Roof Bars/Roof Box Noise and Fitting

[dgmackenzie]

Hi

I have recently purchased and fitted a roof rack system to my wifes 93 sport saloon. However two problems:

1. The roof bars create noise as soon as i go above about 40mph that is quite annoying in the car!
2. The roof rack 'feet' do not seem to be as flush to the body as they should.

I bought Thule kit from roofracks.co.uk that composed bars, feet and fitting kit. the part numbers were 753/761/3065.

However I noticed another site mentioning a fixing adapter kit and I'm not sure if it is that I should have bought as well to make it follow the SAABs curves.

On the noise front I just ordered normal square bars - maybe the aeor versions would have been better for noise reduction?

Any one got similar fittings or advice around this I would be grateful to hear from you!

Thanks

David

[badger bill]

The 3065 part of your order is the fixing adapter kit. You can check compatability out here

I bought thule aero bars and fittings along with a Autoform Explorer roofbox. After I had gaffa taped up the joins, and taped up the tracks underneath the box where it fits to the bars, it was really remarkably quiet and the box was almost waterproof too. Sure a bit of wind noise, but no humming, etc. Impacted economy by 4mpg at 80+mph (in France, of course). For the versilitity that a roofbox affords they are a bargain, saves having to have a people carrier with all the chaff that you have to lug about on hols with modern kids. Not to mention that they keep their value really well if you want to sell them on on ebay or wherever.

BB

[Richard_C]

Most bars seem to have slots on the bottom to allow for different widths of car. My (non Thule) ones gave a beautifully musical tone above 50mph until I taped over the visible slots - now they are fine. I use black plastic insulating tape and re-do it every time I fit them. Work of a moment.

The remaining noise is dealt with by playing old Rolling Stones and Who CDs slightly louder than normal.

[saabnumber5]

Why buy Thule with all the different bits and pieces ? I bought genuine Saab bars from Cambridge Saab who sell on ebay. At £75 they were a bargain, and as someone else said, I will be able to sell them in the future for not a huge amount less than I paid for them. I bought the Aero bars, they come with a black rubber strip that fits in the top slot. Cut this to size and fit in the gaps, noise almost zero. The Autoform roofbox I have is superb, about 8 years old now, black so it matches the car too.

SN5

[badger bill]

Why buy Thule with all the different bits and pieces ?[/b]

I bought my kit when I had company cars so I knew that I would change my car every couple of years and it was cheaper to just buy & sell fitting packs rather than a new set of roofbars every time.

I also bought the slightly narrower roofbox and longer bars, which leaves me the option to put 2 bikes up there as well, which the OEM bar set doesn't cater for.

However, if it was going to be just for a top-box and I was sure that I would be keeping the car for a long time then I agree and think that the OEM bar set look nicer and would probably be quieter due to the car specific nature of the design, the lack of sticky out bits and fitting options, etc.

BB