screwdriver, remove the two stop screws. At that point the crossbar slides all the way to the front... Now at the front, let go of the locking mechanism of the bar and slide the bar back and forth a couple of time to scribe a line with the tip of the locking pins onto the aluminum rails. Next, punch a center mark (I used a long nail) about a 1/4" from the start of the scribed line. Find a small drill bit ( I recommend 1/8") and drill a pilot hole. Find a drill bit that fits in the through hole and drill it, then one that goes in the counter bore (3/8" is good if I remember right) and drill slowly and not through (gage with back holes). Use a small brush to clean your work and you're done.

Be very careful at what angle you drill... The scribe line is in the center of the bottom of the rails but try to keep the drill bit's shank in the center of the top of the rail.

And that's it! :clap:

I can just smell that warranty reply right now!!! :460:

I bought a set of after market Thule 791's as Hyundai UK states that the roof rails are good for nothing anyway..??

The Thule's lock nicely in any position on the side rails and they guarantee that the Thule bike racks will be safe.

Just my opinion but I wouldn't personally feel that my load would be safe up there with a couple of holes I'd drilled in the side rails and the flimsy locking pegs on the roof bars...

The whole roofbar issue has left me smarting a bit...I have binned my hyundai bars, they are Sh1te!

dansaaf,

I don't think there is anything "flimsy" about the locking pegs on the Santa Fe stock roof rack. I believe before the pins could be ripped off, the whole roof rack would be ripped right out of the roof sheet metal.

What that means is that your Thule crossbars are only as strong as the rails mounted on the roof, which as I said, I believe would actually be the weakest part of the rack. And truthfully, I don't think the weakest part of the rack is very weak at all.

I spent many years as an owner of a bicycle shop and have seen quite a few OEM as well as "after market" roof racks. The stock Hyunda roof rack is as good as any, which isn't bad.

By the way, I just got through modifying my roof rack also.

David <><

For those who have modified their SF roof rack, did you have to remove the entire rail system before you were able to drill the holes? It looks like it can be done without the removal of the rails but I just wanted to make sure.
Thanks

You don't have to remove the rails. Just have a tall, free-standing step ladder available.

See the post a few above this by "ouello" for instrctions. If you are reasonable handy with tools this should be a no brainer. If you are a newbie with automobile DIY projects, get someone to help you. You really don't want to screw it up.

David <><

Great, thanks! :beer:

I have been looking at a thule Atlantis 1600 box, which is 74" long, requires a minimum of 24" spread. Does the roof rail need to be modified to accomodate something like this?
The Hyundai cargo box is really a thule sidekick in all black and about an extra $150-200 dollars, so not going that route.

Santa Fe 2007 roof rack distance too short.

I found the same problem with the Santa Fe 2007 roof rack. I took mine to 2 places. One guy said 'oh well there is nothing you can do'. The second place I took it too the guy said it was just like one of the other SUVs only that SUV had the extra holes already drilled. I cannot remember which other manufacturer that was.

But anyway, this guy drilled 2 extra holes for me up near the front. I don't have a sunroof either.

So now I leave that one at the front and can move the rear slider to whatever distance I want. The guy did not give me a guarantee but said they did not drill the extra holes to save money. I can now carry my windsurfer on the roof with more confidence.

Hello still new thanks to all i removed roof crossbars very easy. now can anyone tell me if i can get the factory filler strips to fill up the rest of the slide slot
thanks 07 santa

ouello and david-paul-1:

Thanks for inspiration to finally do this. My Thule Mountaineer roof box was barely usable with the factory configuration of the cross bars. Now the problem is solved. See my post here about my experience with the Mod:

www.hyundai-forums.com/index.php?showtopic=22137&view=findpost&p=129837

Here are some pics of the mod:

Just discovered this same problem last week, on the day we were due to go on holiday. Mounted our Thule Atlantis roof box just fine, packed it with all the beach gear while my wife was packing the cases, then tried to open the boot lid and couldn't.
So so so annoying and if it has been done to reduce cost that is just ridiculous, how much can it cost to drill two more holes in relation to the cost of the car overall?
As there was no obvious solution, I had to unload and remove the roof bo