Roof bars on VW Golf hatchback?

I currently have a Golf estate, and I enjoy having my bike on the roof bars, after years of using tow bar mounted bike racks. If I change to a Golf hatchback, then obviously I won’t have roof rails to attach my roof bars to. Do any of you folks fit roof bars to your Golf,  or any other hatch backs? Is it a poor solution, or does it work perfectly well? I’ve heard horror stories of leaks caused by the roof bar mounts forcing the door seals open – is that rubbish?

Used them on my old Golf for about 8 years and the footpads took the paint off when px’d it ?, otherwise they were fine.

I used them on my golf hatch for about 5 years, on and off, not regular at all but would sometimes leave them on for a few weeks. Never had any issues, worked fine. Have the same on my Mazda 6 saloon, likewise, no issues. I did buy some cheaper ones initially (not cheap, just not Thule) that tightened in a weird way and did some minor damage, they got replaced for free with Thule which have been fine.

Had them on and off my Golf mk7 for the seven years I owned it without issue ( and they’re for sale !!! )

So I’ve 3 responses; one with paint damage and one with minor damage (dents?). So 2 out of 3 users had some damage. Uh oh. With my estate I just leave the roof bars on permanently. But I gather from you guys that you remove them when not using them, not sure if I could be bothered with that.

thanks so much for the advice. Any photos?

I had so atera bars on a VW polo and the bars were great but I did experience some leaking. But on my current car they are totally fine! So it seems a bit random and seems to depend on where the seal sits in relation to the clamp

As far as the atera bars go they are top quality, I would recommend them. I have the aero models, very secure and easy to fit

I’ve never experienced any damage, I can’t really see how that would happen with min. I don’t leave the bars on though, take them off when done.

Personally I would take a car with roof rails any day though.

@johnhe – damage wasn’t on the golf, and it wasn’t with Thule bars. The ones I had that caused a problem had a weird securing mechanism that seemed to rely on getting the thing FT which just wasn’t possible. And yes, *very* slight dents. If you get the Thule ones that have the clamping feet, you won’t have any issue (I didn’t on the golf, and I haven’t since with the Mazda).

Had roof bars that were used on and off for the seven years my missus had a polo. No damage, no problems. VW own brand if i remember correctly.

a lot of hatchbacks have mounting points to properly get racks on – they bolt in near the rain gutters and are just as good as an estate.

some cars don’t have this available, so mount by clamping the roof curve, this doesn’t work quite as well. in my experianece the OEM roofbars (often cheap on ebay) work best, followed by thule, and everything else should be avoided if you’re particular about your car

seasuckers are another option if you don’t have lots of bikes or change cars often

What about an Audi A3 with roof rails?

There are dimples in the door frame to make location of the feet easier iirc. If you have Thule now then you will need a full new set of bars (not just a foot pack) as the estate width bars are not as wide as the hatch version (unless you put the longer ones on for some reason). Found this out the hard way.

I’ve heard horror stories of leaks caused by the roof bar mounts forcing the door seals open – is that rubbish?

I had some thule roof bars (almost) permanently on a golf derived car (Bora) for more than 5 years, door seals didn’t leak and weren’t damaged.
No marks or damage to the paint. (Car was mostly parked undercover, so no tree sap/birdshit/sun on the pads!)

The Thule roof bars on my MK5 Golf were fine.  Easy to get on and off, no damage, no leaks.  They came with some lengths of rubber pipe that pushed into the door seals, maybe to give them a bit of extra shape around the clamps.

I wonder if it’s worth putting a protective film under the mounting foot?

I had roof bars on my old Seat Ibiza which were the ones that clamped around the roofline & into an indent on the door frame on the front & clamped into a particular position towards the rear indicated by some marking on the rear window (this was a 3-door).

I didn’t leave them on permanently, but used them for 9 years. They came with the car, as they were specific to the Ibiza (so no good for the owner to keep when he changed cars) and the previous owner had bought them for a roof box.

No idea what brand they were; they were Seat branded & used a crude torque spanner to tighten in place.

I’ve fitted roof bars to my Skoda Octavia hatch (23 plate). It works fine, no leaks from where they go under the outer seal of the doors. I tend to leave them on just because I’m normally taking bikes somewhere at least once a week.

I have put some paint protection film under the feet to try and mitigate any marks/scratches etc.

Used whispbars on my Mk7. They were left on the car for a few years, car left outside. The seals have leaked a bit and continue to. This ‘may’ simply be because the seals have stiffened up a bit. I keep meaning to put something on them to see if I can restore some flex. The pads that go under the feet of the bars degraded in the UV (I presume) and I have needed to replace those for about 4 years. Clearly I haven’t been arsed and on the occasional ride I can’t get to from home the bike just gets lobbed in the back.

Golf 6 here – no issues in 14 years.

Protective film would be a sensible precaution, you would be fine then.

We got protective film with the Thule bars. We also got some rubber tubes you shove in the seals at the foot connection that closes the gap. So no leaks

But do take them on and off because they whistle and eat fuel (non aero type)

Had them one my previous Golfs with no issues.

Current car (I-Pace) doesn’t have roof rails, so bars (Thule) clamp into the door opening with specific locating points. No issues with leaks or damage to the paint, even with four bikes and an awning on top.

Thanks everyone. This is very useful.

Oh – and I found they creak when you’ve got a bike on there.

I have Cruz bars for my C-max. There’s a locating pin that goes in the door aperture, which is much less convenient than the bolt holes on the roof of my old car.

They’re good value and very solid, but a total PITA to fit and remove. They do make additional noise and increase fuel consumption so I prefer to remove them unless in very frequent use.

I used Thule roof bars on my Mk7.5 Golf.   Had no issues –  but I didn’t leave them on for extended periods.  I used transparent  3m tape under the clamps.

I wonder if it’s worth putting a protective film under the mounting foot?

I had Thule bars on a mk6 Golf. The Foot Pack (also Thule) I bought came with pieces of adhesive film for this very reason. No problems, no leakage.

Seasucker? A mate used one on his very flash M3 and they were rock solid with no issues.