I was wondering if anyone has pictures of either setup. I have an 08 MCS was wondering if it was easy to install.

Thanks
Jeff

 

Are you looking for a hitch or rooftop mount?

 

i have a Yakima roof rack, on a R56. It leaves some marks on the back roof edging. The Edging is a felty material and the pressure from the clamps make it non fuzzy after. but i got over it you have to look for the marks.

The Yakima is a one person deal but is not that simple to setup. Once you have it setup for the MINI is it easy to do.

 

I've got the Yakima High Roller. So far it's been great. Looks good and fits any size tire you can imagine.

 

where is rack mounted at? does it go on where the perforated marks for the oem roof rack? can you take close up shot where the mount is at?

thanks
jeff

 

i am looking for the roof rack. i wanted to see where it is mounted on. i know for the oem roof rack you had to cut the perforated black trim to slide it in. was wondering if the yakima or thule uses the same mounting location.

thanks
jeff

 

I've got the OEM MINI rack which is much heavier duty than either after market brand, and the Yakima is mounted to it with 'might mounts'. It takes only a few minutes to attach the yakima to the roof rack and tying the bike down is real fast.

 

Any suggestions on which to go with if we want kayaks, skis, surfboards and bikes?

Are most racks universal in that you can pretty much attach all the addons to most racks?

 

The MINI roof rack is definitively the way to go. I have Yakima crossbars and they clamp over the black trim and are dangerously close to the windows. If your battery is dead or you open the door too fast, the glass hits the clamp. Not only does it leave scuff marks on the roof where the pads sit and on the trim where the clamps grip, but it has pulled the trim up a little in the front where the clamps sit. If you have the sun roof you can only tilt the glass panels slightly before they hit the bars or pads. Choochikes solution looks like the best of all worlds with the Yakima bike trays. The only good thing about the Yakima cross bars is that I now just take them off when I'm not transporting my bike so I don't have to deal with wind noise and lower average MPG.

I'm not sure you could or should put a Kayak on the MINI. The roof doesn't have a very high weight capacity

 

I have the MINI cross bars, and love them. Alot of people say they are hard to get on and off, but they are easy after you have done it once. Not only that, but you don't have the rack actually touching the body or rain rails. As for a Kayak mount I remember seeing on MINIUSA.COM under accessories for your MINI something about a Kayak carrier. As for a bike rack I have one made by INNO http://www.racknroad.com/rv-inno-car...ck-ina381.html and it works fine with the stock cross bars, all I needed was 2 longer bolts and it fits perfectly.

 

For kayak racks I have the Thule 835PRO folding racks. They can be folded down when a kayak is not on them. They are mounted to the R56/R55 OEM roof racks but beware you must order an extra mounting kit as the bolts supplied are not along enough for the OEM cross bars.

This post has pictures of them in use.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...&postcount=310

Being able to fold them is a great feature. Yakima also makes a folding style now as well

 

so you can take off the MINI cross bars... awesome! Anyone want to buy my Yakima cross bars???

The guys at rack 'n road got all bug eyed when I asked about carrying a kayak so what you are saying is good news! Maybe the MINI rack has a higher weight capacity due to the way it mounts.

 

Not sure what your Yakima's will hold but the Mini rack are rated at 175 lbs. even my yaks on my truck will not hold that much.

 

Yak racks are much better quality than Thule IMHO. Who makes the factory rack?

 

I believe Thule makes the factory rack.

 

The OEM cross bars are made by Thule and are much heavyer duty than any of the Yakima or Standard Thule cross bars. Thule does now make this same crossbar for sale for other cars and it increases the standard bar capacity by about 25-30%. All Yakima or Thule rack accessories can be mounted to the OEM rack but in some cases need some longer bolts than what come with the accessory.

In most cases I have found that the build quality and design of the Yakima accessories is better than the Thule but in many cases they are also much heavier in weight and much bulkier in size. This is not neccessarily a bad thing but just a comment.

 

I'm looking to add crossbars for occasional (twice a year) attachment of a lightweight basket on top of my R56, and was gravitating to the OEM MINI bars because of their better load capacity ... two questions for the people who own R56 OEM bars: do you notice any impact on your mileage with the bars installed but not carrying anything, and do you notice any increase in noise?

 

Thule Sidearm. Whats nice is you can get all matching lock cores for the base rack and bike rack since the base kit is made by Thule. It is also VERY easy to mount a bike, much easier than the high roller which i cross shopped against. Also, the rack is VERY stable. The ride home from that rails is a MINI owners dream and i took the turns as if nothing was above my roof. Rock solid.

 

If anybody's open to a non-Thule, non-Yakima rack, I'm really pleased with my recently purchased Hollywood Buzz rack. I'm a big fan of the storage sack that goes between the bikes along with the non-traditional look- got a great deal on Amazon: ~$165 shipped.






Pics aren't the greatest quality as they were phone-mandated, but it gives you an idea of what the rack's got going on.

-Josh

 

Gas mileage, haven't noticed a difference. Typically I just take them off when I'm not using them but have left them on for a few weeks here and there.

Noise, with the sunroof open it is louder for sure, but not unbearable and I'm only talking about at freeway speeds.

I would not trust anything other than the OEM bars for anything with any weight to it.

Hope this helps.