Honda Fit Roof Rack Installation Instructions

I recently bought a new ’08 Honda Fit. The installation instructions below are spacific to the '08 model, the '09 Fit is a bit longer. My lifestyle requires the option of a roof rack, which Honda does not offer. I am a very particular retired furniture maker, but not a professional roof rack installer. The following instructions come with no guaranty of any type & any user of these instructions agrees to holds the author harmless.


Performance Criteria: A roof rack with maximum adjustable spread between the bars (front to back), able to carry long loads parallel to the ground (nose not elevated to catch wind), able to accept variety of accessories, 100 lb capacity, look like original equipment, high quality.

Choices: RackOutfitters.com recommended Yakima because of their track system & accessories. I chose & recomend the 54” track. Yakima has no specific instructions for installing any of their roof racks on Fit’s. An option is to have a dealer/installer do the installation for you.

Installation Qualifications: This is a job for a skilled individual. I do not go into elaborate detail. If you do not understand why I suggest something, you probably shouldn’t be working on the roof of your nice new car.

Pictures: I took pix, but may not get them included in this first posting; the process looks complicated. I’m a craftsman, not a computer nut.

Warning: Take my “Warnings” seriously.

The Meat: Positioning of the 54” tracks is 99% of this project. The idea is to securely & cleanly attach the tracks to the sheet metal roof (they can’t be attached to the rounded body member between the doors & the black plastic insert strip). Using the track fasteners (PlusNuts), you have to; avoid drilling into ribs & other stuff between the roof & the headliner, get the tracks positioned parallel & the ends square with each other. The basic measurement is the back of the tracks should be 13 ½” from the back edge of the roof, where the roof meets the hatchback door (I wanted it further back, but to do so made the front of a long load too high). Next, the back outside corner of the tracks should be 2 ¼” toward the midline of the roof from the center of the black plastic insert strip along the outside edge of the roof. (I wanted a wider stance of the Control Towers, but after carefully pulling part of the back edge of the headliner down to look in there, stuff was in the way.)

The trickiest thing for most people will be to bend; yes I said bend the tracks to fit the curve of the roof. (this will not impede the sliding of the Landing Pad nuts, however, when tightened into position, the front plastic Landing Pads are bent enough so that, when the Towers & Rods are not mounted, the Landing Pad covers don’t fit right, so I leave them off). The roof has a compound curve. I custom bend curves in metal in segments. Pad your fulcrum to save scratches. Warning; where holes are drilled in the track, it bends more easily than the rest, so avoid engaging the fulcrum at the holes while bending. I spent about a ½ hr apiece getting a nice smooth curve bent into the tracks to conform to the roof. I got mine to have a gap of no more than 1/8” from the roof sheet metal.

At this point, I put together the whole Landing Pad/Control Tower/Bar assembly to “dry fit” them onto the tracks. If you trust me & yourself, you will not need to do the dry fit. The dry fit tells you that the front outside corner of the tracks should be 5 5/8” from the center of the black insert strip. The inside of track slot to inside of track slot should measure 30 3/8”.

Once you are comfortable with the fit & location of the tracks to the roof, it’s time to start drilling holes in your nice new car! Warning: there are only 14 PlusNuts included in the kit…don’t drill more than 7 holes per track. It is mandatory that you refer to the Yakima instructions at this point. Designating hole #1 as the rear-most hole in the track, the holes to be used for PlusNuts are: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10. This placement of holes insures avoiding drilling into any ribs or other stuff.

My biggest concern was not weight down on the roof, but wind-pull up on the front. With Control Towers at max spread (front to back), a simulated long load using a 10’ long 1x4 (with the car otherwise empty) had a “rake” down in the front of 3” lower than the back of the 1x4. In other words, if the car is loaded, the roof load will come out aproximately parallel to the ground.

Back to drilling: Follow Yakima instructions on drilling, i.e.,center punching, etc. Drilling in sheet metal, as you better know, is tricky. To keep from drilling thru the head liner, a professional installer advised me to use a deep socket as a depth gauge for about ¼”. It’s a little rough on the soon to be covered up paint, but take your choice. I used 3 drill/socket combos to graduate up to my final hole size. My PlusNuts wouldn’t fit into the 9/32” hole that Yakima specified, so I snuck up to 5/16”, which worked fine.

Installing PlusNuts: Warning: do not start installing/tightening a PlusNut until you have it fully seated down on the rubber washer/shoulder of the PlusNut. This applies to all the PlusNuts, but, in particular for hole #8, you have to push down fairly hard on the PlusNut installation assembly, temporarily pushing down on the headliner, as you start tightening. Some holes take a little finesse to get the PlusNuts inserted.

Yakima instructions will take you from here…& Good Luck!! Mine came out BEAUTIFULLY!!


