Roof Rack Damage?

[Dash]

I'm looking to get a roof rack for my S4 and some of my friends have advised against it because they say that the clamps can damage the door jamb integrity and roof structure... Anybody here have any similar experiences?

Any roof rack owners have any suggestions? I searched and it seems that the Yakima Whispbar is the preferred, but it doesn't seem to be in production anymore. I was going to get the Yakima Baseline Towers and Jetstream bars.

Any and all opinions are appreciated.... Pics of your set up would be a cherry on top.

Thanks.

[Bordom]

Maybe if the car were made of cardboard. Find new friends

Everything graciously mispelled by Android

[SteveYem]

I'm looking to get a roof rack for my S4 and some of my friends have advised against it because they say that the clamps can damage the door jamb integrity and roof structure... Anybody here have any similar experiences?

Any roof rack owners have any suggestions? I searched and it seems that the Yakima Whispbar is the preferred, but it doesn't seem to be in production anymore. I was going to get the Yakima Baseline Towers and Jetstream bars.

Any and all opinions are appreciated.... Pics of your set up would be a cherry on top.

Thanks.

I have a set of Yakima Whispbars and the clamping brackets that hold the bases to the roof by way of the door jamb come with foam tape that covers the contacting surfaces to protect the door jamb from damage. After a few winters it finally looks like I need to replace the foam because it has squished and deformed enough to allow a few small sections of the brackets to contact the door jamb material.

About a week after I installed this system on my B8 the first time, I removed the bars to see if the rubber feet of the bases had any effect on the clear coat. Sure enough, I saw light scuff marks around the outline of the feet (which luckily polished out easily). I decided the best course was to buy some Plastidip, make some templates and spray down some protective pads on the car's paint for the feet to sit on. The B8 was black so I used flat black Plastidip and it was very unobtrusive. My current car is gray so I now use clear plastidip to do the job....it's a little more obvious but for me the benefit outweighs the aesthetic in this case.

Current car with just Whispbars:



Whispbars + Thule universal ski racks (flush-mounted):

[Black3.2]

No damage at all, i had this rack on my B8 S4 before the S6

[Dash]

Thanks guys. That's kind of what I thought. Of the two people I know that said not to do it, I really only sort of trust one of their opinions...

[DBL R]

No damage with Yakima q towers. I would suggest 3m tape under the contact areas on the surface of the roof, to cut down on micro-abrasions.

edited: autocorrect kicked in hard.

[whiped]

I have whispbars on my S4 just using the stock rubber feet and no other protection.

I take the bars off every time I wash the car and can usually see some type of buildup around the outside of the feet.

However, it washes off just fine and I have yet to notice any damage.

-----------------------------------

There are a few people selling the bars in the classified section. <$350 is a pretty good deal for the set.

[CDN BCN]

[IMG][/IMG]
i bought the Audi brand racks a couple years ago... a little costly, but no damage :). i wipe/clean the rubber that makes contact with the car each time i remove and re-install.

[Tweakophyte]

I posted about the damage the whispbars did to my car's paint a year or so ago.
The mounting brackets do damage the interior hard rubber and the little nub on the foot (that goes into the hole) has worn a hole in the door gasket.

I still have them the car, and will inspect them once I bring the car in for a detail.

I'm curious how the new Yakima system works, as I really like the through-bar look of the whispbars versus the Thule aerobars. The new Yaks look like they mount like the Thules.

[Project Quattro]

Running Whispbars on my B8.5 without any issue also. They're still in production; you can buy them from the actual Whispbar site rather than Yakima for some reason.




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[Dash]

I ended up ordering the Whisbars over the weekend. Should be here some time this week. Looking forward to getting them in and installed. Thanks for all the feedback guys.

I posted about the damage the whispbars did to my car's paint a year or so ago.
The mounting brackets do damage the interior hard rubber and the little nub on the foot (that goes into the hole) has worn a hole in the door gasket.

I still have them the car, and will inspect them once I bring the car in for a detail.

I'm curious how the new Yakima system works, as I really like the through-bar look of the whispbars versus the Thule aerobars. The new Yaks look like they mount like the Thules.

