roof racks?

Don't know. Your best bet would be to contact either Saris, or Yakima directly. One important thing to remember - you can use a 1/4-20 carriage bolt on the Saris (by design) and mount any darn thing you want. In this way, you can mount absolutely ANY Yakima or Thule product to the bars without any specialzed "snap-arounds." This was a deciding factor for me. EVERYTHING fits.

I should take a picture of this feature and put it on my rack page...

No, I have not seen the newer Thule products.

Yes, just like all rack products that I've seen.

No, the pad cannot sit flat. And neither does any other rack product that I've seen. It is a tricky spot for the pads to sit on the Prius. Of all that I've seen (Thule, Yakima, Saris) the Saris did the best job of conforming to the roof. None of them is perfect. This is the best shot of how the Saris Pads fit. http://www.darelldd.com/ev/images/prius/ra...aris_rack01.jpg The Yakima pads sit up higher on the channel on the roof. Half of the pad hangs ont into space over that channel, and the other half sits on the roof itself. I can't remember where the Thule pads fit, but I wasn't thrilled with it.

I don't even know if I have a local Saris dealer. I ordered them online blindly.

 

True! And in the Sping there is usually a 20% sale on the Yakima products... and I think the same sale in the Fall for Thule.

Hmmm. Not sure why you think this unless you're seeing different product than I am. When I ordered my "Prius" Yakima kit, the Q-towers are universal, as are the soft pads that fit to the bottom of them. There is nothing vehicle-specific about the pads from Yakima.

Sure there is! You just use a bolt... which is exactly what the official "adapters" do for you - they provide a bolt to hold onto your accessories. Sliding the bolt directly into the Saris channel is much more secure, and adapts to EVERYTHING. 1/4-20 seems to be the universal "adapter" bolt size as well.

No contrast at all, really. Except that to adapt the Yak to Thule, you often have to buy more equipment.... unlike the Saris which truly is universal with the bolt option. I'm not trying to sell the Saris. I am a LONG time Yakima fan, and this is the first time in 20 years that I've found something better than what is offered by the "big two." None of them offer a perfect solution for the Prius. The Saris is the best I've seen. Simple as that.

 

It's worth a lot to me. Thanks!

 

I took some quick pics of the Yakima setup on our Prius (not sure if these can be attached, but I'll try). The landing pad has a raised section where it sits in the channel, but 75% of the pad sits on the roof. The second picture shows three different Yakima landing pads I've had for different vehicles over the years. The left goes on the Prius, the center is from a SAAB 900 and the right was from a Buick LaSabre. They are not the same for each vehicle. On the landing pad side, I suspect Yakima has a set of different pads, and specs the closest match for a given setup. You are correct they are not perfect, but they are usually pretty close. Do the Saris fit kits come with a set of pads? Maybe they are doing the same thing.

Regarding the mounting of accessories...
I get the 1/4-20 bolt positioned going up from the Saris channel. Assuming there aren't any other points of interference, I can see how this could be easily used to attach the front of a Yakima upright bike carrier where the wing nuts sit at the top (and if you were attaching it to a Yakima/Thule system, the bolts could be positioned going up or down). It's a stroke of genius on the part of Saris to provide this channel. What I can't get is how you would attach the rear where you have a single carriage bolt which slides in the underside of the bike carrier tire channel, and you have no choice but to attach it with the bolt pointing down. I guess you could fabricate a piece of metal with 3 holes in a triangle pattern where 2 of the holes would attach to bolts in the Saris channel and the third hole for receiving the bolt from the attachment. Not exactly clean and simple, but it would work. Setup to attach accessories where the snap around would be rotated to a vertical position (e.g. ski racks) would take some creative thought.

 

Gordonr -

Thanks for bing so pleasant. After posting and taking off, I realized my mistake! Oops. I'll blame it on too much cough syrup this time!

I do have some things to discuss regarding the pads and such, but don't have time right now. Just wanted to pop in to show the egg on my face.

 

I could have (and did in another thread!) write almost these exact words! I couldn't agree more (and I don't say that often!). I have a cargo box for the top, and a small trailer for the rear. For the OTHER 99% of my trips, I just drive an efficient vehicle. Why go the other way around and suffer for 99% of the time to have the 1% of the time easier?

 

I couldn't agree more. My wife and I call these cargo boxes our minivan prevention boxes. It's not to say that some people in certain professions or with larger families shouldn't have a minivan. A Prius isn't for everyone, but it works for us. Before we got our Prius last year our car was getting on in years (13 years old) so we would just rent a car for a week long vacation to a distant location (why I own a set of Yakima adapters for the Buick LaSabre). 1,800 miles on an Avis car for about $300 isn't too bad. When you put the roof rack and bikes+cargo box on top, your mileage drops like a rock, but it's still pretty good (36 - 40 mpg) compared to other options. My old SAAB would only manage 20 - 24 mpg if loaded with the same amount of stuff.

