I am in the planning stages of building and mounting a custom-all-the-way roof rack to my just acquired Prius v, and would like (ideally without pulling the headliner down, though advice on how to accomplish that would be most welcome) to know where exactly the cross braces that span the roof are? I’d like to drill in the exact center of those if possible to take advantage of the extra strength provided by the extra layer of steel present in those locations. This post started me down this road, but posts there art generating replies: https://priuschat.com/threads/prius-v-lowercase-v-for-the-prius-v-wagon-five-custom-yakima-54-track-and-diy-instructions.149425/ Thanks very much!
Where is everybody? I found the bracing. Interesting that some of the bracing channels run with the center/spine up, or adjacent to the roof, while others have the center facing toward the inside of the car. The reason I am interested in this difference is if the spine faces up then bolting through the roof + the brace increases the strength of the connection, but where the center doesn’t touch the roof, of course, drilling through the roof at that location wouldn’t make any sense. I do have a question. In roughly the center of the roof I see what looks like a styrofoam plate. Pale yellow. What is its purpose or meaning? I was also able to cut some tidy access flaps through the headliner at the back corners using an Olfa snap knife.
Seems like no one has ventured into the headliner yet so you might be the first one. You've reason to do so for the beefed up roof rack on the drawing board. Please post on your findings along with your planned out roof rack.