I'll post pics of the parts and install if you like.

[Tweakophyte]

I ended up ordering the Whisbars over the weekend. Should be here some time this week. Looking forward to getting them in and installed. Thanks for all the feedback guys.



I'll post pics of the parts and install if you like.

I have the whispbars... looking for pics of the new system from Yak.

[truethat72]

Running Whispbars on my B8.5 without any issue also. They're still in production; you can buy them from the actual Whispbar site rather than Yakima for some reason.




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Those wheels are wicked. Where did you get those and are they OEM?


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[Project Quattro]

Those wheels are wicked. Where did you get those and are they OEM?


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Thanks man. They're replicas of matte black OE rotor wheels off a TT-S Competition, but with a better offset. Got them from this seller, and I couldn't be happier with them.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/201401549930


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[Dash]

Got it in and got it on. Went for a ride this AM with my daughter and love to look and the way the front loader works.

[ClarkGriswold]

No damage at all, i had this rack on my B8 S4 before the S6

I'm more impressed with the bike and the Flo wheels. The owners of Flo live here in Vegas. Great guys!


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[truethat72]

Those wheels are wicked. Where did you get those and are they OEM?


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Cool, thanks. I also have a B8.5 red S4 with 19" wheels but I always thought it would look more wicked with the black optic package with black or carbon fiber side caps added.


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[Commander]

I'm more impressed with the bike and the Flo wheels. The owners of Flo live here in Vegas. Great guys!


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The Founder/CEO/Owner of Niner Bikes also lives in Vegas. You guys have a ton of cool companies out there!

[Commander]

Just to toss out another option, I put a hitch on my S4 and use a hitch rack. I have a number of reasons I prefer a hitch rack. I bought my S4 as a CPO and it even came with the roof rack but I never used it. I actually need to sell it if anyone is interested.

[kobrian85]

The only issue I've ever experienced is the scuffs from the bases to the roof surface, here's another option for protecting those painted areas:

https://www.lamin-x.com/Roof-Rack-Gu...ion-p/rr-8.htm

[Dash]

The only issue I've ever experienced is the scuffs from the bases to the roof surface, here's another option for protecting those painted areas:

https://www.lamin-x.com/Roof-Rack-Gu...ion-p/rr-8.htm

These are great. Thanks for the link.

[kobrian85]

These are great. Thanks for the link.

No sweat! The only thing about installing them, they have to be really worked into the gutter channel, I didn't get it seated well in the channel on my A3 and it got grimy and gross along the under surface of the Lamin-x. I'm not sure at this point how I'd do it differently on the S4. I don't think heat would be very good (maybe pre-heat it and get it more pliable), you'd definitely want to use soapy water like a large decal, but the Lamin-x is pretty thick material, so it's not as easy to work into cracks and crevices like you might think.

[SportVier]

The clips for the Yakima Q-Towers are only padded with some laughable little stickers and they will chew up your trim eventually. The Thule Traverse clips have a heavy rubber wrapper and are a much safer bet for the anal retentive (you know who you are...)

[VenturiRS]

I bought a Thule set, have yet to do a test fit. I'll get around to it.

[JeriQo]

took mine off yesterday... theres light scuff marks/sracthes and paint imperfection from it...damnit.

im laying down a piece of black vinyl next time i install it

[Rocksteaady]

Resurrected:

Can anyone chime in on the model numbers for the whispbar base and bar? The website says they aren’t compatible.

[blackfunk]

Resurrected:

Can anyone chime in on the model numbers for the whispbar base and bar? The website says they aren’t compatible.

S5 and K390

[brinboston]

anyone running a cargo box on sedan? if so, which model and size? there is another thread floating around but a lot of them are wagons so can't tell which would be a good fit with our shorter roofline... thanks!

[Dash]

took mine off yesterday... theres light scuff marks/sracthes and paint imperfection from it...damnit.

im laying down a piece of black vinyl next time i install it

I actually just pulled mine about a month ago. Even after having some light paint correction done by a detail shop, I do have some scuffing of the paint. Bummer, but not unexpected.