alternative options for roof rack

[etlsport]

I've been using yakima's lowrider mounts and crossbars for a couple of months now and my only complaints have been wind noise and the fact that the front mounts appear to be sitting on the roof.. which needless to say makes me uncomfortable. Added a coleman safari basket a couple weeks ago which solved the problem of wind noise.. and made me even more nervous about those front mounts on the roof...

.. after a week long camping trip involving about 700 miles on the road with 90% of a 5 person campsite stored on my roof (i would guess about 60-70 lbs).. ive gotta give that setup the good old 2 thumbs up it held up great, very little wind noise.. i checked the mounts and they didnt seem to put any pressure on the roof, only on the rails.. got a few doubletakes from other drivers/hikers and one old guy who told me i had "quite a fine campin' machine"

i would definitely recommend this stuff to anyone who cant get factory roof rack or doesnt want to spend an arm and a leg on a yakima or thule basket (the coleman you can get for 130 from costco's website) my complaint which really has nothing to do with the brand of stuff, but the amount is my VX felt a little unstable in tight turns due to the extra weight up high, and also felt much more easily pushed around by wind.. just something to be conscious of





-Eric

oh yea.. and for reasons unknown to me.. during the two longest legs of the trip.. i averaged 20.8 mpg and 25.0 mpg!!!!!! no idea how/why.. (driving habits were no different) all i know is i'm not doing ANYTHING that could disrupt the celestial alignment that brought on those great numbers

[VehiGAZ]

Etlsport, who needs a roof rack!? The VX can hold plenty of gear in stock form!



That was what the VX looked like when we moved out of our rented ski house in VT this past weekend. Not only could I not see out of the back window, I couldn't even see the back window!!

On top of that (literally and figuratively), the Yakima cargo box had 3 snowboards, 3 sets of ski poles, and 5 pairs of skis in it!! The little lady and I are pretty equipment-intensive as it is, and 40% to 50% off end-of-season gear sales didn't help matters. THAT was a heavy VX on the way home!

[nfpgasmask]

Well, I want to get a roof basket to carry a full sized spare and 10 gallons of extra gas. I want to get the Load Warrior or the Thule, but the price of the Coleman is attractive.

Etl, do you think the Coleman will work with the stock wing crossbars?

Thanks,

Bart

[etlsport]

yea without a doubt, the mounts are actually made for oval shaped bars...

[nfpgasmask]

Sweet...I wonder if they carry it at Cosco???

Hmmmm.

Thanks - Bart

yea without a doubt, the mounts are actually made for oval shaped bars...

[nfpgasmask]

Hey Etl, one more question, looking at the coleman, do you think it is big enough for a full sized spare AND 2-4 five gallon jugs of gas?

I think I need to get measurements for all 3 options (Thule, Coleman, Yak)

Thanks - Bart

[etlsport]

its identical in size to the loadwarrior without the extension... to give you a size reference when i went camping i had those folding chairs laying door to door in there, i think 6 would lay across the bottom

now that im thinkin about it i need to rotate my tires anyway, what size spare are you gonna have up there? i can throw a stock dueler up there and snap a photo this afternoon if that would be helpful

[nfpgasmask]

Thanks man!

Bart

its identical in size to the loadwarrior without the extension... to give you a size reference when i went camping i had those folding chairs laying door to door in there, i think 6 would lay across the bottom

now that im thinkin about it i need to rotate my tires anyway, what size spare are you gonna have up there? i can throw a stock dueler up there and snap a photo this afternoon if that would be helpful

[etlsport]

okay, got the stock tire up there.. the tires only have about 5k miles on them, maybe even less so thats as big as its gonna get (245/60/18) the tire fit no problem, also have a 5 gal gas container up there with it, fit was kind of snug, you could definately fit 2, maybe 3 up there with the tire, if your tire diameter is any bigger you might have to be careful about the size of the gas cans you use, depending how you mount it you could even probably use your spare tire to hold more gas cans (if you have your rim facing downwards and your mount doesnt stick up too far)



i did notice that i had to maneuver the tire around the bolts for the basket mounts, my crossbars are smaller than the stock ones though so yours probably wont stick up as far.. either way im runnin back out there now to chop the ends of the mounting bolts off since they stick up unnecessarily far... see what the VX has done to me.. it was a perfectly good basket, bolted right up with no problems.. and i had to go and modify it anyway! (debadged fairing, covered the fairing in carbon fiber, built light rack for basket, now trimming mounting bolts)


see my gallery for the full sized pics

[nfpgasmask]

Hmmmm, very nice, very nice indeed. Thanks for taking the time to take these pics. You're the man....and you know, your VX looks Moab ready, so come on out!!!

Now I am torn. I don't know what to do...I guess I will start by getting my spare and then see how things fit in the back...

thanks again,

Bart

okay, got the stock tire up there.. the tires only have about 5k miles on them, maybe even less so thats as big as its gonna get (245/60/18) the tire fit no problem, also have a 5 gal gas container up there with it, fit was kind of snug, you could definately fit 2, maybe 3 up there with the tire, if your tire diameter is any bigger you might have to be careful about the size of the gas cans you use, depending how you mount it you could even probably use your spare tire to hold more gas cans (if you have your rim facing downwards and your mount doesnt stick up too far)



i did notice that i had to maneuver the tire around the bolts for the basket mounts, my crossbars are smaller than the stock ones though so yours probably wont stick up as far.. either way im runnin back out there now to chop the ends of the mounting bolts off since they stick up unnecessarily far... see what the VX has done to me.. it was a perfectly good basket, bolted right up with no problems.. and i had to go and modify it anyway! (debadged fairing, covered the fairing in carbon fiber, built light rack for basket, now trimming mounting bolts)


see my gallery for the full sized pics

[nfpgasmask]

...I ordered my Coleman rack, thanks again for the tip.

Bart