Newbie looking for advice on roof racks

Hey everyone, I'm doing some research and hoping to learn all I need to know to start kayak fishing when spring starts. It seems to me that my biggest problem is hauling a kayak. Thule's website says that their roof rack systems will work on my car but I'm still a bit skeptical.

Kayak:
http://www.amazon.com/PELICAN-PREMIUM-In...epid+100x+kayak

Roof rack system:
http://www.thule.com/en-us/us/products/c...rb53-_-arb53999

http://www.thule.com/en-us/us/products/c...k-480r-_-481651

Kayak carrier:
http://www.thule.com/en-us/us/products/c...set-883-_-13706

Car:


I'm looking at a few yaks but they all share close to the same dimensions. My worry is that the slope of the roof of my car won't work well or correctly with the roof rack system, even though Thule says it will. Any and all advice and experience is welcome. All I can do at this point is learn from everyone here. Thanks in advance for your help!

Go to the REI store nearest you and look at the Thule and Yakima systems. Talk to their employees as they are very knowledgable. Look at how quickly the system installs and uninstalls. I have Yakima but they are both really good systems.

Where do you live? Mountain Sports in Arlington not only carries roof racks, but they also have experienced paddlers who use them and can answer all your questions. They will even help install them. They installed these Yakima racks on my son Dan's jeep a few weeks ago...

Damn... that is one sharp looking rig!

The front rope tie downs look like they are going to warp the hood. I would move them forward to the front hood latch and anchor them them to the lower jeep body and not the hood part.

The tie downs are not attached to the hood; they are attached to the jeep frame below the hood. When not in use the nylon tie downs are tucked into the space between the frame and the hood.

I opted for the Thule system on my accord coupe. Have absolutely no problems. Relatively easy to load by myself (with the front load bar extension). Besides the wind noises I barely know it's up there, even at 70mph. Let me know if you have any questions.

Cool. I do,the same thing on my Toyota Highlander. My nylon strap tie down point is the front fender bolt. It lines up under the opening between the fender and hood. It has held up for 11 years.

Thanks a lot everyone! Really feeling a lot better about my hopes of carrying a kayak with my sedan, especially seeing RobMoe's setup. Hope to see some of you on the water sometime soon!

While some of the "off brand" prices may be tempting, I would look to either Thule or Yakima as you will find nothing but good reviews for these. If you shop around enough, you might find sales, discontinued items or even used at good discount putting you closer to the off-brand stuff. I've been very pleased with yakima and just installed their bars on my Jeep this weekend as the factory rails were just too flexy. GL!

I have the Thule Aeroblades on my SUV and they have been absolutely stellar for carrying my 115x. I just use rack pads and load my yak top down with a bath mat. The kayak carrier is overkill in my opinion. Thule racks are worth the money though.

I went with the Thule rack and have really enjoyed it. Just added a rack to it to haul my cruiser bike as well. Mike at Mariner Sails is very experienced in the features and installation of these racks.

Mariner Sails not only carries the complete Thule line but also Malone, Yakima, and several other options. Come by and check them out.

The Thule fit kit for my car says not to go over 50mph. I don't know if that's just a suggestion or a hard and fast rule. I have rain gutters so that may be a factor. Do you know what Thule says about max speed for your kit?

If this is the actual limit for this rack, I'd steer clear of it! Who drives 50 mph? You'd get run over driving that speed on the hwy!

I don't remember reading anything about speed restrictions. I had it installed at fun and sun though so I really didn't read much of the paperwork. ALWAYS use front and rear strap downs. I also load my kayak upside down which seems to help with dynamics.

I've owned Thule and will never buy their products again. Rack broke and they did not stand behind their product. Yak did a nice flip down the highway at normal Texas driving speed..lol... over 50mph that's for sure.

Go with Yakima.

If you are that worried about it you might see if having a trailer hitch kit installed (yes they make them for cars) and finding a cheap trailer would be a safer and easier option? I was going to go that route on my fusion after using a roof rack for about a year or so. It gets tough loading a kayak on and off your roof especially at the end of a long day when you are nice and wore out. My solution was I gave my wife my Fusion and bought a Ranger so I could just toss my kayak in the bed of the truck and be done with it lol