I configured a Yakima roof rack that would work for the MINI. Does anyone have this? Also, their website warns that the rack mounting can cause permanent damage to the weather stripping if left on there for a long time. Any thoughts on that?

Q Towers - Part#8000105 - Qty 1 - $125
Q78 Clips - Part#8000678 - Qty 2 - $24
48" CrossBar - Part#8000408 - Qty 1 - $45
Viper fork mount - Part#8002000 - Qty 1 - $125
SKS Lock Cores - 6 Pack - Part#8007206 - Qty 1 - $50

 

If Yakima is saying that their own product will/could cause damage, that's gotta tell you something. I have used Yakima for a long time on other cars, but on the MINI, I'm not so sure (at least for the roof rack). The weather striping doesn't look too sturdy, and where the rack will clamp on, how will the windo seal up properly when we close our doors?

I was at a local Criterium the other week, and another MINI S owner was there with a hatch mounted rack, I think it was made by Graber, or maybe Thule (check them out as well as Saris) and it looked nice. It was sturdy as well, the only problem was when it's on, you don't have access to the back of the car. There were minimum contact points on the paint as well, 2 on the bottom of the rack that touched the bumper, two contact points that touched the top of the rear window, and of course the clips that held it in place.

Not sure if this will help or discourage you, but I'm a little concerned with roof racks and how secure it will be, as well as the windows sealing properly. Anyone have a Yakima or other after market roof rack? Your help would be appreciated.

Craig

 

Thanks!! I think after looking into all these roof racks I'm gonna go with a trunk mounted one. I was very concerned about fit, and damage to the weather stripping so I've been researching carefully before selecting a rack.

Even my service advisor was iffy about the OEM roof rack, besides that it costs an arm and a leg in labor.

 

Sam

I have the Yak. rack on my MCS right now and it looks pretty sharp. However, i have not tried to throw a bike up there yet, i mainly use it for surfboards, and have had no problems with damaging the plastic rain gutters. Just make sure you don't over tighten the clips. they seem to be sturdy enough for bicyles and i am planning on throwing my laser (somewhere around 80 lb.) up there when the sailing season starts. Furthurmore, I would be pretty hesitant to go cutting holes in the roof of my brand new MCS. So my advice is go for the Yak. racks. I think you will be pretty happy with them.

Cheers!!!
Christian

Make sure you get the wind screen too.... mine don't whistle at all with it, and it makes them look 10 times better.

 

sorry for the double post

If you arn't worried about someone stealing your racks you don't need the lock cores. The towers come with standard non-keyed cores.

 

hey merlin,
thanks for posting the details about the Yak roof rack. That was very helpful.

I ended up going with a Yak trunk mounted rack. I figured I didn't wanna keep the rack on the car all the time, and was pretty pleased with how that rack fit on the car. I could actually still open the trunk with it on. I will post pictures soon.

 

Check otu these racks wooden slate racks look sharp, I'v oen ona beetle adn teh eyc place is makinga rack for the mini,, the other pip place will custom make one for you. similiar to the vw ones shown. very spiffy.. and they add a nice european look to the car.. hey where can I find hatch racks any links to them?? here are the links to wooden racks.
http://eycorack.com/products.htm
http://www.aavslc.com/PIP%20Rack%20Division%20Index.htm

 

>>Sam
>>
>>I have the Yak. rack on my MCS right now and it looks pretty sharp. However, i have not tried to throw a bike up there yet, i mainly use it for surfboards, and have had no problems with damaging the plastic rain gutters. Just make sure you don't over tighten the clips. they seem to be sturdy enough for bicyles and i am planning on throwing my laser (somewhere around 80 lb.) up there when the sailing season starts. Furthurmore, I would be pretty hesitant to go cutting holes in the roof of my brand new MCS. So my advice is go for the Yak. racks. I think you will be pretty happy with them.
>>
>>Cheers!!!
>>Christian
>>
>>Make sure you get the wind screen too.... mine don't whistle at all with it, and it makes them look 10 times better.

I'm very curious, how is the window closing/sealing issue when the rack is on? Glad to hear it's working so well for you! You are the first person who has posted saying they have it.

Craig

 

craig,

i havn't had any problems yet with water getting in or noise on the highway. I have had to keep my car outside for since i have had the racks on :???: .... there is no garrage up here at school. They have been on for about 4 weeks now.

hope that helps..
Christian

 

That helps a lot! Thank you very much. I'm still a bit concerned with the hatch mount holding my Dual Slalom bike since it's so heavy. I'm sure there will be no problems with my road bike, or my bmx bike though. I've always had good experiences with roof racks, Yakima in particular, so your comments and experience have been great. Thanks again.



