Thanks for the info. I think Ill move mine back next time. Went to our cabin this weekend and used the small Thule roof top bag and it worked great with the rack. I love this car. It was me, the wife, the kid, two dogs, and enought stuff on the roof for three days in a cabin. It only sagged a little

 

I have a question in response to FITDC's comment last moth: "...has anyone been told not to leave their roof racks on due to soft weatherstripping on the Fit. For that reason I mounted my Yaks on Q mounts right on the roof. FITDC"

I'm wondering how Q mounts avoid the problem of damage to the weatherstripping and if DC or others like how those Q mounts work. I noticed reading Yakima's rack guide at REI yesterday that they warn against leaving the rack on for long periods of time (like we want to) per the clips intruding into the weatherstripping over time will damage them. So with the Q mounts do you have to drill into the roof? We'd love to hear from someone today since REI has a 20% off sale today.
Thanks!

 

So I talked to someone at REI today and he said that with either the Yakima or Thule roof racks you basically have to remove the rack after each use to not cause damage to the door/window gaskets. He said even leaving the rack on for a couple days you can start to get leakage through the gaskets! It's hard to believe it could happen that fast, but since we want a rack we can have on pretty much all the time, it's a concern. Anyone with this kind of rack mounting kit had leakage problems, like wind noise or rain?
The REI guy suggested as an alternative we go to a store specializing in racks where they can install permanent rails on the roof (yes by drilling into it) upon which the Yakima or Thule hardware can then be installed. Anyone have experience with this?

 

I had a yakima rack on my civic for over a year and on my fit for 4 months, and it hasnt leaked at all. I actually took the rack off recently to detail my car and haven't put it back, and it didnt damage the weatherstriping.

 

Thanks for the reply, 743power. That's encouraging. I e-mailed the owner of a chain specializing in racks, Roof and Rack, and he stated they have actually had very few problems with gaskets leaking from these kinds of roof racks. I'm hoping with a new car that's not something I'm going to have to worry about for years. Anyone else have experiences to report on? Recommendations for bike trays or other carrying accessories?

 

Have you had any decrease in mileage from your roof rack?

 

Hey, RunBRun,

The good news: no problems with gasket leaks in our new Thule rack which we've had on since October. The bad news: even with the wind deflecting fairing our mileage has decreased noticeably. We have the automatic Sport model, and pre-rack averaged 29-30mpg, with a range of down to 27 if I was really flogging the engine, up to 33 or 34 doing extended hiway runs at a reasonable 65-70mph. I'd have to check my log, but since installation we've rarely broken 30mpg, maybe once, and mostly seem to be getting 27-28mpg. I will check my log and get back to you on that if you want specifics. I'd be curious to know if anyone else has noticed a similar drop in mpg with a rack. Of course, at the end of the day, I guess 2mpg is not a surprising or large drop given the significant changes in aerodynamics induced by a rack. (By the way, the mileage I'm noting is with the fact that for 95% of our driving the bikes are not up top. Also note our config is Thule Aerofoot mounted cross bars and two Criterion bike holders, which is not the most aerodynamic of Thule's various racks. The bike carriers that allow bikes to be fork mounted rather than placed with both wheels on would likely produce less drag whether our not the bikes are mounted.)

regards, AE

 

if you think about it, the rack's air deflector acts somewhat like an airbrake...

 

Yes, I've wondered if we'd actually get better mileage if we tried without it!--ae

 

 

got my thule yesterday and installed it. i have to agree with manxman's page 2 comments, they could've made the bolts 1/4" longer, which would help the installation, but overall i am pleased with the set up.

i installed the front bar 2" further back than the recommended 14" from the windshield. the rubber feet pads just seemed to line-up better with the weatherstripping in that location. and i installed the rear bar also further back, about 1" from the rear door edge for a bigger spread between the bars.

i got my set up from rackattack.com. super fast shipping. i got the package the day after i ordered. only problem was that they sent me 58" load bars instead of the 50". but instead of going through the hassle of returning them i just cut them down myself...i left 2.5" of bar protruding past the feet all around.

i've had racks on all my cars, and i use the hell out of them. its going to come in handy as i finish my basement and have to haul all kinds off shizz from home depot. plus i have a canoe and bikes that i need it for.

now i just hope my mileage doesn't suffer much...

 

I tried going without the fairing for my last tank of gas and my mileage actually dropped 1 mpg. Go figure. I think I'm going to install the permanent Thule clip mounts(TK14) so I can just pop my rack on and off as I need it and save my mileage a little.

 

Regarding the short bolts.
I found a trick to installing the Thule racks.
If you get your bars set up just tread the bolt in a couple turns(don't put the clips over the door frame quite yet).
Set everything in place on your roof. There is enough movement in the clip setup that you can just pull down on the clips until they are around the door frame. I couldn't believe it when I stumbled on this after screwing around for a half hour.
This makes it easy to take the rack off too.

 

We tried to put the Thule rack on our 2007 Fit today. The footpads wouldn't stay level in contact with the car roof, and yet the clips were still loose. Do we need to change the length of the bars? We tried to do the measurements all precise to what we read... Any advise welcome, Thule is not available to call until Tuesday!

 

dont know what to tell you, i did all my measurments by the paper they gave in the box and it worked out fine. Only thing wrong with mine is one of the handles on the foot pack wont sit flush.