My F54 is on the way (woot!) and I'm now looking at roof racks. I ordered it with the flush rails. By all accounts the stock roof rack is noisy, so I'd rather avoid that.

On the car this F54 will replace, I have a Whisp-bar system which I was hoping to re-use, but the whole thing is a bit odd.... it was purchased when Whisp-bar was still a separate company. Whisp-bar then got bought out by Yakima, who essentially did it for the patent rights and promptly launched their own version of a low profile bar. They also kept Whisp-bar going as a separate entity, so you can still buy a "Whisp-bar by Yakima" system, but they don't make one for the F54.

Alternatively, you can buy Yakima's own teardrop profile system which is compatible with the Mini integrated roof rails. Unfortunately, the mounting systems (towers) for the Yakima system are not compatible with the old Whisp-bar bars. This unfortunately prevents me from re-using the old bars and simply buying new towers. BUT.... what I do see on whispbar.com is they offer mounts compatible with a "flush rails" system on the 2017 3dr or 5dr hartop mini. They also offer mounts compatible with the 2016 countryman.

QUESTION... is this the same rail system? Are the rails on a 2017 Mini hardtop or a 2016 Countryman the same as the rails I'll be getting on my F54 clubman? If so, I can buy these mounts and re-use my old whisp-bar bars (the older car is wider, so I would just cut them to fit the narrower F54). I tried asking a dealer about this but of course they just responded that I should buy the OEM rack.

Also, if this approach fails, does anyone have Yakima's low-profile bars (they're called "Jetstream") and tower mounts ("Ridgeline") on a new F54? Any comments or preferences versus other systems? I haven't looked at Thule, but mainly that's because the bike carriers and roofbox I have are Yakima, and I don't want to have to repurchase those too.

 

I haven't measured, but the F56 Hardtop and the R60 Countryman are both narrower than the Clubman overall.

 

I don't know about the Whispbars.

But I just switched from a 2013 R60 to a 2016 F54. And the OEM roof bars from my Countryman fit perfectly on my new Clubman

 

Good to know! Thanks!

 

Ah nice find. Now we know they must have shared the rail design.

The F54 roof rack is here : https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...s-and-etc.html

 

Thanks! This is a big help, because WhispBar does sell a set of bars/towers for the R60 Countryman. So, in theory I could buy those towers alone and couple them to my old WhispBar bars from the previous car, and I'm all set. Need to check the exact width but that shouldn't be an issue (old car was much bigger so can cut the bars to size).

 

Ack! Spoke too soon....
Turns out, the WhispBars I have are "railbars" (designed to fit on cars with raised rails). I thought I could just re-use those bars with a flush-mounting tower kit from WhispBar, but no. WhispBar will ONLY sell the complete set of towers and bars as one. They won't sell the towers alone. Apparently the cross section of the bars is ever so slightly different, so the 2 mounting foot systems are not compatible. So I guess the lesson here is don't buy whispbar if you ever want to use the rack on a different car again. They just lost a customer on that basis alone (the "customer service" rep's response to my indignation at this situation was to suggest that I sell the old bars - yeah because there's a roaring second hand market for really vehicle specific accessories - not!)