So I was thinking on the factory roof racks:

do any of your guys use the inner 2 rails, and if so what exactly?

 

( my 1991 loyale does NOT have roof rack now)

 

My though is to use the inner 2 to extend the rails to full roof length.

Using the cut and paste method:

 

What are your thoughts ?

 

The inner two rails are there so your cargo doesn't scratch the paint on the roof. If you don't care about your car's paint, the full rack would be an interesting idea (though I find strapping things down might be slightly difficult).

 

The inner rails on my roof rack support my spare tire, so the tire isn't on the actual roof of the car.

Another reason for the inner 2 rails is to stiffen the roof up. Otherwise, when you hit certain bumps, the roof can actually buckle slightly and make a noise. With those rails, it won't.

I did that with an old GL-10 wagon.........

 

The sunroof had blown out......the mounting brackets/rails were gone.....So..........I glued in a new sunroof panel.  It had a few supports underneath holding it from falling in........

 

And the roof rack rails added on the top just barely overlapped the edge of the sunroff so it couldn't blow up and out.....It was glued in so well it never tried to move.....but the rails gave me a little insurance that it wouldn't fly out and damage the car behind me on the freeway.

The inner two rails are there so your cargo doesn't scratch the paint on the roof. If you don't care about your car's paint, the full rack would be an interesting idea (though I find strapping things down might be slightly difficult).

 

The inner rails on my roof rack support my spare tire, so the tire isn't on the actual roof of the car.

Does your roof ever buckle with the spare on there?