Craig

 

>. they seem to be sturdy enough for bicyles and i am planning on throwing my >laser (somewhere around 80 lb.) up there when the sailing season starts.

Christian, do you have any pics, i gotta see that!

 

I have the Yakima Q-towers with the Q78 clips and the 48" load bars. For a more custom installation, I cut down the load bars so that with the caps on they are flush with the towers. This makes for no overhang to get your head hit on.

The only fit issue I had is that there is very slight contact with the sunroof when the roof is at full cant. Otherwise, the roof retracts fine. I have had a bike on the Yakima Rack for 14 hours straight at highway speed (85+) and haven't had any problems with deformation of the plastic gutters.

Here are some pics of the rack on my MINI. I'm using the THULE velovice bike attachments as they fit both Yakima and Thule (I had a Thule rack before this). I like them a lot.












_________________
PM DiD

 

I installed the Yakima roof rack tonight. It took me forever, coz I realized that the proper measurements weren't in the Q-Clip instructions. Luckily I found them on MINI2 and didn't have to wait until tomorrow.

Gonna take it back to the shop so one of the guys can check out my install, best to have a pro look at it. I don't think I got the whole tension thing right. However, the whole thing does feel very stable.

Also have very slight contact when the sunroof is at full cant, but like DiD said, it retracts fine.

Just in case anyone is looking for these measurements. They're
M1 36 1/2". M2 6". M3 37 1/8". M4 18".

You'll know what these are when installing. They're not included in the instructions, Yakima doesn't seem to have updated them for the MINI.

 

I would like to know if there is some type of basket accessory for the Yakima or other roof rack, in which one could put a dufflebag.

Any ideas, folks?

Thanks. :smile: :smile:

 

Sure there is. I've seen a bunch of them on the road. Check out Yakima.com

I took a quick look, it's called the BastetCase

 

very helpful, thanks, sambusik! :smile: :smile:

 

I called Yakima to verify these, and M3 should actually be 37 1/4

Not much of a difference, but hey

 

Here's some pics of my install. Check out the last two pictures.





It looks like I may have too much tension in the front rod? Or is this normal?
In the first pictures, the plastic trim looks pulled up. The second picture is when I relax the clasps, the plastic falls into its normal position...

 

I didn't get that same deformation with my install.

Check this:
- When you tightened the each tower to the load bar, did you make sure that the feet were level. One very good way I have found to do this is to place both tower feet on flat concret as I tighten the tower bolt that clamps them to the load bar. This way, both feet will be aligned to each other.

FYI I don't care for air deflectors that can't be mounted so that they contact the glass of your windshield. The air deflector vibrates and if it is in contact with your paint it will leave wear marks over time. As you can see from my install, I don't have the air deflector. Try driving around without it and see if that is a tollerable level of wind noise for you.

Dave

 

Does anyone experience any additional wind noise around the side windows with the Yakima system? From the photos it seems the rack is only attached to the rain gutter. Does it also wrap around the rubber seal for the window?

Also, do you carry two Mountain bikes at the same time?

 

You can fit two bikes on the rack at the same time.

The rack does not interfer with the rubber gaskets that form the seal along the windows.

 

DiD, thanks for getting back to me on that. I'll check to see that the feet are level and reinstall the rack.

 

DiD, I took the whole thing apart and did it again slowly. Everything went on fine without deformation of the trim. Not much tension required on the Q-Towers for the the rack to be very stable.

The only thing I'm having trouble with is that I'm unable to lock any of the cores on the Q-Towers once I close them.

When there's barely any tension on the Q-Towers the cores lock fine. But I can't turn the key all the way when add any more tension (even way before it's enough tension to stablize the rack) .. weird.. any thought?


Do Yakima mounts like the Viper work on the factory roof rack?

 

Greetings: Have had this Thule Playpen on my car for a year now and no damage to any part of the car...Runs better at high speeds without the included windscreen..[img]C:Program FilesCanonZoomBrowser EXImage Library One103-0377_IMG.JPG[/img]

 

hey CaveMINI, your picture isn't working because you're trying to link to it from your PC. You need to upload it somewhere where it's accessible via the internet.

PM me if you need help