just wondering how long the ratchet straps that hold the wheels in place tend to last? My roofrack is on the car all the time and i was wondering how UV might affect them, do they eventually go brittle and snap, and is there any recommended useful life?

Dont fancy my bike falling off on the motorway one day!!

I take mine off and leave them in the glove box, only take secons to put on and having them off reduces the wind noise a little bit. Also stops them being nicked.

My plastic ratchet straps on my Thule carrier are 13 years old.

HTH

good plan, i’ll do that, especially if it reduces the wind noise. At the moment if i drive round with the windows down it sounds like there’e some little peruvian bloke sitting on the roof playing his pan pipes 🙂

Fit a Fairing to cut out wind noise.

HTH again.