 

We call it our SUV! I'm still going to get back to the rack comparison stuff, but this is more fun.

Here's the car that the Prius replaced.

[Broken External Image]:http://www.darelldd.com/ev/images/misc/fun/civic_suv.jpg

The Prius will need to handle the same gear. I do this a few times a year, but the rest of the time, I have NO need for a giant vehicle! In fact, it is so much eaiser to load things like a kayak on a small car. You need a ladder to get them up on minivan or SUV!

 

OK, let me start with a few comments.

I have NO vested (or otherwise) interest in what racks people use! I'm a long-time Yakima user, and for several reasons have now found that the Saris cross bars are better suited for my needs (one important one is that I can't use my Rocket Box with the Yakima bars because of the prescribed cross-bar spread).

I only offer my experiences here because the lessons I learned were somewhat expensive and time-consuming, and I figure I might as well share!. In fact, I bought the Saris system because of another PC member who recommended them highly.

I purchased a new Yakima cross-bar system at retail, and then purchased a new Saris system at retail. I'm keeping the more expensive Saris system, and have already given away Yakima system. I did this because the Saris system me *my* needs better.

I've listed the pros and cons of each system as they pertain to MY situation. See the top of this page:
http://www.darelldd.com/ev/prius_racks.htm
The formatting still needs work, but you get the idea.

OK, so onto the responses...

Indeed it does, and so does mine. I still don't know what I was thinking about above! I found that trying to affix those feet in the perfect location (after measuring carefully and configuring the bars and towers as prescribed, the feet just didn't hit as perfectly as you show here. And with the way the roof pinches in toward the back, the feet can't fit that way at the front and the rear of each pad. I found that most pressure was right on that ridge where the roof metal folds down into the channel. Plenty strong there, certainly.

No (he says with less conviction!). It would appear that the only customization of the Saris system is the clips. BUT... the pads work really well, and should work really well on *most* vehicles. They conform well to the roof, and while they don't make complete contact (the roof is VERY rounded where they hit) the footing is very secure, and well spread-out. I like where the Saris feet sit better than the Yakima feet (which we all agree do hang over into the void of the channel somewhat.)

I'm pretty happy about that part too! It isn't *required* but you can use it if/when you want. The Saris products all use that channel.

While it isn't child's play, it isn't all that tough either. Would require just one hole through the wheel tray. We have to assume that the rear wheel of the bike is not directly over the rear cross-bar (and if it is, it is easy (and possible!) to reposition the Saris bar). So you drill a hole through the wheel tray directly over the cross bar (I'd likely mill a short slot so you could have some play), and let your bolt poke UP from the slot in the cross-bar into the tray. Use your thumb nut, or a regular nut to affix it to the cross bar. Presto. Instant mount.

Never having used ski racks on the roof (I use hitch-mounted racks) I can't comment on what might be needed. But yes, this could be a bugger unless you buy the Saris products. You'll see that this stuff is mentioned in my pros and cons. And I'm sure my pros and cons will be different from others'.

I haven't yet done it, but I'm going to now stop using the U-bolts that came with my Rocket Box, and will instead affix my box with just the four bolts up from the channel. I'm *hoping* this will be an eaiser way to mount. Harder to first get the box onto all of those bolts, but then everything can be tightened from above. Sure will make for a clean mounting if it works. If not, the U-bolts still work just as well as they ever did....

 

Do any of these leave imprints on the roof, or are the pads soft enough to fully protect the roof?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jceh1 @ Apr 1 2006, 09:42 AM) [snapback]233368[/snapback]</div>

Yakima pads are a very soft material which doesn't leave any marks. With our Prius, I've gotten a bit more careful. I clean the area where the pad will touch the roof, and sometimes give that area a light coat of wax before putting on the racks. Also check the pads for any debris. With all the care in the world, any rack product with a pad will mark the roof if you leave the racks on all the time. That happened on our old car, but it still came clean with polishing compound.

 

This may be a stupid question, but I was looking at the saris website (haven't looked at the other racks yet but will) and they list a load bar set for Prius, but it sounds like the set is the bar and the nount. you need to get the clips too, but is a "set" just one load bar and mounts, or two bars?

