The OEM rack is not wide enough. But neither Thule nor Yakima have a kit for a Clubman that does not have the factory-installed roof rails.

Does anyone out there have a rack on their Clubman that isn't the OEM rack, and fits a Clubman without the roof rails?

I've seen MINIs on the road with kayaks on top, so people must be using something. Maybe they've all got the OEM racks: I never got a close enough look. <sigh>

It's only a couple of months until I will be wanting to put my boats on the roof, and I'm starting to worry that I made a mistake going with the Clubman. Although I love every other aspect of the car so far.

Thanks,
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Darryl

 

Sorry not to answer your question, but re: Thule -- on their site they only let me select a clubman that has the "crossbars installed from the factory", as if the roof-fails alone are not enough?

 

what do you mean the OEM Base Roof Rack is not wide enough to fit the 2010.

I have the OEM racks on my clubman (08 in my case) and the OEM Base Roof Rack System is ver very easy to install and remove. see the sticky post at teh top of the proper instructions to install it.

No mistake in your purchase. It will just take purchasing the correct parts.

 

This site is def amazing with all the info. Search the treads. I've seen several threads started about non OEM roof racks. You can even use the advanced search to only search within the clubman board. Mine came with the roof rails. So I'm of no help on this one.

 

Sorry for the confusion. The OEM rack certainly fits the car: but it is not wide enough to put two kayaks on side-by-side in a hull-down configuration.

My current Yakima rack has 60" crossbars. I'd like to find a rack system to fit the Clubman which allows for bars that extend out past the edge of the car. While I might be able to purchase attachments for the OEM rack to support my kayaks on their side -- and thus get two on top the car -- I worry about crosswinds (especially when encountering large trucks on the highway).

Just trying to check all the options before going with the OEM rack...

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Darryl

 

Most of the kayaks I've seen lately were transported on their sides, would that give enough room?

 

Putting the kayaks hull down is a bad idea unless you have a VERY good cover for them. Any rain will flood them and cause a SEVERE weight problem on any car.
I always carry mine on their side with a cover and never get rain in them.

I have driven on highways with trucks and many windy mountain roads with no problem of crosswinds.

Having cross bars that extend more than a couple of inches on either side of the roof will end up in you having a minimum of bruises and possibly cuts or gashes on your head from walking into them. Also of note is where the cross bars are located for the front set is directly over the middle of the door windows. Getting out of the car will be a pain in the a$$ (oh i mean head) with a long bar sticking past the roof edge.

I have had longer bars on my BMW wagon and shortened them becuase i have accidentally walked into them a couple of times when they stuck past the edge of the roof. And that car is taller by about 3-4 inches than my MINI.

I am 5'6" and longer cross bars on my MINI would catch me in the chin and neck. not a good thing to run into with your wind pipe/throat.

Check out my gallery and you will see pictures of my car with the kayaks on it.

As for the Thule Rack that is made for the clubman, I worked with Thule on fitment in their Connecticut facility and IMHO it is not safe for the car. If you run into any object with something on the rack you risk MAJOR damage to the roof skin of the car. I have mentioned this many many times in different threads. And there is one person on this forum that knows how well the OEM rack is built as he drove his car into his garage with his bike on top and had very little damage (minor dent removeable by a PDR guy). If he had had the Thule system on his car he would have been looking at having the roof skin fixed where the rack mounts would have ripped theh roof skin open just above the rain gutter.

 

Yes, but that guy's car is an '06 with the factory bolt on rack, not the same as the later cars will have - he's a friend of mine so I know about the time he forgot he had it on his car and drove into his garage.

 

I have been using the same cockpit cover for many years and never have an issue with water in the boats: and I have been through some pretty heavy rains. (It's not so much the added weight that's the problem; it's when you stop and all that water rushes to the front of the boat and blows out the bulkheads and the hatch covers. )

Good to hear. I may have to go with the J-bars for loading the boats on their sides.

Sorry to hear about your problems. And, of course, the MINI is going to be different than my old car. But I only hit my head once or twice in something like ten years of driving with the long bars, and I'm just a shade under 6'.

Will do. Thanks.

Always a possibility, I suppose. But it isn't something I've ever come close to in the past. (Although I did drive VERY slowly into an underground parking garage in St. Johns, Newfoundland two summers ago, to make sure I was going to clear.)

I'm more concerned with the rack staying on the car in any conditions than I am about running into an overhead obstruction. Of course, a rack that stays on and doesn't damage the car would be even better. I'll continue to search for a solution, but I'll also add the OEM rack to the list. (I'd pretty much excluded it previously.)

