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Originally Posted by violation
thanks seven. that's very good input and insight. now i'm waiting for those pics, plz...  |
Sorry for the dew and poor lighting. I'm packing for a road trip cross country currently but I quickly mounted the rear bar (front goes on the same way) and snapped some photos.
1st photo: Mounting surface. This is the Right rear passenger door. You can see the little sticker provided by Thule; you mount the rear bar in front of these stickers, and you mount the front bar behind them. The Fit kit will tighten into the lip of the door; the "feet" are rubber with indentations to fit in the rubber seam on the roof, which you'll see next.
Next photo:
This is the fit kit bracket (to the left, flat black metal looking thing going vertical.) and the "foot", made of rubber for the roof seam. They are not in place yet, but you can see how they will slide in.
See how the fit kit bracket follows the curve of the door jam?
Now, photo 3 has it all in place. Just haven't tightened them down but that's self explanatory. Again, everything that contacts the surface of the vehicle is rubber or metal brackets with rubberized coating. Good quality stuff that will not scratch as long as you keep it clean.
4th photo is just another angle so you can see how it sits. The doors all close perfectly fine, and only the exterior rubber weatherstripping around the top of the door will be (barely) affected by the extra thickness from the fit kit bracket.
Last photo is a view of how the rubber "foot" sits in the roof seam. The front feet will have slightly different "feet" but they do the same thing.
Hope these help - not he best quality but I think it sums it up.
As you can see, the only thing universal about the kit is the towers and the crossbars they hold - the fit kit has specific part numbers with varying lengths, bends, etc. based on your make and model of car. I'm not sure if the rubber "feet" change from car to car, but definitely the bracketing.
Yakima stuff goes on similarly, but I've not see or touched it close enough to see if they rubberize their stuff like Thule to prevent scratches and scuffs.
Either kit you get with do the job just fine.