Hi--I've got a 2011 Countryman with the MINI roof crossbars. The car is going back to the dealer this week as my 4 year lease is over. Do you know if these crossbars which directly fit to the roof rails on the countryman accept Thule or Yakima fit kits for other cars with a naked roof?

In other words, who makes the MINI crossbars and can they somehow be fitted to other non-MINI/BMW cars?

thanks for any advice--

 

Of course any accessories you purchased are not included with the lease and are yours to keep. Try posting on forum to sell.

Those Mini crossbars will only fit Mini--I assume they will only fit the CM or PM. I also ended up purchasing a set of Mini crossbars as Yakima did not manufacturer rail grabs to attach to my existing sets of Yakima bars. I did find the Thule has rail attachments to make Thule bars work with the Mini CM. But a new Thule complete set was more expensive than the Mini bars. Also my Yakima accessories (other than a luggage box) do not work with Thule nor Mini bars.

It reminds be of a previous BMW 3 series crossbars I purchased that would not work with any other BMW model and sat in my basement for years until I ended up donating them to goodwill.

 

I believe they fit Thule. I looked at the kayak carriers once and the MINI ones were the EXACT same carrier as made by Thule. I wouldn't be surprised if Thule makes the OEM stuff. The MINI crossbars are slightly different from the very similar Thule ones, but it really looks like the slot that accepts the accessories is the same. I don't know about the mounts and getting them to fit another car. Never had to look at that. The crossbars themselves are a little different shape/cross-section than the Thule, so I wouldn't be shocked to find that you can't simply change the mounting pylons and reuse the bars. Interesting question.

 

I'm pretty certain that the Mini factory crossbars are identical to the BMW X1 crossbars, maybe more models.

My factory crossbars are BMW branded.

 

Thanks for the replies. It looks like Audi will cut me a break on their OEM crossbars and attachments along with a tire/rim warranty I'll likely get for the term of my lease. The S4 has 19" rims, low-profile tires and is drive around potholes that are deep enough to allow me to fall into the earth's mantle, I figure that's one dealer add-on that might be worth it, especially since snapping two tires in a GTI years ago over these same roads...

I think I'll send the crossbars back to MINI with the car itself as I don't know if I want to deal with shipping them.