This diagram shows the cross-structural ribs. Instructions above facilitate avoid installing PlusNuts over structural ribs.


Make a long, smooth bend with multiple small bends. Don't make a bend where there is a screw hole.


Nice close fit of track to curve of roof.


Deep socket used as depth guage for drill bit (to protect your headliner).


Don't blow it; see warning in text about installing PlusNuts.
Instuctions above give dimensions that position the load to be fairly parallel to the road suface, minimising wind-lift, potentially the most demanding force that your rack will ever see.
The finished product looks factory.
A feature I really like is the ease with which the tower/bars disconet from the tracks. I usually strap the hoist onto the bars, disconnect the towers & hoist the whole works off of the car. (Shown here are wooden substitutes for the bars; I needed to use the bars to haul lumber.)

 

Thanks For The Info

 

I can't tell because your pics are tiny, but it sounds like you did the slide rail kit. Thats pretty ballsy to drill into your car. You know you could have put on a Q-tower setup without drilling anything, and all you have to do to move the rails is change the tension on the rear rail, just leave the front one in the same place. Any bigger pics? I wanna compare the slider style one to the one I have.

 

They have Honda roof racks in Australia for the Jazz:
Honda Jazz Optional Extras & Body Kit | 2009, 2008

 

Congrats on the install! While I personally wouldn't drill into the roof of my car, kudos to you for actually undertaking that task. I take that you don't like the removable q-towers yakima offers, or the aero foot packs that thule offers? I love mine!

 

I would like to post bigger pix with my piece about installing the roof rack. Can anyone help me? Idaho Jake

 

wow thanks for the cool info..

 

Thank you very much for all the informations and the pics, Idaho Jake! I am looking forward to buy myself a sport rack, mainly to carry a sea kayak, and i went to buy a Thule non-permanent kit: it fitted so bad on the fit that the salesman didn't want to sell it to me anymore! Your solution of a permanent rack will probably be the one for me: if a have to carry a 60 lbs 17 feet long kayak, i don't want to drop it on the highway!

Thx again!

 

You're wecome!! I'm glad to have my efforts help somebody. If you are not skilled, I would suggest taking my instructions to a shop that, at least occasionally, does work like this. If you need help, email me & we will go from there. My rack setup is working like a dream.

Idaho Jake

 

i just purchased all the stuff needed fro rack outfitters. im going to be the first one crazy enough to attempt this install on a second gen GE8 Fit. ill try and document. i may have to split the tracks into two per side, and make a small/ single mount front, and a adjustable rear track.

I need the rack to carry my 13 foot sit-on-top kayak and hardwood lumber.

 

Fit Freak has notified me of recent additions to the thread. I now regularly carry a 100 lb, 14' kevlar row boat on my rack. The boat is so big & dominating on top of my little Fit, I get looks of amazement often. I could not be happier with the secure feeling my screwed-on rack gives me with such a potentially wreck-prone cargo. Any questions, initially contact me here & then I can send good size pix & other info directly. Idaho Jake

 

Says I should be getting that rack next Tuesday. in the mean time, does any body know if doing this to my car will void my bumper to bumper warranty?

 

I asked the same question of my dealer. He gave me a conditional no. If warranty work is required of something totally unrelated to the modification that you have made, no problem. But if your wiring in the roof gets wet because water got in there because you failed to seal your screw holes & then it malfunctions, forget it. Be meticulous or hire it done by somebody who has skill, integrity & insurace. Good Luck, Idaho Jake

 

post pics!!!!!!!!!! i wanna see a boat on your fit!!!!!!!

 

and if I have my way, at least a good stack of lumber up there too. im crazy, but if after its on, maybe even a piece or two of plywood. The ultimate downforce spoiler. or... up. ah probalby not, but maybe if it was cut down the longest distance or "ripped" as they say in the biz.

 

I just spent over an hour trying to post a pic of boat on Fit; failed. Please give me instructions. I'm a 61 yr old mechanically inclined artisan, so can follow instructions. I've got excellent pix. Idaho Jake

 

Jake - have you seen Fitfreak's instructions here:

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...res-forum.html

Imageshack has changed the screens a bit from what the instructions show, but the procedure is still the same. For good size pictures, don't resize them down smaller than 800 pixels wide. The key point is that you need the copy the full internet address that is labeled "Direct Link".

 

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/7236/09090.jpg Lets see if this works. IJ

 

 

OK, now I'm getting the hang of this. Here is a load of lumber. I've carried full 4x8 sheets of plywood also; tie it down yourself so you know its done securely. vtecfit1, thanks for your help, what you gave me is what I needed. I will now try to add good size pix to my initial instructions at the front of this thread. IJ