MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Unfortunately, my Thule roof bars are too short for my new car. Options for a new set are aftermarket Thule, at £180ish, Atera at £125ish, or Toyota supplied ones at £150. I'm not sure the Ateras lock, the others do. They'll need to work with my Thule roofbox and Atera bike holder.
Which would you get?
Whispbars look good.
Any official/Thule bars on ebay? I just picked up a brand new set of bars for my car - I paid £75 while the official price is £250.
Check the load capacity of the bars. My official ones take 100kg while Whispbars take 75kg .... might be important to you.
Yeah the Whispbars do look good, but when we use the roofbox we stick five Thule holdalls in it full of stuff, so I think I'd prefer to err on the side of caution on the weight limit.
ateras here,7 years living on my car all day every day, taking all kinds of abuse including 25kg ladders and a bike at the same time,mine don't lock but have a very fiddly star nut(tool supplied) instead of an allen key fitting under the housing caps ,your average tealeaf is not going to have the right tool with him so ive never been worried about having my bars and kit nicked..
Had atera on two cars no (audi A4 avant with roof rails and corsa) both sets have been amazing quality, they didnt have locks i.e. with a key but you required a special splined tool to remove (not sure if the tools is individual to the bars) but mine never vanished and the car was left all over the place and the bars never removed (on the audi) the corsa ones have locks and also require tools to fit to the roof so pretty hard to remove
Ok, Atera sounds good then. Cheapest of the 3 options too.
Perversely, it might not cost me any more to replace the whole setup as I am having to do. If my old Thule Aero bars had been long enough, I would still need a different footpack and adapter kit costing £112. As it is, the new Atera setup will cost me £124. All based on roofbox.co.uk prices. So if I can sell my Aero bars on eBay for £12 or more I'm better off!
what car are they going on thegreatape??
The ones from my A4 are to fit standard rails so if its a new new car i doubt they are any good but if its an estate with roof rails mine may be your answer.........
Of interest is it the aluminium ones you are looking at? they are the ones i have had and they are top quality, think they make OEM bars for some manufacturers....
It's on a Toyota Verso, but it doesn't have rails so its the type that fit round the roof/door interface. Aesthetically undesirable, but hey ho 🙂
It's the Atera aluminium ones I've gone for. Substantially less than Thule but by all accounts at least as good quality. At least they'll match the new Atera tow bar bike rack and roof bike carrier. Gulp 😐
atera bars are spot on mate, both sets of mine have been perfect so no complaints here
That's good to hear, cheers!