Roof bars – Do I need expensive ones?

I need to get some roof bars for the car, and want to know if I need expensive ones? The Thule and Whisbar aerodynamic jobs will set me back nearly £200, and a set of Halfords system E less than £80, even less still second hand/Ebay

I know you get what you pay for, but these are not going to be permanently fitted, just used when more than one bike gets taken somewhere, a rare occurrence.

Is the extra cost justified in terms of ease of fitting and how secure they are (I mean falling off secure, not robbers secure)??

We went to roofbox.com and ended up with a Thule set of wind bars (maybe wing bars). Either way, I have them on all the time and they are silent. They weren’t until I fitted the rubber bung in the runner, and the noise was really annoying.
I couldn’t imagine taking them off and on – sounds like a bit of a faff. The ease of having them on the car for porting the bike is worth the extra expense alone.

I have had 6 sets of Thules on various cars and they really are good. The cheaper ones never gave me any confidence with my pride & joy.

The streamlined bars are quieter when not loaded.

For me who carries heavy canoes and kayaks, Thule square heavy duty are just bombproof. Mine are 12 years and three cars old.

Cheap halfords bent on first canoe load on a friends car, a cheaper alloy branded set also bent within a couple of months on another car.

We just needed different foot pack, keep an eye on Gumtree and eBay, as you can get some bargains. Also know which thule model number your car needs, and cross check via Thule site with what people list them as – they often list by car model, not Thule model number.

As Matt says…. check the load rating of the cheap bars – they are cheap for a reason (either noisy, fitting mechanism, load rating or a combination of all three).

Best bet is to get good ones off ebay.

If you want to leave them on the car then the posh ones are probably worth the extra, if you’re going to only fit them when needed go for the cheaper ones.

I’ve got the bars below, if you’ve roof rails they’re about as neat and tidy as you can get. No noise at all and not been able to measure a difference in mpg.

Have a look at Atera ones from Roofbox.co.uk supposed to be good quality at less than Thule prices. The ones I’ve seen are not the most ‘aero’ though.

Form a different perspective, I bought from roofbars.com or something and got the cheaper bars with the thule bike carriers. All seems fine, I leave them on the car all the time don’t carry heavy loads so its not a problem. Thule carriers on I’m sure the aero gain of those bars is minimal, add a couple of bikes on the top and well it will be zero.

Jamesfts what make are those bars?

They look like the Thule wingbar edge. I want a set but not sure I can justify the £200 price tag.

Hmmm…? May well try and convince myself to get the nicer ones and leave in situ. It’s a Subaru XV, so won’t look out of place. I’ll keep a close eye on Ebay/Gumtree.

Plenty of time to mull it over, planning well ahead for the summer.

Just to reinforce what has already been said – I’ve got Thule Aerobars on mine, I leave them on all the time… they are silent.

We have just installed some Thule square steel bars on the work pool car. Anything over 35mph and they whistle annoyingly. Anything over 65 and they are just ridiculous. My boss also has square bars on his beemer 5 series (otherwise fairly well insulated from sound) and they are very noisy.

If you’re going to leave them on all the time (and I do, there’s more to do in life than putting roof bars on and off each time you want to use them) then definitely go aero.

mmm think I’ve just fallen for the Whisbar marketing…

interesting, I hear a whistle when loaded with bikes on my Fabia but not with the square bars and carriers with no bikes.It has those roof rails so maybe the whistle people are hearing is the footpack or whatever its called. Or maybe I listen to music too loud!

I have a set of the Whispbar rails with fitting kit for sale.

Looking for around £100 They will fit any car with raised roof rails as I bought the wider rails so that they project past the clamps.

My new 3 series has flush rails and the above won’t fit. They were absolutely silent when on my Jeep.

The BMW ones that I have just had whistle like the dawn chorus!

What car are they for. Ive got a set of aero bars and footpack suitable for last generation megane (the one with the fat arse), which I’ve been meaning to get rid of.

I use cruz bars, not aerodynamic or anything. They only stay on for a week at a time (if holidaying in this country), they are noisier over 50 mp/h and seem perfectly secure. I find them fine but would annoy me if I left them on all the time. Personally I do not see the point in aerodynamic ones unless you plan to leave them on all the time(not in use).

I have Mont Blanc Aero style bars on mine.

I’d intended they’d come off whenever not carrying bike, but reality is different. It’s a pain finding somewhere to keep them that’s not annoying.

It’s not really an issue, as the impact unloaded is so low as to be negligible.

Even loaded, it’s a surprisingly low hit.

The only time I’ve found whistling a problem was when I’d got a bike too close to the edge of the rail as I was squeezing three on at once. Normal loading with two is near silent.

Price, yep, roof solutions ain’t cheap, but at rails, feet, adaptors and a 591 for just under £200, my setup priced well against the actual Thule bars.

Curvature – I may well be interested in those. Do you have a link to the exact one you’re selling?

Jamesfts what make are those bars?

They’re the Whispbar Railbar – they come in various lengths to fit exactly between your roof rails and no need for the extra expense of a fitting kit. They’re quite tight to the roof so need to be carful when fitting and also if you have sunroof that pops out and up they need to be fitted so that clears the bars.

