title says it all. what do you have?

 

And DRILL HOLES IN THE ROOF?

My MINI begs you to think about a Thule for your MINI.

 

still looking.

And Yes, after seeing a couple, I do want the OEM version, I wouuld like to drill holes. it will be a permanent addition to the car.

 

the 2002-2006 roof gutters will hold a thule rack but if you decide to put anything on those you will risk tearing them off. They are only on the car with plastic clips.

 

While I'm sure Twister is speaking from some experience, I have not had any issues with my Thule and the rain gutters having had some very large, over limit, loads on the racks and at highway speeds. The key to using the Thule system is following the guidelines for measurements. It's all about the placement of the feet on the load bars and the rest will fall into place with "finger" tight pressure. Also note that the weakest part of the rain gutters is the 1st 6 inches at the front of the MINI. Also note, never tie a load from front to back on the load bars, always tie them side to side, they are not designed for lateral load just vertical. Hope that helps.

 

Ditto

 

still looking. or I may go to the stealer

 

We have a new one for $300 plus shipping if you don't find a used one. I've only seen a few of them so they must not be too common.

Steve

 

Keep an eye on eBay, Craigslist and the like, as the OEM roof racks pop up there from time to time - still kicking myself for not bidding on a nearly-new, used one that went for $50 (+ shipping) on eBay a couple of months back, for spare parts - family member tried to pull into the garage with mine fully-loaded with bikes, so my factory rack could use some newer parts.

 

are the roof racks real noisy? wind noise?

 

the OEM ones are if you install the rubber rail groove pieces. If they are not installed, they are very quiet

 

The OEM rack (I also have OEM bike attachments installed on rack) does produce some wind noise, noticeably more than without the rack on, but not THAT much noise. From what I've read all racks will produce noise to a greater or lesser degree - just makes sense there will be extra noise generated from object sticking out, above and across the roofline. Some sort of faring will usually help.