Car racks

[Black knight]

Can anyone give advice on car racks?

Recently bought a 2003 Mondeo hatchback.

It does have some plastic strips on the roof which I guess you remove to fit roof bars.

I'll either be carrying 2 adult road bikes or 3 kids bikes.


Probably only get used once or twice a year so don't want to throw silly money at it. Also likely to change car within a year.

Thanks.

 

[Nebulous]

It will cost more than you expect! Thule appear to have most of the market.

You need roofbars either square or aero ones (they come in different lengths) and a fitting kit which gives you the feet that plug into your rail where the plastic cover is. That gives you a basic roofrack that you can add things to.

You then need a bike carrier for each bike.

You can often get bars and feet on ebay - just make sure you get the right ones. Bike carriers are a bit more difficult to source second hand.

 

[Black knight]

What about the ones that go on the back? Surely thats a better buy as it seems to be a one piece and possibly transferable?

 

[al-fresco]

Roof racks are about the most expensive option in terms of initial outlay but once they're on you can forget about them and they won't interfere with normal use of the car. You can move the bars to another car though you'll probably have to change the 'feet' (not expensive) if the car is radically different you may need different length bars. I like roof racks because you can still use your boot/hatch, there's no worries with scratching, the Thule rack is absolutely secure and lockable. The other downside is that you have to remember to take you bike off before putting your car in the garage!

Rear racks are cheaper but have to be removed to access the boot/hatch. They can scratch your paintwork and with some cars the fixing points may fall on glass or plastic components. If you already have a tow-bar then a rack that mounts on that might be a good compromise.

After much thought I went for a roof rack and I'm very happy with the choice.

 

[mrmacmusic]

If you're only going to use it a couple of times a year, it might sound like a good idea to go for the cheaper, starp-on, hung-off-your-rear-door option. I used to have one of those, and can still remember how uneasy I felt cruising down the motorway to Center Parcs with only one adult and one childs bike on it – even properly secured, I personally never thought it was secure enough.

I ended up getting a Thule roof bar system (for our old 2002 Audi A4) complete with a couple of cycle carriers and roofbox. All I can say is it's like night and day – you simply are completely unaware that they're on the roof, and not constantly distracted by seeing your precious MTB's flapping about on your tailgate. The roof option is solid, secure and safe IMHO.

Supposedly you can keep your bars and buy vehicle-specific feet and fitting kits when you change car, but in practice this might not always work – our A4 has since been replaced by a 2007 Golf and I've had to replace everything as the bars were too short!

 

[Black knight]

Thanks for the advice.

Might be a case of you buy cheap your buy twice.

 

[lulubel]

I used to have a rear mounted rack for my (slightly older) mondeo. It was easy enough to use, but you did have to remember to finish with the boot before you put it on the car - unless you have the back shelf out, of course, so you can access the boot from the car.

When I bought it, it didn't have the correct fixings for my glass edged rear window, so I used some heavy rubber tubing to adapt it. The straps slipped when I put them in the positions recommended by the manufacturer, so I experimented a bit, and finally just put them in the positions they ended up in after they slipped, and drove from the New Forest to Penzance without having to tighten the straps.

When I replaced the car, I had a towbar put on the new car because the old rack wouldn't fit (cost about £250), and bought a towbar mounted rack, which is 100 times better. I can still see the bikes when I look in the mirror, and the rack and bikes are so secure you can easily forget they're there.