Audi Q5 Roof bars on a Leon ST

[SuperV8]

Audi Q5 roof bars on a Leon ST can be 'engineered' to fit.

Audi Q5 roof bars for some reason are/were really cheap in Ebay (haven't checked recently) - I think at one point they were given away free with every Q5 - so surplus of supply and now one with a Q5 wants to buy them!

Really nice quality roof bars - thought i'd have a go and see if I could make them fit.
Basically Q5 flush roof rails are wider and taller than the Leon ST - but the same profile - so I made some spacers out of aluminium and re-drilled the mounting holes and hey presto.

Rock solid bars for something like £20!

 

[matticus48]

Hi SuperV8,

I'm thinking of doing the same and modifying a set of Q5 bars to fit the Leon ST (they're still cheap and plentiful on Ebay). Do you have any further detail on how much modification was required? - I think I saw the Q5 bars have three nubs on one of the feet.

I also wondered if they were Thule bars / feet and could be swapped with the fitting kit for the ST. Any advice would be welcome!

M

 

[SuperV8]

Hi SuperV8,

I'm thinking of doing the same and modifying a set of Q5 bars to fit the Leon ST (they're still cheap and plentiful on Ebay). Do you have any further detail on how much modification was required? - I think I saw the Q5 bars have three nubs on one of the feet.

I also wondered if they were Thule bars / feet and could be swapped with the fitting kit for the ST. Any advice would be welcome!

M

I made an aluminium spacer under each rubber pad 8x, and an aluminium spacer to go behind the clamp 4x.
The one with 3x pips is just for the Q5 and it's stability control - so it knows there is a roof rack fitted. The pips are only used for bar location, not for security.
Obviously also had to re-drill the bars for the narrower roof.
Thule is not compatible with the Audi OEM bars. Obviously much easier to just get some Thule feet and the correct Thule bars. These seem to be very seasonal in price. When I looked in spring/summer they were commanding a very high price - but in Autumn/Winter you might find a second hand bargain.

 

[terryjd]

Hi

I've managed to source a brand new set for £25 and happy to do a bit of engineering. What aluninium spacers are you talking about? Do you habe photos and or dimensions of them?

 

[SuperV8]

This is the ali spacer - I used some "aluminium Flat Bar 300mm long 19mm wide 5mm thick" This goes under the rubber pads.
Also made some spacers for the inside clamp face so it clamped square to the rail.