Tempted to wrap mine in matt black vinyl to match my roof rails…

I’m sure the aero gain of those bars is minimal, add a couple of bikes on the top and well it will be zero.

Minimal yes but it’s more the fact that they’re absolutely silent regardless of speed, once you add bikes into the equation the shape bar is if little consequence to MPG – though with a fork mounted rack I still get no wind noise (I’ve not tried similar speeds though!)

Link to Whispbar set that i had on my Jeep.

http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php/car-specific-accessories/whispbar_120cm_through_bars_2_no_prs16/Qx%40w%2C6M4%2CME%7D%40nkCu5P5zqBAFA1W03f8ffLJuG6Q7f3%40SgY7Sc6JYrV4gfLqGCLv

I bought them because of all the different fixing kits that they did. Typically now that I have a BMW with flush rails they don’t do a kit for that car!

Years ago, I got some fairly cheap Mont Blanc square bars and some cheap (like £15 each) bike fittings from Towsure.

They only get put on when I want to use them, which is maybe half-a-dozen times a year. They’ve been to the alps, chased the Tour de France, and all round the UK. Even had 4 fatbikes on there (with a bit of extra strappage).

As they are only on when I’m carrying bikes, wind noise isnt important (the bikes make that). They’ve been fine with all the abuse they’ve had, although the fatbike twisted one of the gutters and needed an extra strap on the front wheel of one. VFM is second to none, just look cheap galvanised steel and not as easy to load as Thules, but have gone the distance. If you’ve got teh cash go for Thule or similar, if not budget works fine.

PC286388 by T*inbred[/url], on Flickr

Ahhh, right. I’ll leave it as I need another type for my car 🙁

You do know you can buy the fitting kit on it’s own?

curvature – I’ve sent you an email about the roofbars

I suppose the other options might is Faring/wind deflectors, but the coverage won’t be 100% and all you need is for the ends to poke out (especially if they are left open and it’ll probably whistle like a bastard… What about round section bars? cheap, more aero than square (less than an aerofoil profile though) and can they be used with bike racks and roof boxes? .

I’ve been looking at additional load carrying solutions for our new car lately, I’m generally not a fan of roof bars/racks/boxes, but it might actually suit our needs on the odd occasion and be cheaper than having a tow bar/lighting board fitted for two or three uses a year…

Plus no roof rails, I can’t help thinking it’s the feet at the fixing points might end up creating some of the noise issues too.

looking on roofbox:

Cruz Airo-bar setup can be done for ~£100 and it’s only ~£60 for the most basic square bar kit, I’m sure I can go even cheaper via gumtree/ebay if I shop about that’s not too bad if I don’t want to leave them fitted between uses, but then I am quite lazy… so there’s a chance that once on they’ll be left there for a month irritating me…

I Quite like the look of the Whispbar flushbar if I was leaving it on all the time, it seems quite neat but at ~£190 that starts cranking up the budget for an occasional use item…

You do know you can buy the fitting kit on it’s own?

Yep, but there’s a set of my manufacturers official bars on ebay for £95 inc delivery and they are also aero and have a 25% higher load capacity.

If we’re hawking gear, I’ve got a set of Aerobars I took off my old Mondeo. They need a good clean and probably a foot pack (unless you have a Mondeo hatchback). Would let them go for about £50.

@Cougar you know if those Modeo feet would fit an 08 C-max?

Cougar – I could be interested on the Mondeo bars too – I have a hatchback – which ones are they?

YGM cougar.

They’re sticky-outy Aerobars with the foot pack for the Mondy hatch without roof rails (the new shape, but not the new new facelift one, if you see what I mean).

I’ve no idea about a C-Max, suggest you check roofbox.co.uk for compatibility.

I’d definitely be interested then – I guess cookeaa was first though so maybe drop me an email if he doesn’t want them.

I’ve been using a set of super cheap roof bars off ebay for years, nothing wrong with them. I take them off when not using them though.

I now have a set from lidl permanently fixed to my roof box and the old set for if I need to put anything else on the roof. Not at the same time obviously!! These get used for trips to the alps/pyrenees and i’ve never had an issue with either set.

You really don’t need the expensive ones.

YGM cougar.

Our esteemed colleague asked for part numbers and pictures. Offhand I have neither of these things, can sort that tonight.

I’d definitely be interested then – I guess cookeaa was first though so maybe drop me an email if he doesn’t want them.

Are either of you local to the North West? Think I’d much rather do a deliver / collect in person, they’ll probably cost more to post than they’re worth (and you can see first hand what state they’re in before parting with readies).

A fair way from NW I’m afraid. If postage isn’t an option, don’t worry.

If you know which year the Mondeo was that’ll probably do,

looking on Thule’s site Mk3 (01-07) Mondeo’s seem to take the same foot packs as all 03-10 model C-max’s…

Edit: Afraid I’m way down south (Reading)…

From what Cougar has said, his Mondeo is the model after that – eg Mk4 – like mine.

Yeah, it was a Mk4 – was a 58-plate IIRC.

I would be interested – not too worried about cosmetic condition – want to send me pics and we can see if we can sort out a courier at a price that makes sense?