Roof racks

[Ziegelsteinfaust]

I was looking at roof racks last night when I couldn't sleep.

Most seem to be 36 or 39 inches wide. My car can hold a 50 inch before its to wide in my opinion. There's a couple out there.

Is there some advantage to the narrower versions that I am not aware of?

Like wind noise? When compared to thinner models.

I know you will loose mpg with a roof rack. Often times just as much as a small trailer due to loss of aerodynamics. So why not go big with a wider roof rack.

[Ironhorse]

What sort of roof rack are you looking at? The aerodynamic "shells" I usually see on small cross over SUVs or a plain and simple framework style? Years ago my Dad used a couple which used suction cups and cinch straps. This was on our big family cruisers, think Buicks, Chryslers and such on vacations. Would load it and then tarp and tie it down for weather protection. The newer "shells" don't need the tarps for weather. Think I would go as big as possible for capacity and not worry about the fuel mileage being effected.

Kinda like a shop or garage. Never hear of anyone saying "I built the garage to bit, got too much room"

Not much help I know but my $0.02 worth of input.

[Palf70Step]

The rooftop carriers,like above, mentioned are great for storage, but KILL you gas mileage. With different cars it was 40 to50% decrease in mpg. Windownoise always seemed to be more too. The rack I had on my toyota fj when empty had a lot of wind noise.

[kipps]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Wind noise always seemed to be more too. The rack I had on my toyota fj when empty had a lot of wind noise.

A common hack that supposedly works, is to wrap a piece of rope in a spiral around the roof-rack crossbars.

[Ziegelsteinfaust]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

What sort of roof rack are you looking at? The aerodynamic "shells" I usually see on small cross over SUVs or a plain and simple framework style? Years ago my Dad used a couple which used suction cups and cinch straps. This was on our big family cruisers, think Buicks, Chryslers and such on vacations. Would load it and then tarp and tie it down for weather protection. The newer "shells" don't need the tarps for weather. Think I would go as big as possible for capacity and not worry about the fuel mileage being effected.

Kinda like a shop or garage. Never hear of anyone saying "I built the garage to bit, got too much room"

Not much help I know but my $0.02 worth of input.

It is the framework style basket. Mine would be mounted to cross bars off the drip rails

[Ziegelsteinfaust]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

The rooftop carriers,like above, mentioned are great for storage, but KILL you gas mileage. With different cars it was 40 to50% decrease in mpg. Windownoise always seemed to be more too. The rack I had on my toyota fj when empty had a lot of wind noise.

I would like one for road trips to increase capacity, but it would have to be easily removed for storage.

I thought about using a cross bed tool box to make a small trailer out of for the same purpose. But that could be more headaches when driving.

[Palf70Step]

The sealed shells are great and I think a bit more weatherproof for what you are looking for.ONly downfall, as mentioned, on mine was how much it killed MPG. The open rack basket style to me are more capable for storage, but not as weather tight as the shells. The one I had on my old FL was great. I know it killed some MPG, but I lived in Japan at the time so speed was WAY lower (40-50 KPH normally), so it didn't seem to impact the mileage as much as the the shell at US 70 MPH speeds. Both you could feel the wind drag and the noise was much worse. Loud pipes and stereo help to muffler the wind noise though.

Another thought is if you have a receiver on the vehicle, get one of the baskets that go into it. LOts of storage area, out of the way, much less noise and MPG impact. I borrowed one from a friend (he used on a suburban) and ran it behind my car. Looks goofy, but it works.