Looking for anyone with experience with Malone roof racks. I’m looking at their Universal Cross Rail System, 50 in. rack. It lists for $110.00 which is considerably less than a similar product from Thule or Yakima. I know the adage “You get what you pay for”, but do you really in this case?
I have a Thule OEM rack sold by Volvo which appears to be the Thule 440. In the past 3 months I’ve snapped 2 foot mounting bolts. The supplied tightening tool has a torque indicator and I’ve always felt they were tight enough long before I reached the indicator mark, so I don’t think I’m tightening them too much. Looking for a replacement.
Malone universal roof rack
I bought the Malone racks about a year ago based on posting on this forum. They have met all expectations. I have used for kayaks, canoes and skis. The clamp down tight enough that I have never had any wobble. They come with locks standard, and easily accomodated every accessory from J cradles to ski racks to Thule saddles. I bought mine for $90 on Amazon. I don’t see how you can go wrong. (and mine are mounted on a 2010 Subaru Forester with factory cross-rails). If anyone wants to buy my factory aero-bars, make an offer.
Malone J’s
We’ve had a couple of their J cradles snap in half around here. Not the most rugged system.
Bill H.
good luck
finding a system that’s stronger than bolting the mounting brackets to the frame.
?
Roof system is usually the following
A. Roof rails, cross bars, with various attaching accessories.
Cross bars may be attached to roof rails with attachments
B. Cross bars attached to the roof with some sort of feet, plus attaching accessories.
What exactly did you break?
What exactly did you break?
The bolt that tightens the foot to the rail.
Cracked J-cradle
I’ve been using these for about 3 years now, 2 sets, with good performance but I did have 1 individual crack and “flop” over. I heard it banging as I was driving down the interstate but fortunately wasn’t carrying a boat. The outfitter replaced them without hesitation, which was great. I don’t know what could have caused this because it was on the passenger side, which is not used remotely as much as the other.
This is my first summer with kayaks
And we use a stock factory rack on our Jimmy
with 2 Malone Autoloaders. I had to do some custom machine work on the bottom clamps to get them to
fit better on GM’s tapered cross bar. They work
really good with our 2, 13 foot yaks. Also use
ratchet ropes for front and rear tie downs quick and
easy.