Thule Hyper XL 612 + Aerobars / 480R pods on my RS7

[masmole]

Screw the SQ5, we'll be taking the RS7 instead for the next family road trip. It even gets better highway fuel mileage because of cylinder deactivation. And the A/S/RS7 body actually has way more flexibility for roof placement of the box than our SQ5 because even at the rearmost possible setting (as shown in pics), it still clears the hatch opening. So I can use the full range of fore-aft placement of the box to get the best weight distribution.

Got 20% off everything from an unexpected sale at REI on all Thike and Yakima products. Very happy with this setup so far. Very quiet at highway speeds and I've hardly noticed any increase in turbulent wind noise compared to when nothing on the roof was mounted. It seems the Aerobars and Thule's claim as being the most aerodynamic box available are exactly as advertised. 17 cubic ft of storage is also plenty of volume for cargo. I'd more likely reach the car's roof weight limit before running out of space in the box.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/582/21585703401_54ddf239ee_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/yTsnA2)lThule Hyper XL 612 on Thule Aerobars / 480R (https://flic.kr/p/yTsnA2) by lrzv (https://www.flickr.com/photos/9771718@N06/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/745/21389029308_80116592f7_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/yA5neo)Thule Hyper XL 612 on Thule Aerobars / 480R (https://flic.kr/p/yA5neo) by lrzv (https://www.flickr.com/photos/9771718@N06/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/595/20954111514_8a20fcaea2_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xVDijJ)Thule Hyper XL 612 on Thule Aerobars / 480R (https://flic.kr/p/xVDijJ) by lrzv (https://www.flickr.com/photos/9771718@N06/), on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5733/21576905735_aafb43ee58_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ySFhm8)Thule Hyper XL 612 on Thule Aerobars / 480R (https://flic.kr/p/ySFhm8) by lrzv (https://www.flickr.com/photos/9771718@N06/), on Flickr

[CanuckRS]

sweet.

[HeelBuff]

Try that on your 911 turbo. The versatility of the 7 is beyond reproach.

[Ynnekdude]

Looks great. I think I've seen you driving around a few times.

[JoeCaMotto]

Try that on your 911 turbo. The versatility of the 7 is beyond reproach.

+1, it looks awesome matches well[up]

[LW3]

http://nozama.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ed05fc28833011168fd93f7970c-400wi

New take on an old classic..with slightly more HP.

What tint (manufacture..VLT%) do you have?

[Brooklyn]

how do you guys use those things? do you just stuff them with clothes, gear, kit, etc? Put the stuff in suitcases and then put the suitcases in there? Genuinely curious...always wondered.

[masmole]

What tint (manufacture..VLT%) do you have?

formula one pinnacle 35... which is actually 39% VLT iirc

[masmole]

how do you guys use those things? do you just stuff them with clothes, gear, kit, etc? Put the stuff in suitcases and then put the suitcases in there? Genuinely curious...always wondered.

Well there can be many excellent uses for them... camping gear, tents, sleeping bags, beach chairs, beach umbrellas, tarps, skis, snowboards, boots, hockey sticks and other sporting equipment, and other crap you'd rather not toss inside your nice car interior, etc. For road trips, they are excellent for carrying strollers, pack-and-plays, travel bassinets, travel potty seats, shoes, bags of dirty laundry, and yes I suppose you could put suitcases in there too but that can get heavy the way most people stuff them so you'd need to be careful not to exceed the weight limit of 130lbs (total including box and rack) on the C7's roof. I may use lighter fabric duffel bags as clothing baggage that should save some weight over typical suitcases.

[Brooklyn]

Good to know - and I had no idea the weight limit was that low! I may look into one of these for when I have soccer equipment manager duties for the kid's team.

[kouzman]

Looks great! Is there a way to place the box lower on the roof?

[masmole]

Looks great! Is there a way to place the box lower on the roof?

Not with the existing thule rack. Height is not adjustable. I suppose a different brand roof rack might sit lower, but likely not by much, if any at all. I also looked at the Audi accessory rack as well as Yakima's Whispbar and they don't look much different in terms of height compared to Thule's system. I think these racks are all designed to sit at a certain height to afford enough clearance from the vehicle's roof for the various fasteners, clamps, and accessory attachments that are typically used, as well as clearance from movement and vibration of whatever load you have on top. Also I suspect they have designed the amount of clearance for optimum noise-reduction from wind turbulence... perhaps too small of a gap might have resulted in some kind of whistling or some other aerodynamic flaw.