Thanks again for your suggestions,
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Darryl

 

No the Guy I am talking about is a CLUBMAN owner received damaged when the bike came off the OEM Base Roof Rack it put a dent in the roof right near the antenna. The OEM Base Roof Rack System stayed in place just as it is supposed to.

 

Now I am not saying that a good cover will not hold out the rain but in have seen many people have crushed racks and damaged roofs from not putting a cover on or having a bad one the did not hold on in highway speed winds or came off because it had gathered rain in it over night somewhere.

Now lets see here. a gallon of water weighs 8.35 lbs and a gallon of water equals a cube of 6.136" (dim of each side of the cube). So using an average kayak of 12' long and lets asume that the cockpit length (where your feet and legs fit in) is 2 feet long and 12" high and 18" wide (smaller than most just for this calculation) then the amount of water in there will be approximately 20 gallons of water. 20 Gallons of water time 8.35 lbs is 167 lbs or more weight than any of the racks that mount on the MINI can handle now make it two kayaks and you have more than twice that weight. Know I know my kayaks will hold much more water than that as they have been filled with water by an overnight rainstorm while sitting on the ground in a campground. Total water was over 45 gallons or more than 330 lbs. I do not know of any car rack that will handle that except for maybe those that are mounted on Range Rovers, Hummers or vehicles such as that where they are made to me stood upon by peopel.

Just another note for you Yakima has not come up with a system for the 07+ MINI's because of the way the rain gutters are designed and will come off it something is attached to them. the second reason they have not done anything for the 07+ MINI is they do not want to have to make the foot like the OEM for such a small amount of sales, it is not economical. Yakima does not feel that a design similar to the current Thule design is a save one so they will not produce one (at this time at least). They are still researching a design that may or may not work but that is still many months if not years away.

Now as for Thule, as I stated above I worked with them in their Connecticut facility and the first design they tested actually would have damaged the roof skin just putting it on and tightening it up. The second design (the one currently offered) only has tabs that go into the slots where the OEM rack would normally mount. The problem with this is that the tabs have not real strong in holding to the car at this point and in tightening down the foot and tab, you are pressing the foot against the side of the dune on the clubman. Thus in tightening it up deforming the roof skin to get a good pressure to keep the foot from sliding back to front as the tab has room to slide in the OEM slot. Definitely not an ideal situation.

IMHO the BEST rack to use is the OEM Base Roof Rack. Any other rack will cause damage to the car even under normal use even with out an unwanted event.

One last note. The cross bar on the OEM Base Roof Rack is the same design as the Thule Rapid Aero Bar.

 

Now that is the kind of information I have been looking for.

I did know that the OEM rack was basically a Thule, or the same as a Thule, as far as the crossbars and accessories went. But I did not know about the details of how they attached.

Thanks very much.

Quick question though: it's hard to tell from the photos in the gallery whether that's an OEM rack where you have the two kayaks mounted. I ask because you also have some shots showing Yakima pieces...

BTW, I posted a couple of after-snowstorm photos of my HC Clubman in the gallery, just to prove that I'm not a complete idiot. I do, after all, have the same colour and model as you. (Not an "S" though.)

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Darryl

 

The Pics in my gallery of the clubman show the OEM Base Roof Rack system, with Thule Kayak Holders.

The Thule Kayak mounts i have also fold down so that when not in use they do not stick up like a "J" style kayak mount does. They were a little more expensive but well worth the extra money IMHO.

The Yakima Stuff you see in there is on my BMW and only there to show how they feet fit on the OEM Roof Rails. The rails on the BMW are the same shape as the rails on the MINI's.

 

OK. Thanks for the clarification.

I guess I'll go with the OEM rack then. I'll continue to use my Yakima saddles and hully-rollers when I just have the one boat mounted, but I'll get the J-holders for when I have two.

I never leave the racks on when I don't have a boat up there, so the extra cost of the fold-down units doesn't make any sense for me. (I don't like the looks, the noise or the extra drag that the racks cause.)

All the best,
--
Darryl

 

Understandable. My racks go on and off during the warm weather, but during the winter they stay on with a box for all my ski gear. In fact the skis actually live in the box most of the winter.

Check out this thread for much better instructions than come with the OEM Rack.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-roofrack.html

One thing I would recommend though is to go to a local vehicle graphics shop and have them put 4 small pieces of clear film just above the rack mount openings. This is eliminate the possibility of scratching the side of teh dune when you are in a rush to put the racks on. If you need more info on that let me know.

If you need more info