roof racks on long term
 

Hi, does anyone use a roofrack on long term (i want one for bike carrying). The Thule one clamps round the roof edge and distorts the door seals a bit, does this cause any problems with long term use, and do the seals return to normal once the rack is rmoved?

Also, anyone know whats under the black strip on the roof, are there any mounting points under here (like on fords / mazdas), my dealer didnt really know much about roof racks and was pretty clueless.

thanks

The longest I had my Yakima {same attachment method} is one week{camping/canoeing out of state}. For one the wind noise when empty/loaded is very distracting and the rack easy enough to remove and replace,I wouldn't want my rack on long term. The door seals will leak in heavy rains when attached and driving. The seal retains after removal,but unsure it will return to proper sealing if rack has deformed it long term. Also the "pads" that support the rack will scuff paint at the attachment points. I clean them every install, but I suspect road grime & dust do the damage as you drive and the vehicle/rack flexes during driving. Another fact it will reduce your gas mileage is remained attached due to reduced drag and interupting the designed airflow, if getting good mileage bothers you at all. I remove mine after every use because of above negatives unless I am not near home and lack of room to store inside the car because of camping/paddling gear.

PaFitter

I ran my integra racks full time until we got our ridgeline. If you give it a good wax before you put the rack on, you will have no long term effects. I had no issues with scuffed paint and never had a single leak. The only reason I removed the rack was that we had or ridgeline and I wanted a quieter ride. When I took it off the last integra, there was a little deformation of the rubber that took about 2 weeks of warm weather before it went away but I had no problems with it during that time (leaking or wind noise). I've had both Thule and Yakima racks and the Thule was quieter but I liked the way the yakima fit better on the Integra. (2dr with short roof adapter kit).

~SB

get a hitch and rack

I keep mine on all the time. Rain, snow, anything... It's up there.

^ yep, same here... taking it off would be too much of a hassle for me... lol probably take it off and clean it after several months would do? just had it for less than a month... so i'll probably give it another 1 or 2 more months...

Keep my rack system on full time. The only issue I see is a little bit of reduced fuel cost. The fit gets such good gas mileage though that I'm still well above about 80% of the public.

I have a Yakima Q clip/tower system with a Load Warrior basket and 2 bike carriers with wheel forks. The thing adds another entire exterior cargo space the size of the car to the top. I can carry anything. I love it and would highly recommend it to anyone.

thanks guys, i'll prob leave mine on all the time then but maybe just put a bit of clear protection tape under the pads to protest the paintwork.

So as all these racks seem to clamp round the roof edges... Whats under the black roof strip??? My dealer was sure there was some mounting thing under there but no racks (honda included) seem to use it. Maybe dealer is wrong, just wondered why they put a big plastic strip along the roof! (not that the look of it bothers me)

the black roof strip is a rain gutter.

i have a thule system, i've had it on for 2-3 months now, no problems. took it off last friday just because i was bored, the weatherstrips went right back to normal. the only down i noticed was when it rains, a TINY bit of rain collects in that bent door strip. it doesn't leak or anything, but just don't jump outta your car or it'll come down on you.

That's what I decided to do. I purchased some strips of 3M film to put under my rack feet and along the areas where the Q clips go into the door sills - I'm hoping that this helps to reduce the chance of my racks scratching my roof. Haven't had a chance to put it on yet, though - too cold!

I had a 13 foot canoe and a large touring kayak on a yakima q-clip system this summer, the towers walked (i had them very tight) and actually dented my roof. Be very careful about loading your rack with this system.

Thanks for the warning. Just a question though - what do you figure the total weight of a 13' canoe and a touring kayak was? 100+ lbs? I know when I used to load 2 touring kayaks (14' each), the weight was ~110 lbs. That was on my Subie w/ Lowriders though - I had no issues.

Two bikes or a skybox will be the most for me on the Fit with the clips - I should be safe with that load.

The canoe was pretty light, maybe 40 pounds, but the kayak was more. Total was close to 100. I think it had a lot more to do with the size and shape of the boats, I had it on an interstate--a lot of movement when getting passed by trucks.
I've had bikes on there with no issues.

Update: my last trip with my Yakima was last weekend. I went on a 6 hour road trip with 2 bikes on top and a mid sized piece of luggage in the cargo basket. The trip down was fine. Noticed a bit of wind resistance on the way home. When I got home the rack had shifted about 6 inches back on one side and 8-9 on the other. The Q towers made large dents above both back doors.

Had a local company called the dent buster fix the dents. With a discount it cost me $200 and he had to drill a tiny hole for his tool because he couldn't access the metal after dropping the interior panels. He put weather plugs in the holes and you can't even tell they're there (a lot of it is to do with the fact that my car is black and so are the plugs). Looks brand new. I don't know how he did it but having it repaired by a body shop was almost $1,000 (because of painting).

Needless to say, I sold the entire back system, bought a drawtie trailer hitch mount and purchased a Yakima Swingdaddy bike mount. The alternative was to get yakima tracks professionally installed ($150 for the tracks, $100 for the install) and purchase control towers that clip into the tracks. With all that I was looking at another $300-$350 investment just to secure the rack so it wouldn't happen again.

So, in conclusion, if you're thinking about purchasing a roof mounted rack from Yakima or Thule, the way they secure themselves isn't completely full proof. If you are a better safe then sorry person I would go hitch and rear mounted carrier. The hitch was only $106 and I had to purchase an adapter for the Yakima Swingdaddy. It's they're top of the line, but well worth it if you own something with a hatch. With 4 bikes loaded it swings completely out of the way around the side of the car so you can open your hatch. Saves you the hassle of having to unload and remove in order to access the contents in your car.

