Hi Folks,
Help needed. I'm planning to purchase some Thule roof racks - I already have standard cross bars from an older Thule rack so I'll save $ there. However, the new aero-style towers & bars interest me but here's my question.

(1) Concerning the issues of gas savings & noise levels (Aero Blade bars vs the standard Thule Load bars) - is there a significant difference to justify the cost? Thanks in advance.

 

Bump! I want to know this as well...

 

is that a sport in your picture? the black paint really makes it look like a base

 

I bought the standard Thule roof rack set-up for my GD3. When it was totaled, I kept the rack and found that the "fit kit" (feet) for the GD did not work well on my new GE8. So I bought new "feet" sepcifically for the GE8 and everything works. With Thule's square-shaped cross bars, there is a hell of a lot of wind noise unless you also use their faring. The noise is caused by wind resistance, and that means a loss of good gas mileage, expecially when you add whatever you are going to carry on top of the rack.

According to Thule's web site info., the noise and wind resistance is less with their oval-shaped "Aero" cross bars, and the bars also have channel mounted sliding attachments for tie-down straps. I assume that the oval bars would eliminate the need for the faring to eliminate wind noise caused by the bare bars, but the faring would help to direct air over the load you have attached to the rack.

I think that the polished aluminum Aero bars look better than the black painted square bars, but whether the looks and other benefits of the Aero bars make them worth more than the old style square ones is the question that you will have to answer with your purchase.

If I left my roof rack on the Fit all the time, I would sell the older rack parts and replace them with the aluminum Aero rack. However, I only attach the rack when I occasionally need to haul stuff on the roof, and that is rare. It's not worth the expense to swap the old with the new for me, but it might be worth it for you, depending on how much you like the look of the new rack system.

 

If I had a choice, I'd go with the Aero Bars. wit the square ones you get wind noise and adding the fairing kills fuel economy by 2-3mpg. Lower noise on the Aero and not needing a fairing would make it all worth it in my opinion. I have a yakima with round bars that howl. I removed the fairing and added windJammers that make much of the bar the oval/teardrop shape and that cuts waaay down on the noise (and my mpg doesn't really suffer)

~SB

 

I get some wind noise over 40 mph with my standard cross bars. I'm still pulling down 38-41 mpg even with the rack. I have no fairing. I saw my best mpg at 41.5 on a road trip a few weeks ago with speeds of 60-75 mph. All in all I'm happy with the standard bars.