Aftermarket Crossbars / Roof Racks

TIO M said:

I like that....whatcha gonna put on it?

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I have a bike rack attachment and two rod holders. May also get a fishing kayak one of these days.

Aftermarket crossbars - Thule or Yakima?

Has anyone added aftermarket crossbars yet? I'm thinking of adding a rack in the spring. Would be used to carry bikes and possibly kayaks. Looking for pics and recommendations.

I have spent ungodly amounts of money on racks for vehicles in the past. My preference always took me to Thule over Yakima. However, I would suggest just buying the ford crossbars for aerodynamic reasons (noise). If you are set on a aftermarket, rackattack.com is a good source or REI, especially if you do it with a 20% off coupon. By the time you purchase bars and feet to connect them however you will be close to 200% the cost of the ford crossbars and your rack will sit about 2 inches higher than the stock rails.

If you are dead set on aftermarket I have the Thule feet and rocket bike racks I took off my previous car if you are interested.

I originally had a lot of yakima components from my VW GTI when i made the move to the new ex.

Swapped out the feet and such and mounted them on the explorer. After about 10k miles of messing with different sized fairings to stop the howl of the yakima bars i bought the ford ones and sold most of my yakima stuff.

Bars sat real high, about 2.5" above the rails. Wind noise was horrible, constant deep howl. I put on a yakima fairing, reduced some of the howling, but due to the moon roof, the edges of the fairing bounced on the steel roof, making a constant pinging noise. I modified the fairing, even cut one out of thicker gauge pvc and still had the issue. Due to the raised reinforcements of the roof, the feet from the fairing sit in the dwells, and the edges bounce on the peaks. Leaves a nice wear line mark in the clear coat too.

On top of all that, i lost about 3 mpg on the highway, consistently.

When i put the ford bars on, all the noise went away, mileage went back up, and i can still use my gear basket and ski rack.

A lot of the yakima stuff now comes in an "aero" model, designed specifically for factory bars.

Thank you RTX and rescue_31. I looked on-line and it does look like I should just buy the OEM crossbars and the order accessories/attachments from Yakima/Thule that fit factory crossbars.

However, if the "howl" you describe is loud enough, maybe I should go that route to drown out the windshield whistle that my dealer cannot "hear".

Jkintn, I have the OEM ford cross bars, work great and I have a Yakima bike rack that I just clamp on in the summer, no howl. The trick is to mount the rails mid way back the moon roof ( 2nd payne), hope is helps.

I'm up to the same thing. Just ordered a Yakima Megawarrior and would rather go with the factory OEM crossbars if they will work. Any suggestions on a good place to order them from? Been looking around online and haven't run across any.

essendon22 said:

I'm up to the same thing. Just ordered a Yakima Megawarrior and would rather go with the factory OEM crossbars if they will work. Any suggestions on a good place to order them from? Been looking around online and haven't run across any.

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partscheap.com has the OEM crossbars.

Thanks for the try =-) I guess I should have mentioned I'm a little older than you guys. I have an 05 Sport Trac. I can find 2nd gen bars all day long, its mine that I'm having trouble running across. Thanks though, I appreciate the reply.

essendon22 said:

Thanks for the try =-) I guess I should have mentioned I'm a little older than you guys. I have an 05 Sport Trac. I can find 2nd gen bars all day long, its mine that I'm having trouble running across. Thanks though, I appreciate the reply.

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Sorry - didn't notice you had an Adrenalin Sport Trac. My dad has a '10 Adrenalin and loves it. It's a nice looking truck and rides good.

Cargo Rack - Rola

Maybe this is a bit late, but if you are looking for a cargo carrier for your Explorer, be warned. I purchased the Rola powder coated 2 piece carrier ($200) and it looks really nice up top, but it isn't silent and it costs me about 3 miles per gallon. You can definitely hear the wind noise, too (similar to a window being about 1/4 down all the time). I only drive my 4.6L V8 about 20 miles a day, so it isn't a deal breaker for me, but if you drive a lot, be prepared to turn your stereo up a little and go from 18 mpg to 15 mpg!

I have a picture if someone can tell me how to post it!