Just some food for thought.

after reading your post I called Yakima to see what they had to say, his only thing was that it is a hard install on the Fit and that I should have REI (the place I bought it) check out my installation. I think I might, I know how to read, so maybe with proof that I'm not an idiot, I can have yakima reimburse me for the repairs to my roof.
I own towers from the 06Element I used to own--might look into the rails...

Roof Dents
 

Concerning roof denting, I looked at a 2009 Fit with Yakima racks in a parking lot and I'm not surprised at the denting problem. The Yakima feet sit far out on the roof where it slopes downward toward the windows. Because of the roof angle, the load on the rack causes a "pinching" force meaning the pressure on the roof is actually greater than the weight on the foot. Plus, while sloped, the roof is fairly flat in that area so it isn't very stiff.

I think Thule racks have the feet a little further in, straddling the little step in the roof next to the black rubber strip. That little step will make the roof much stiffer there, and more resistant to denting. But I can't be sure Thule's fit that way - I've never actually seen a Thule rack on a Fit. Does anybody have a good photo showing exactly how the Thule feet sit on the roof?

To show how I think the Thule feet sit, the attached photo shows the feet on my Inno (Japanese) rack. Those feet also straddle the step. Sorry about the poor photo - I just blew up a section of the best picture I had. I've carried two heavy old sea kayaks, about 130 lbs total for 10-20 mile trips with my Inno racks without any denting problems so far. But I'm careful to take it easy when I get to any rough roads and I haven't tried any interstates with that load.

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8747/innofeet.jpg

If you're thinking about putting the yakima on your roof I would definitely get the rails. They can be had on eBay for around $130-$150. A shop will charge you about $100 to install them. They come with instructions but require drilling and installing anchors (they come with the rails). If you feel you're up to it do it yourself. I wouldn't trust the Q towers with clips from any manufacturer after what happened to me.

And I wouldn't bet on Yakima reimbursing you for any damage to your vehicle. Read through their terms on their warranty and they clearly state that they will only replace a part under their "limited lifetime warranty" if it's a defect of the part. They will replace nothing if it breaks because of the way it was installed, used, abused, etc. Without an actual video of the damage in action I think you would be hard pressed to prove in any way that the damage wasn't caused by the mis-installation.

I'm just fortunate I stopped to get gas about 20 miles away from home and noticed that the rack had badly shifted. I'm still thankful I didn't lose the $3,000 worth of bikes that were on top of the car somewhere on the interstate! I can stomach the $200 worth of denting and some light scratches but I think I would have vomitted had that have happened.

Wow. Definitely some food for thought here. I haven't had a chance to use my Yakima with the Fit yet, and maybe that's a good thing! In the past I've been very happy with Yakima, although all my previous experience with their product has been on various Subie's that all had factory rails. Previous to that I used an old Thule rack that never budged.

I can't believe that the design has the feet installed on a weak portion of the vehicle. :rolleyes: I just assumed that the feet would straddle, or at least mount close to, the gutter on the roof.

Anyone else have any "horror stories" with the Q-tower system? Second guessing putting it up there this weekend!

Nothing, Have no fear of the Yakima Q-tower rack system. My Rack has been on 3 cars now,and not a problem.{using specific clips for fit}. I haul 2- 16' canoes probably 3000 miles in all wind & weather conditions with my rack so far. Have about 1000 miles of 90 lbs of canoe weight hauling on my Fit. If properly fit as per Yakima instructions, measurments and placement on the car,you should have no problem. Only thing I have is paint scuffing where pad meet the paint,but so far a simple clear coat scratch remover,removes them. Or be sure to wipe roof and pads clean before mounting. I experience that on long road trips with traffic dust & grime when raining,since the pads flex some and leave a scuff ring around the outer edge of the pads. Last long distance haul I encounterd 35mpg winds,and truck generated turbulances. Of course with long loads you should bow & stern tie down to avoid wind related snap shifting that will break a rack loose no matter how good it is mounted. Hauling my bike is not a problem either. I remove mine after every use,and to make sure they go back on at the Yakima measurements ,I took vinyl tape and marked the outer edges of the rack clips in the inside door edge,so the rack goes back exactly where the recommended attach points are every time. It only takes 2-3 minutes to mount or remove the racks with the markers,and eliminates re-measuring every install. Any other questions you may have feel free to post here. BTW roof denting is from over tensioning of the clamps,not weight. I have hauled up to 105 lbs on my rack on my Fit and don't as much have a pucker or dip in my roof. If you place them as per Yakima instructs they usually have engineered the place on the car where the strongest part of roof structure is given the design of the car ,and rack. If you place other then recommended placement,I could see the roof denting. You want them tight enough to hold without sliding when pulled on by hand,and not hard on the tension to dent the roof. DO NOT armorall or 303 the pads, they will slip, loosen and the rack WILL come off. The silicone rubber should be clean as to grip the paint

PaFitter

denting
 

I read the directions as well, measured and placed the racks as instructed. The denting occurred after the rack walked back, so it was not due to over-tensioning. I suspect it was due to an uneven load. I had a single 17' boat on there recently and no movement at all.
I have been using yakima for 15 years and never had an issue, but I think this is a flawed design for the Fit. I'm going to get the tracks installed.