 

darelldd -

I have another question about the Saris rack which I don't quite understand having to do with the physics of how it clamps to the roof. With a Yakima/Thule, you adjust the width of the towers on their bars to fit the width of your roof. The Yakima/Thule systems do it in a fairly inelegant way requiring some measurement and trial and error. Saris has a way better design for this part of the fit where the towers travel in a slot and draw toward each other as you turn a knob. The second part of fitting a Yakima/Thule rack to the roof is to push on a locking lever which draws tight a clip between the tower and the underside of the door opening where you place the clip. The forces involved here pull the rack towards the roof and create a secure fit for the tower and attached rack. This part of the design appears critical. How does Saris accomplish this same clamping action with forces being applied in the correct direction? It's not clear from the pictures posted how this system draws the clip towards the tower once the correct fit width is achieved.

As an aside, I recently found out that Yakima improved their "Q" towers a year or so ago so they clamp to the bar in a different way than I previously described. Yakima agreed that the original tower had a cam which created tower travel during the fitting process and the deformed coating on the bar created a problem. The new design has a serated clamp which engages the bar coming in from the side. They said the new design solves these problems. All my stuff is the old design, so I can't validate if this improvement is real, but in theory it looks better.

 

Any suggestions on a cargo box to mount on the rack? Don't know how much weight is too much. Want to use it for luggauge.

 

I'm about to buy a kayak for the first time. I have never used roof racks before. Are there any problems mounting a kayak on the roof of a Prius? I went to REI and looked at Yakima and Thule racks. The sales person was not very encouraging about using these on the Prius, thinking the antenna might get in the way. I have an '04 Prius. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks.

 

First -



As has already been said - anything with a tower that sits on the roof can leave a mark if left on too long. This is why I usuall put tracks on the roof, and put the racks on there. But for several reasons, I've been convinced NOT to drill through the roof of the Prius to mount tracks.... but that may still happen! I do NOT like clamping stuff at the doors, and having the feet rest on the roof.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jceh1 @ Apr 1 2006, 08:04 AM) [snapback]233385[/snapback]</div>

The set of bars, is a pair of bars with towers (two bars total), and the clips come in pairs, so you need two pairs total. The reason for this is that some cars require a different clip for the front than the back.



You need: one set of bars, two pair of clips. The PriusII uses #20 clips for front and rear.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gordonr @ Apr 1 2006, 08:25 AM) [snapback]233394[/snapback]</div>

The clips are always the proper distance from the towers (Think of the Yakima with the cams closed) - you just widen the towers so the clips are loose enough to hook onto the doors, then when you bring the towers in toward the center of the car, the clips snug up to the door channel (the towers are trying to go higher as they travel inward, but can't since the clips are now snug to the door chanel). The towers press onto the roof at the same time. Quite elegant at that point, actually. It works surprisingly well, and both sides are always equally tight, unlike the Yakima system which depends on those vague markings.

Well, I bought the brand new system. Definitely better, but still not quite a complete solution to the original problem. The clamp still leaves an indent, making it hard to adjust small amounts... but as I said - definitely way better. The hard part is keeping everything aligned and measured while you also tighten each side. And then if you ever want to move it an inch or two foward or back on the car, that has to be completely readjusted again!



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jceh1 @ Apr 1 2006, 08:34 AM) [snapback]233398[/snapback]</div>

I think we've had a few suggestions in this thread already. I'm still partial to the Yakima boxes, and just LOVE the configuration (if not the mounting) of my Rocket Box as seen here:






There will be no problem carrying a kayak on the Prius. Here I have my loaded Rocket Box and a 16' Kayak on our old Civic while camping. You just need to remember it is up there, and drive smart. Always tie off both ends, and use proper kayak cradles or racks.

 

My wife and I just put our name on a list to purchase a Prius and we're trying to decide on the best rack to carry 2 bikes. I am considering a hitch rack and a roof rack and I'm wondering how much the roof rack cuts down on the gas mileage even when it's unloaded. We bike 2-3 times per week so it's not practical to remove a roof rack for daily driving.

Since several of you have roof racks on your cars, have you compared the mileage with and without an unloaded rack? Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(steved @ Apr 17 2006, 12:23 PM) [snapback]241017[/snapback]</div>

Your best bet may be the hitch mount since it is REALLY easy on/off (once the hitch is in place). For the roof, I take my racks off when not being used - but when I carry a ton of crap up there, my mileage drops by ~4mpg. Should be less than that for just the bars!

 

Any reason why 50" Saris roof racks wouldn't work just as well as 59"? I got the 59" and love them but they are so big on the car, hanging over both sides quite a bit. I just need to carry one kayak at a time, so do you think the 50" Saris bars will fit on a 2007 Prius? Thanks,

Steve in San Diego