I'm looking for an affordable roof rack for my 95 toyota camry and came across the Thule artificial rain gutter for which I would additionally purchase the proline feet and crossbars for a complete rack around $100.
Any experienced opinions with either of these rack components- pros, cons?
http://www.prolineracks.com/thule-542-artificial-rain-gutters.html
thanks,
St
I think it calls for you…
to drill holes. if thats ok then go for it
yes
it does, and I’m fine with that, but the other option is the removable Yakima for about $250.
I’d like to hear any thoughts about this one too-
thanks
they work
Sure, and once you’ve bought them, there are a million racks to fit on ebay for dirt cheap.
Drill holes - goop up with silicone - tighten bolts. Sometimes you have to pull the headliner to tighten nuts, sometimes they provide some sort of blind-hole attachment. Either way, they hold real well.
sure you added all the cost right?
The system will work fine but are you sure you added the four feet, four artificial rain gutters and the two load bars?
Could be wrong but I don’t think you’ll get all the stuff for $100.
I could be mistaken,
but I think this is all I need
http://www.prolineracks.com/thule-542-artificial-rain-gutters.html @ $45
http://www.prolineracks.com/proline-gmr165-rain-gutter-racks.html @ $50
I don’t think it will work on Camry
Not sure I remember how the '95 looks, but don’t you need a steep almost vertical roof line to mount the thing? The Camry I think has a flatter/horisontal roof unlike what’s shown in the illustration in your first link.
Just check for the right angle though. Otherwise I don’t see a problem.
I also know Yakima and others sell similar things for permanent mounting on top of the roof on any car (unlike the gutter thing you link, that seems to show mounting on the side of the roofline rather than on top). But these get expensive from there as you need the Yakima or compatible rack system to mount onto.
I am seriously considering a permanent rack mounts (the rack itself is removable), because I do not like the side mounted Yakima I have - they move and already stripped some paint off my Prius. They did not cause any damage on the '00 Camry with much more longer use but they still moved a bit and made noise over road bumps. Of course, both come with car-specific Q-tips or whatever the thing is called, so it is not a mismatch - just not the same stable fit as permanent mount racks, your model included…
prius
Before drilling in the roof of your Prius to install a rack, find out where the cables run from the batteries to the engine. I don’t know where they run, but I have heard they pack quite a wallop.
Cables
The high voltage cables run under the car in plastic rails as far as I know. There should be no roof cables save for some lights or the antenna…
And yes, you do not want approx. 300V DC at 100+ amps zapping you at any given time -
I did
look for those too and found a reasonable yakima at proline-
http://www.prolineracks.com/yakima-0124-q-tower-roof-rack.html
I thought the OP did not want these
due to cost. He was looking for adding rain gutter brackets so he could use cheaper rain gutter racks.
Aren’t the racks you link to the regular Yakima racks that work on cars without rain gutters? I got those and was complaining about their fit on my Prius (stripped some paint after very short use + make knocking noises) and no issues on the Camry (after long use, except they make knocking noises over road bumps, but that does not seem to affect anything else).