I am wanting to get some roofbars at some point so I can fit my bike rack on the roof. Would love to see your bars in situ please. I'm after a black set although I think the OEM ones have silver bars and they'll stand out too much on a black car imo? (not that any roof bars are very stealth)

I will want to add the fairing on to mine too, although neither of them (Thule or Yakima) are available in the UK

(pic nicked from VWVortex - nothing to do with me)

Cheers

someones got to have some

Dunno why but I quite like them...

I have some but they are attached to my roof box. Will get some pics the weekend when I set out on holiday.

i have a set for my bora....but they only go on when the waves are big.

jedi:

Dunno why but I quite like them...

Yeah I do too :) You'll like this thread then! Some amazing cars with bars and racks in there. I'm liking the 'roof bar' look a lot.

I know you're out there somewhere :)

 This is my old motor with my roof bars and bike racks on, they now fit on my Bora.

The rack is just the basic Halfords, and the bike holders are MontBlanc ones.

I have a set of OEM bars, i love the capped ends they don't have a nasty over hang like other bars. The silver bit is aluminium which could easily be primed and sprayed.

I bought some transparent film from ebay and cut sqaures where the feet sit on the paint work to protect it

Sorry about the poor quality photo

I would really recommend OEM bars, great quality, more photos -

Door seal pulled back to expose studs, can you see the film?

This is how the front bar attaches to the studs

Cover on and locked, seal back in place

Here is how the rear fits

Finished, only takes a few minutes

Inked, I think you did the right thing using that clear film. I just read a couple of stories of scratched paintwork on vwvortex. I think Americans are a lot less squeamish about putting roof bars on their cars and even those basket things too. As much as I love my car, I see it as a tool of mine, I'm sure it won't mind carrying me AND my bike around :)

Of course you've got to have somewhere to put your axe too! lol

I like those baskets, look handy for maybe chucking bags or other smaller things on the roof to tie down

This is what I want mine to look like (with different rims though). I think that looks superb.

Still looking for those thule fairings Yan? think its time to order them from the states.

my rack with bugs :D

Yan:

jedi:

Dunno why but I quite like them...

Yeah I do too :) You'll like this thread then! Some amazing cars with bars and racks in there. I'm liking the 'roof bar' look a lot.

 

 

yeah good thread mate....I`m liking them more now, i`ve got some OE VW ones which ive never used as yet and a Thule bike rack which fits on the boot, which I think is cool. It just snaps on not one of those that has all the straps etc.

Oldy666:

Still looking for those thule fairings Yan? think its time to order them from the states.

Yes mate, I have actually emailed a company in the states today asking how much they want to ship one of those Yakima ones over here. Still waiting to hear back, I know its going to be dearer than the actual fairing (which is $59.99). Just hope they fit on any bars, should do. I even called Thule UK the other day, the said about 10 years ago they used to stock the fairings but it was such a poor seller they stopped it . Wonder why no-one wanted it? There's plenty of cars with roof bars and it definitely improves the look of them a lot.

heard anything back from the companies about shipping?

I have actually. This is the conversation I had with Yakima (me in bold). No Joy basically on all counts The Yakima roof bars are round so this is why it's difficult to fit the fairing on other makes of bars. Looks like I will be getting the Thule one which will fit on both OEM and Thule bars (see pics below - It looks like they sit better on the Thule bars, I'm not sure why it is bowing like that). I'm confident I'll be able to get one of these shipped over as I don't think they are bound by the same contractual obligations. Bl00dy red tape :)

Hello,
Can you tell me if your roofbar fairing would fit onto another make of
bars? I live in the UK and cannot buy any Yakima products over here.
Is there somewhere nearer than the US where I can get one shipped from?
Thanks
Ian

Hello Ian,
Thank you for contacting Yakima Customer Support.

The brackets that are included with the fairing are for Yakima bars only. At this time we do not have a UK distributor.

Thank you for your inquiry!

Yakima Support

Thanks for that Sam. I am not having much luck finding a US dealer that is contractually allowed to ship any Yakima product outside of the US. Is this your company policy for every dealer? Basically am I wasting my time trying to get anything Yakima shipped over here? One dealer offered a solution by saying "do I know anyone in the US who I could get it shipped too and then they could ship it onto me". I think thats a bit too much to ask of a customer and wouldn't go down that route myself.
Thanks,
Ian

Ian,
I wish I had a better answer, but that is the case right now. We are working on obtaining a UK distributor currently, but while the process is being run, this silly situation is the result.
Sam

Any of you guys notice much of a dip in mpg after putting your racks/bars on? roughly?

Cheers

I've found a place thats ready to ship my fairing (Thule) from the US now. $64.95 + $35.00 delivery. Works out £50. I am happy to pay that.

Oldy666:

ahh nice one man. what size are u getting and where from? think it would be cheaper to combine shipping??

The place is rackhaus.com I'll email the guy and ask if you like, no problem  If the guy says no it won't be cheaper then you can order your own yourself. I am probably going for the Thule bars now and not OEM for a few reasons. The bars sit a bit lower than the OEM bars, Its all black and I have a black car, hopefully I will be able to re-use at least some of it when/if I flog my Golf (god forbid), no modding is required for the fairing to fit the Thule bars 'nicely' out of the box. What I mean by that is with the T-Slot being at the top of the OEM bars the brackets that come with it sit on the top of the bars making it look a bit ugly. If you look at this thread you'll see exactly what I mean, BUT it shows you how different people have moded their bars to fit, if your handy with a drill (Its only requires 4 holes and some long bolts). In some ways its better to use the modded method with OEM bars as it requires tools to get the thing off so its less likely to go walkies. Anyway, I'll be ordering in a week or so once a cheque lands from a project I've been working on. :)

One last thing, the fella said this "You will also be responsible, if they pertain, for any duties as the product enters your country." I am not sure if there is a way to predict how much this would be? do you know? I would be nice if there were no nasty surprises when the thing arrives.

Cheers

OMG Im in love

i love that car above... currently my pc background.

isnt the import tax 17.5% ??? normally if they put "gift" on the package it gets through but i guess he wont do that.

i might just order it myself anyway. seeing as if it got posted to your house i would still need to get it sent here. cheers for the site though..

any idea what size your going for?

This is the one he told me to get, It's the 44" 872xt fairing from Thule for the Mk4. Check yourself before ordering though I don't want anyone screaming at me if its wrong for their car :) The fella I have been emailing is Jon Stackpole customerservice@rutabaga.com (same company as rackhaus). He's been very helpful. I'd definitely contact him first though, as there is a certain way you have to order from them if you live abroad.

You only pay duty on the cost of the item and not on the total price including delivery?

I must say the Americans do have a nack of making roof bars and boxes look cool on their dubs. Hopefully there will be a couple in the UK soon

Cheers