Any roofrack is going to cause some wind noise. I have found that Thule's square bars cause less inherent noise that the outright howling that Yakima's round bars do, but any attachments you put on are going to cause some turbulence too. I run my Thule without a fairing and even with bikes, the wind noise is not intrusive to me. That said, even though my sunroof will still open with the rack on, it's way too loud with the rack on at any speed over 40ish. I pretty much only open my sunroof when the rack is resting in my garage.

 

I got Monte Blanc and I love it ..... on and off the car with in 5-10 min the most. Low profile and still clear for the sunroof.

 

I love the stock one. Looks great and very useful. I have put on 100 lbs items of furniture without issue. Now used for snowboards and skis. In the spring, 2 bike racks will be installed.

I find that it whistles at around 80 mph without attachments. Thinking about getting a fairing.

The only thing I like about the other ones is the ability to get a roof rack that have longer cross bars so you could put even more up there but you only have certain weight allowance.

 

I don't get any whistle at highway speeds when traveling w/o accessories. Make sure you put in the rubber strips to plug up the slots.

 

Last weeks trip to vermont we brough home everyone else's stuff in the Mini. 4 skis, 4 sets of poles, and6 pairs of boots!

 

I love this Pic. I will send one of my wife and I going home for x-mas with the MINI stuffed. Should be pretty funny.

 

I just finished installing the OEM roof rack for my R56 Cooper S. I have to say it was one of the easiest / best roof rack installs that I've done. Once I got past "removing" the pre-scored rubber sections of the roof rack gutter, it was a breeze.

I had a hard time finding the areas to remove, but once I found them it was easier. If anyone has a hard time finding them, slide a plastic card down behind the gutter seal, between the gutter and the roof. There is a depression / slot about 2-3" wide in the locations you're looking for. That'll help narrow your search for the pre-perforated rubber.

Once I found the spots, I used a razor blade to help remove the rubber. It was easier than pulling on the rubber and expecting the "perforation" to give. Imagine a legal pad with very light perforation at the top, not completely through the paper. This is what you're looking for. It also exists at the bottom of the channel, it was easiest for me to just lightly tug on the rubber with the tweezers and then run the razor blade across the perforations.

The mechanism for attaching the rack towers was amazing. They're like little butterfly wings, that go into the slots, and clamp down on the roof supports. Once I figured out that I needed to undo the brass nut that the black wings clamped into once they were pressed into the slots, it went super easy.

After seeing how this set up puts the load on structure and not the rain gutters, I couldn't be happier. It's a fantastic system. Great Job Mini!

Now I just can't lose the kit with the torque wrench and gutter plugs.

 

I also have the OEM r56 rack. I have no wind noise up to 80mph (mini recommended top speed) or even up to about 95mph. I also have the OEM Roof box and it has no noticeable drag that I thought that I would have at highway (Autobahn in my case) speeds. Gotta love OEM Mini/BMW gear.

 

Wow.
I am officially requesting detailed instructions; this sounds amazing!

 

I installed my rack today, start to finish in 40 minutes. It came with instructions inside the hardware box. One thing to note is like sailnavy said, use a razor or maybe a nice sharp knife to aid in cutting the perforations. The way the rack attaches is uncanny. Brilliantly done and super strong, and it doesn't touch the paint!!

 

Can someone tell me how to remove the factory rack? I'm taking a 1,000 mile road trip this weekend in my 2011 MCS with factory rack, and would like to remove my bike/roof rack if at all possible.

 

Do you have the tire and basket setup yet? If so, Pics?? I wanted to do the same thing...Have only seen one setup like it online but cant recall where I found it. I think Yakima or thule has a spare tire mount that mounts onto the load warrior basket..

 

I have the Mini rack system and love it. I've used other rack systems on different vehicles, but I really like how easy it is to swap out the different accessories on the Mini. I use it for surfing, skiing and carrying extra gear. It works awesome and I personally like the way it looks. I plan to wrap the silver parts with 3M carbon vinyl to black the whole thing out since my car is basically all black. Hope this helps!