OEM Cross Bars vs. Thule/Yakima Roof Rack

Hello. This is my first post on the forum, but I have been lurking for awhile.

I wanted to pick up either the OEM cross bars or a thule/yakima roof rack. What are the advantages and disadvantages of both items?

The only things I know of is the OEM bars could only hold up a very limited amount of weight, and there would be an increase in wind noise with the thule/yakima rack.

I have a 2004 FX so I'm not sure how the roof rack install will differ from an '09 but I can't imagine it would be all that different. There is going to be an increase in wind noise no matter what system you pick but if you install a fairing it won't be that bad at all. As for the load rating, that is determined by the side rails, not the cross bars, so no matter what system you get you'll still have the same load rating.

Personally, I have a full Thule rack system on my FX and I love it. Looks good, easy to install and it wasn't that expensive.

One thing to note with the Thule however. If you get the fairing do not get the one they recommend in the catalog, it is too short. Also, the fairing will sit on top if your sunroof. It doesn't prevent you from opening or closing it but it does block it partially. From what I've seen, any rack fairing is going to sit on the sunroof because of the way the FX is designed, but I could be wrong. Let me know if you need more info. I can take some close ups of my rack this weekend so you can see it in more detail.

Thanks for the info! The Thule 450R Rapid Crossroad was what I was looking at.

It's a bit cheaper in price compared to getting the OEM cross bars, but it's not as flush looking. Besides looks aside, I want something durable for holding snowboards in the winter time and occasionally 2 bikes.

Ya, if you could snap some shots of your roof rack and fairing, that would be very helpful!

pixel8 said:

I have a 2004 FX so I'm not sure how the roof rack install will differ from an '09 but I can't imagine it would be all that different. There is going to be an increase in wind noise no matter what system you pick but if you install a fairing it won't be that bad at all. As for the load rating, that is determined by the side rails, not the cross bars, so no matter what system you get you'll still have the same load rating.

Personally, I have a full Thule rack system on my FX and I love it. Looks good, easy to install and it wasn't that expensive.

One thing to note with the Thule however. If you get the fairing do not get the one they recommend in the catalog, it is too short. Also, the fairing will sit on top if your sunroof. It doesn't prevent you from opening or closing it but it does block it partially. From what I've seen, any rack fairing is going to sit on the sunroof because of the way the FX is designed, but I could be wrong. Let me know if you need more info. I can take some close ups of my rack this weekend so you can see it in more detail.

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I have the first gen so I don't know if it'll help much but I see that you wanted some pics from "pixel8". I felt like the more pictures you see = the better so I'm posting some of my pics too.

I use Thule 450 Crossroad Railing Foot Pack + Load Bars. I used to have them on my Pilot so the load bars are a bit long on the FX but they still do the job. I use the rack for V2 Fork Mount racks (I see they no longer sell it but it looks a lot like 516 Prologue) and INNO snowboard/ski rack.

And I guess whether the fairing sticks out or not depends on how far you push back the front load bar (or are we supposed to push it all the way to the front for maximum stability?). I didn't want to have the fairing stick out so I just pushed the front load bar farther back (you can see it in the second picture).

P.S. If I could decide between the OEM and Thule, I would go with the OEM crossbars. IMO, they look more stylish and factory looking. But I see that you're going for the lower profile 450R so it might look stylish. I guess it all comes down to personal preference Good luck on your rack!

Pics:

It's pouring rain here so I can't take any pix yet. Hopefully the weather will clear and I can get some shots. As for the fairing, if I push my front crossbar back far enough so the fairing doesn't sit on the sunroof I can't open the rear hatch without it hitting the bike tray. Do you have that problem as well?

does either of the system offer easy on easy off? my experience with oem crossbar is that once its on its very hard if not impossible for me to take off, and I still have the purchase a clip to hold the snowboards, is this the case with the thule/yakima roof rack?

My Thule would come off easily in about 20 minutes with just an allen wrench. It's a pretty simple install.

threezero said:

does either of the system offer easy on easy off?

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It's not hard but it's not easy either because you have to tighten/untighten all four "feet" individually. The outer part of the foot comes out and it has a hex key attached to it. You just use that to tighten/untighten the foot which tightens/releases the foot from the roof rack. It's not "very hard if not impossible" for sure but I wouldn't want to do it everyday. I do take it off and leave it at home when I don't need it as it only adds weight to the car and makes wind noise. I put it back on when I need to carry my bike or snowboard.

BTW mine is the Thule 450 Railing Foot

pixel8 said:

Do you have that problem as well?

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Now that I think about it my snowboard did barely miss the tailgate windshield when opened. But again my snowboard is long and I didn't have any problem putting on my friends' skis. I haven't tried putting on the bike rack yet so I don't know about that.

eJay said:

It's not hard but it's not easy either because you have to tighten/untighten all four "feet" individually.

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Good point. I forgot to take that into consideration. The rack is really easy to take off, just unlock your feet (if you use the lock cores), loosen the whole thing up and pull it off. Putting it back on will more time however since you have to be careful to tighten each of the feet down equally so the rack centers itself properly.

After looking at your rack I now realize why they specify such a short fairing, I guess the intention is to mount the rack far enough back that the fairing sits in between the side rails. Since my rack is set farther forward the shorter fairing looked silly so I went for a longer one that goes all the way to the edge and covers the side rails. This will all make more sense if it ever stops raining here and I can get some pictures of my rack.