Do Thule roof bars and bike racks weaken with age ?

Just wondering. Current set of 3 carriers (591) and wingbars have been on car for 4 years/75k miles and are used 2 or 3 times a week. I pop them off once a year and grease bolts and lube etc.

Conscious they have cables inside them and are out in all weathers. At what age do they need replaced ?

They have a 5 yr guarantee so am guessing maybe 6 or 7 yrs ?

My mates had his 591’s on the roof of his cars for getting of for 6 or more years , probably had them from when they first came out. They look and work pretty much good as new. Mine have been on the roof of my car for almost 4 years now maintenance free. Similarly the wing bars. They’re pretty bulletproof.

Sounds good. Changing car end Feb so will give them a good wash down with soapy water and regrease etc. They are manky with road grime so a clean of the bars is definitely required !

I ran a set for ages with minimal maintenance but what I would advise is checking the rubber seals beneath your actual roof rails where they mount to the roof, my Passat estates rails seals wore through and the roof mount points rotted and ended up leaking into the cabin real bad and took me ages to find the cause.

I’ve got brake cables more than 5 years old, and I still trust them not to snap on me when I brake hard. I doubt very much the ratchet cable inside a 591 will ever break. Both my 591 clamps still bind and release just as they did when new and that’s after 6 years sat on the roof-rack – never seen a drop of oil on them. As for my wingbars – I can’t imagine for a moment how they would weaken. Are you just talking about the bolts fatiguing ? If so, again, compare with a bike. Have you ever seen an M6 bolt snap on a bike ? I don’t think any of us need to worry about whether Thule use strong, long lasting bolts.

Good info, looks like I’ll get a good few more years out of them. Will take them off and attack with some hot water and Flash when changing cars next month.

if you leave any roof rack on a car for any significant length of time you can expect damage to any roof rail coating or the lacquer on your paint if they have rubber feet directly onto our roof.

as for the roof rack and bike racks themselves the plastic will be aged by the sun and will be weaker and faded. Some kind of exterior plastic protector would be good for keeping them in good condition.

^^ it’s on roof rails, and it’s a company car. Racks have been on for 4 years, used a couple of times every week. Car goes back end Feb so racks will be getting moved to a new car.

Never hear of using protectors on them though….

…not a mark on the roof rail coating, after 4 yrs of being attached. must be BMW quality 🙂

In contrast my Thule 530s are rusting away and ready to replace after nowhere near 3 years.