Klaas Bals' Blog

A while ago I bought a roof rack for my Land Rover Discovery 3. I wanted this to be able to transport big and dirty things, for example the sand waffles / sand ladders, that have been used in dirt. Previously I had to put them in my trunk which wasn't always very convenient.
I have been hesitating a long time about which model I should buy. Here are the options that I considered, followed by my conclusion.

Land Rover Expedition Rack

Land Rover themselves sell a roof rack that looks very nice. It really blends in with the rest of the Discovery 3 design.

It's also used for the Land Rover G4 Challenge, as can be seen in for example this picture:
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I didn't buy it, because some people didn't find it strong enough.

Hannibal

A South African company called Hannibal also has a Discovery 2 & 3 roof rack, but I don't really like the looks of it, and it is also quite high. I don't want my rack to be too high, as I want to be able to park in an underground parking lot.

Front Runner Windcheetah

Another South African company called Frontrunner creates roof racks from 100% aluminum, and they are rock solid. They have a model for the Discovery 3, called the Windcheetah. The regular Windcheetah has the original aluminum color, the Windcheetah Slimline is black powder-coated. I bought this Windcheetah Slimline.

I initially tried to buy it in South Africa, and arrange some shipping myself, as some other people have arranged. It would have been worth it because the price in South Africa is several times cheaper than in Europe, but I couldn't find anyone in South Africa to organize it.
So I went to the Front Runner European distributor, called Trekk 4x4 Adventure, which happens to be in Belgium!

My car originally did have original Land Rover roof rails, but the version of the rack Trekk had in stock didn't fit the original LR rails, so I got the FrontRunner roof rails for free, and I didn't mind at all because they are much stronger. I did install these roof rails and the roof rack myself. When unpacking the roof rails (they were wrapped in a plastic cover), I didn't notice the bolts that I needed to fix these roof rails to the roof, so I accidentally threw them away with the plastic, so I had to buy new ones in a store nearby. Another thing I want to point out is that you really need to remember to install the spacers (slices of a metal pipe) underneath each of of the bolts (the 3 bolts under the roofrack, but also the single bolt at the front, on every side). Pay attention to the way you install the rails and the front brackets because you might end up damaging your roof (such as this discovery 3 that has cracked its glass roof because if wasn't properly installed).

Of course, to be able to reach to the roof rack, I had to install a ladder. Although the Front Runner website mentions they have a Discovery 3 ladder, they confirmed me in email they actually don't. The only one I found was the original Land Rover Ladder.

I also bought many tie down rings and a spare wheel clamp, that can be attached to the rack very nicely.

Conclusion

I'm very happy with the Frontrunner Windcheetah roof rack. It is extremely strong and it is very practical because it has a very clever system to attach stings (such as the tie down rings). Because it doesn't have any siderails, it isn't too high. In its lowest setting (Access Mode), the height of my car including roof rack is now 196 cm, which still fits most underground parkings (most of them are 2m+ high). It's also pretty quiet (of course still more noisy than without the rack), because it has a 'wind deflector' at the front of the rack which seems to be pretty effective.

Here are some pictures of my car including the rack and the ladder: