I've just got my JCW, and have a couple of bikes to transport, and was wondering if there's much of a difference with factory roof bars fitted.

There seems to be a few more using them over the pond, not such a popular thing over here.

Cheers.

 

They will have an effect on your gas mileage, but not as much as when you have the bikes up there!

 

Are you talking about the factory roof rails that run the length of the car and are bolted on, or the cross bars?
I've got the rails on one of my r55's and I love the look of them. They have no measurable impact on the fuel mileage.

 

Thanks, would run with the bars on and only install the Thule racks when I need them.


I deliberately used the word bars for this reason lol. My understanding was I couldn't retro-fit the factory rails since they don't fit if you've got the JCW rear spoiler. If that's not the case then that's
maybe an option as would be easier to pop on bars and racks etc with them - my F56 has factory rails so it's a 5 minute job.

 

I ran the cross bars with and without a Thule fairing. They seemed a little bit quieter with the fairing, but that could have been confirmation bias. That was on my previous R55 S with the roof rails.