Here are a couple of pics of my Rola Cargo Carrier on my 2002 Explorer (on a rainy day in Oklahoma)

From my experience, the Whispbar aero cross-bars by Yakima are the quietest.
I have had Thule/Yakima (round & square) bars and other manufacturer (Subaru/Vaolvo) "aero" cross-bars and they are all noisier than Whispbar.

Whispbars are quietest and a real quality piece. But very expensive!

I sold my Subaru Whispbars and have the Whispbar cross-bars to fit my '14 Explorer Sport in my shop and ready to go upon delivery.
http://www.whispbar.com/product/rail-bar/


As for cargo boxes, they all affect fuel mileage... I have had a Thule Boxster (love it!) for 4+ yrs and had a Thule Spirit for several years before this.
When either mounted on my Volvo V70R it had a very limited effect on mileage and extra noise was reasonable. Roofline was long and Boxster could be adjusted to max rear (hatch interference is the limit) so front tip of box did not overhang top edge of windshield.

Same box on my Subaru STi was just the opposite... Shorter roof line meant 8" to 10" overhang on the top of windshield and brutal effect on gas mileage - added +2.5L/100kms (sorry, not going to convert that for you...). the faster you went, the worse the mileage got...

the biggest downside to roof boxes is the way that they seem to catch stones/rocks that would normally just go over the car! Nothing like the sound of a thrown road stone ricocheting along between your roof and roofbox!

I have not had any issues with a cargo box on top of my Explorer. I have a Yakima Skybox 16 that fits perfectly on the roof crossbars. In fact, the flat and wide shape of the Ford crossbars seems to fit the Skybox mounting clamps very well. I have not detected any additional noise, nor has the box suffered from bouncing. I have loaded the Skybox fully and the crossbars have not distorted in any way. Also, the lower height of the Ford crossbars helps keep the Skybox lower.

The attached picture is of a move from Tennessee to San Diego, CA during the latter part of December in 2011. I also had a small trailer attached.

Great looking Explorer scotted73.

Peter

Factory vs Aftermarket Cross bars

I have been searching around on here trying to decide which cross bars I should go with on my new sport. I have a Thule bag now that I may use for additional storage for long trips and I am considering either a hard cargo carrier or basket as other options.

Has anyone had both factory and an aftermarket option and if so could you speak on the differences? Would you recommend one over the other.

I am looking at the Yakima Whisperbar option but they are well over twice the price of the factory option.

Another question kind of on the same subject does anyone know if I get Yakima cross bars could I attack a Thule cargo carrier if I went that route?

Thanks for any advice

As posted previously, I am using Whispbar (Yakima) cross bars on my '14 EX Sport. They are stupid expensive but IME I have found them to be much quieter than stock aero-type, Thule, Yakima (both round and square bar types) on various previous vehicles.

Whispbars are a wide aero-type bar and are very likely compatible with most or all Whispbar, Yakima or Thule rack attachments or boxes. Contact a reputable supplier like Rack-Attack to confirm.

I have a Thule Boxster roof box mounted on the Whispbar cross-bars and it attaches and works just fine.

Note from pix's that when mounted on Ford EX Sport the Whispbar cross-bars are just marginally higher that the factory side rails. I do not think that you would want any cross-bars (Factory or aftermarket) to mount any lower as my roof box set up creates a very close tolerance (approx 1cm) between the bottom of the Boxster mounting clamps and the sunroof when in the open position.

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Whew! Looks like I figured this out before someone burned me on it!
I just discovered today that the glass sunroof opens up UNDERNEATH the rear glass panel, not over top. Not sure what I was thinking...

Anyway, low mounting cross-bars (like factory or Whispbar) have low clearance to the roof so you need to consider this when planning rack attachments.
IE: you would not be able to mount a ski rack that carries skis base to base/carries one ski "binding down" as these would very likely contact the roof or moonroof glass.

Some of the Thule and Yakima cross-bars sit across the tops of the factory side rails. Use these rails if your rack attachment plans call for cross-bars to be wider than factory side rail width (IE: maybe two kayaks side-by-side?) or if your attachments have some aspect (bolts/nuts/etc.) that hangs below the cross bar.

mctee said:

Whispbar

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Wow, man. I don't think I could justify ~$450 for a couple pieces of aluminum when the factory cross bars are $135, but thanks for the pics and detailed review

are stock crossbars adjustable on 2016?

thanks
mike