Has anyone had problems with after market racks scratching their roofs?
I just bought the Yakima setup and have been thinking that it may cause damage not only to the roof but the soft rubber behind/below the rain gutter.

If anyone has had these problems or has a solution it would be great to hear about it.

Thanks a lot!

 

Guy in my club has an 03' MCS and had a aftermarket rack...it dented the roof top near the gutters.....not sure if it was a Yakima but these all pretty much have the same design.

 

some do and some don't, it depends how you tighten them, etc.

they all though will scratch the roof of your car, that can be avoided by using a piece of clear bra underneath where the legs of the rack goes

 

Just wondering if the clear bra material is basically clear vinyl?

 

What do you have r53 r56 r50? Cause if its a r56 just get the MINI one. Its easy to install and causes no damage

 

I have an R50. I have already ordered the yakima setup and just wanted to find out if there any preventive measures to take when using it. Thanks for the help.

 

yeah the clear vinyl

 

Cool just wondered cause the roof rack system between the MK1 and MK2 r53 and r56

 

I've got a Thule on my R56 and I put four Laminex "feet" under it. I don't remember the website, I'll have to look that up but I also bought headlight/fog light protectors at the same time. No scratching.

Has anyone else noticed their rack "walking" backwards? I did a 140 mile round trip a couple of weeks ago with two MTB's on the rack and it was about 2 1/2" farther back after the trip. May not have been clamped down enough?

 

It's a fine line between "oilcanning" the roof (denting through over-tightening) and having the rack walk a bit. Always good to check the rack by grabbing it and wiggling real hard, fore and aft as well as side to side.

I had a Barrecrafters rack (same general feet design as Thule and Yakima, currently marketed by Performance Bike), and it wouldn't walk, but I s-l-i-g-h-t-l-y dented the roof of a previous car tightening it too much once. I now use a hitch rack and a MiniDoMore hitch (www.minidomore.com, ask for Brent and tell him I sent you). Slightly more costly thana roof rack, but nothing touches the car. I can even carry our racing tandem on there, but it looks funny with both wheels on, sticking out a foot on each side!