Cutting down roof bars?

Hi All,

Has anyone successfully cut down their roof bars and can offer some advice please?

I finally bit the bullet and bought some bars for my Model 3. There were only 2 options for the car: Tesla ones @ £450 or Yakima system @ £285. I went for the Yakima purely on cost but they differ from the Tesla ones in that they mount to the naked roof and are a ‘through’ system where the bars extend beyond the towers.

The bars are 60″ which is fine on the front but due to the tapered body shape of the car, the rear ones extend quite significantly beyond the towers. Not only do they look slightly ridiculous I’ve banged my head on them 3 times putting my daughter in her car seat once this morning and they’ve only been on since last night!

Obviously I’ll lose some load carry capacity but I only have 2 carriers for the MTB and a roofbox that I’ve never used in conjunction in the 5 years I’ve had them.

If I buy a good quality hacksaw, tape the bars, mark them up and cut them in my workbench is that likely to be the best way to do this? Any other tips so that I don’t make a reet dogs dinner of an expensive brand new set of bars?!

Thanks in advance

I had to do this on our XC70. The rear bar (off a previous vehicle) was way too wide as the roof tapers in towards the rear of the car. Mine were Thule steel bars which were fairly straightforward to cut but I seem to remember I had to do a bit of surgery on them with a thin angle grinder disc to make the end caps fit.

I have, but they were quite old Thule ones – they did ‘pass through’ the feet as you describe, so it was just a case of hacksaw, and tidy it up then replace the caps on the ends. Some newer ones have bits inside, so probably not so simple. And definitely worth trimming if they overhang too much, as you’ve found. It wasn’t a concern on the LandRover because it’s wide and tall.

Thanks Dave, good point. On closer inspection there is a little half moon cutout that the end cap tab clicks into on the bar.. I’ll lose that if I cut them down.. it’ll be tricky to drill as well.. hmmmm

Thanks pyranha. The car is relatively low so they’re at an awful height! You’ve reassured me I’m not a lunatic for wanting to take a hacksaw to a brand new roof bar system

it’ll be tricky to drill as well..

drill it before cutting, then cut through the centre of the hole.

What Phil said, take your time with a hacksaw, difficult to keep a straight cut unless you use a block.

Slightly off the topic, but have you been using the roof bars to carry bikes and if so what’s the effect on range?

I have done the opposite and added width 8)

Slightly off the topic, but have you been using the roof bars to carry bikes and if so what’s the effect on range?

Increase in fuel use about 3mpg per bike at 70, 1-2mpg at 50-60 based on an otherwise 50mpg vehicle.

I have done the opposite and added width 8)

Great for fitting lots of boats on the roof!

Done the same on more than one occasion. Cut off equal on each side extend the slot with grinder also drilled hole first to cut up to.

Thank you for all of the tips and advice all. I finally managed to get the bars mounted onto the car yesterday after cutting them. Really happy with the finish and you’d be hard pushed to notice unless you’re really looking for it. The correct hacksaw blade for the material really helped I think.

I used the bars to pickup some scaffold boards yesterday but have yet to mount/use the carriers. The Yakima rubber strips on top of the bars are quite clever in that they recess down into the bar so you can slide T-track accessories into them without cutting the rubber strip (like I had to on my old Thule wingbars). Which gives the option of quickly removing/installing the carriers to use just the bars (or if I’m going on a longer journey and worries about range).

@jsinglet I haven’t done a journey with the bike mounted yet and won’t be going any distance just yet but I’m expecting it to absolutely spank the range.. I’ll just have to keep my speed in check to manage the impact. I feel bad given how slippery Tesla have made the model 3 body shape and now I’m planning on strapping a big bike to the roof.. but sod it.. it’s got a big old battery and healthy range and if I need to go charger surfing on a longer trip then so be it! I actually don’t track energy consumption in any great detail at all but it’s all logged so no doubt I can access it and compare before the carrier to after.

Thanks again all, chopping them down was definitely the right thing to do.

@nickewen put some photos up please, I’m roof bar curious for my model 3, as you’ve said the Tesla versions are heinously expensive, interested in other options.

ta, James

@pictonrod here you go. Pics post hacksaw.. and my first run out (~7 miles to the trail centre).

They fit to the bare roof and hook under the chrome trim. I was worried at first about the frameless windows but there’s no interference at all.

Because there’s no fixed mounting points it’s a bit of a pain getting them lined up and in the right place.. e.g. the front of the front tower has to be 102mm (!) from the leading edge of the glass roof.. pretty specific! And me being a reet fanny I spent a long time trying to get them perfect!

Also getting the towers the correct width is not easy.. first time round I had too much overlap onto the glass roof and I wasn’t comfortable with it.. I’ve already smashed the rear glass once and didn’t fancy doing it again!

Which brings me onto another point.. the glass roof is a blessing and a curse. Obviously you can see the bike to check it but also means you can see how much it flexes and moves up there.

I’ve bought Thule gear for donkeys but the Yakima kit feels well made. Sliding the T track carrier onto the bars was not as easy as I was hoping per the above, and I ended up having to take the T track bolts out of the carrier altogether and slide them in individually.. not the end of the world but I’ll not be taking the carrier off again for a bit of extra range.

Hope that’s helpful.

Here it is with the original 60 inch bars pre hacksaw.. I can’t believe they spec and ship them like this! Absolutely ludicrous.. The Tesla own bars are basically like the Thule wingbar edge design I’ve had on a couple of cars which were already expensive at about £250.. the Tesla ones are another £200 on top of that. Absolute jokers