V70 Body/Trim: Um, what is it?????

[RobbieH]

I noticed a leak when washing the car the other day, water was running down the inside of the rear passenger side windows. When I sprayed the roof it was quite noticable, running down the inside of the glass about 4" in front of the rear roof rail mounting.

The service history notes that I have show that the previous owner noted a leak which was sorted out by the dealership:
" water leaking into rear, dripping onto luggage cover. Checked and traced to leak from roof rail bolt holes. Rails removed, resealed, refitted and tested OK".

So, following instructions I had been given, I took the roof bar off to find,

What sealant, what grommet , just some nasty sticky looking black goo that looked randomly smeared around some of the bolt holes. And some ham fisted berk had managed to part round off one of the torx heads on the rear most rail mounting (not me I hasten to add).

So, everything stripped off, cleaned out all the gunk that had accumulated in the gaps, resealed with plenty of "sillycone" and all back together. Nothing broke and no handful of spare bits left behind.

However, I did notice this bit screwed into the roof line in a gap in the roof trim just adjacent to the B pillar:



Any ideas what it's meant to be for???

So far, suggestions include:

Roof rack mounting point for when you dont have roof rails - Can't be. There's only one on each side. Unless Volvo invented a cantilevered or well balanced one mount point rack.

Official Volvo mounting point for Plod/Ambulance light/strobe/siren bars - Unless the previous owner was a secret squirrel undercover type, my car has seen no such service.

Might have been for roof box (or god forbid a taxi sign) - Car's not been (a moonlight) taxi either.


They are also bolted into proper mounts just like the roof bars. And the rubber weatherstrips of the roof trims have been cut either side of them (which is why under the said trims was 5 years of muck and dirt).

So, so far I'm left with roof box, but if so, why only are there two (one on each side) and no other signs of any other mountings any where else?

Edit: just trawled through the accessories catalogue and can't see anything that would use such mountings. More intrigue....

[boggymarsh]

I haven't a clue but it looks as if some form of bar has been fitted as the trim has been squashed in the immediate area above the bracket. Is there there the same amount of compression on the other side? Have there been any holes drilled in the roof top for wires?
Has it been used by a doctor (green light bar) or someone doing Highways work (amber light bar)?

[RobbieH]

Originally Posted by boggymarsh

I haven't a clue but it looks as if some form of bar has been fitted as the trim has been squashed in the immediate area above the bracket. Is there there the same amount of compression on the other side? Have there been any holes drilled in the roof top for wires?
Has it been used by a doctor (green light bar) or someone doing Highways work (amber light bar)?

There is no squashing of the trim in the area of the bracket, nor any residual marring of the laquer (which can be seen around the area where the covers for the roof rails are).

There are no other holes for power cables, etc. Indeed there are virtually no marks at all on either the roof rails or the roof itself, just a few small stone chips.

I do know the previous owner had the car on a private plate from delivery so I would doubt such a person would want a light bar mounted (although I stand to be corrected and this is only infereed from the dealer history paperwork made available when I bought the car back in 2006). Also the car only covered 46k miles from being registered in Sept 2004 to when I bought it ex-dealership in Jan 2006. I would have thought doctors or highways people would have covered rather more miles than that.

[Georgey dee]

It's for the roof bars

[boggymarsh]

It's obviously just the way the light is shining on the roof but at first glance it does look like something squashed.... or maybe it's just me!

Anyway I still don't have a clue....hey ho!

[silverback02]

It's actually for a roof rack.for a car that does not have roof rails. (like S80) ALLTHOUGH should have two pair...on correct car..(prob realised that after fitting first pair.)the early racks would have catch bolts that fasten into the slots and then pull the rack into the slot when tightened....Later replaced with the later fasteners on cars without rails.
joe.

[R-P]

Originally Posted by Georgey dee

It's for the roof bars

Originally Posted by silverback02

It's actually for a roof rack.for a car that does not have roof rails.

^^^This. I have 4 of them that look very similar and also the accompanying, removable roof-bars. Since I never removed the trim that covers them and have never seen how they screw into the roof, I am not 100% sure, but at least 99.5%

It is strange you only have two though...

Off-topic (1): how do you remove the trim/strip? Slide it off the studs by pushing it to the middle of the roof? Or just jerk it off? (One of mine has to be replaced as there used to be a flashing-police light mounted straight through it )

Off-topic (2): I almost bought the S60 roof-bars, but the S60 and the V70 versions are different due to the angle of the roof (V70=straight, S60 trails off at the back), So an S60 rear roof-bar would have an inbuild correction for the trailing-off roof of, lets say, 20º. Put this on a V70 and the square bar would not be horizontal, but be leaning forward at an angle of 20º. Don't know if that makes sense, but just to show these things exist and there's a lot of thought that has gone into them.

[RobbieH]

Originally Posted by R-P

^^^This. I have 4 of them that look very similar and also the accompanying, removable roof-bars. Since I never removed the trim that covers them and have never seen how they screw into the roof, I am not 100% sure, but at least 99.5%

It is strange you only have two though...

Off-topic (1): how do you remove the trim/strip? Slide it off the studs by pushing it to the middle of the roof? Or just jerk it off? (One of mine has to be replaced as there used to be a flashing-police light mounted straight through it )

Off-topic (2): I almost bought the S60 roof-bars, but the S60 and the V70 versions are different due to the angle of the roof (V70=straight, S60 trails off at the back), So an S60 rear roof-bar would have an inbuild correction for the trailing-off roof of, lets say, 20º. Put this on a V70 and the square bar would not be horizontal, but be leaning forward at an angle of 20º. Don't know if that makes sense, but just to show these things exist and there's a lot of thought that has gone into them.

I think the general consensus appears to be some sort of removable roof bar.
Why only one set I have no idea, nor why one bar when the car appears to have had proper roof rails fitted from new.

Rail and trim removal - see attachments.

Once I'd removed the roof bars, it was easier to slide the pieces of trim off the clips. The clips were then removed per the instructions for cleaning (both the clips and the "gutter"). I didn't remove the piece that runs from the front of the roof down the windscreen as I didn't want to chance my luck to this point (nothing broken) and due to the curve it wouldn't slide off cleanly, unlike the straight pieces from the main roof.