I just acquired a Saris car roof rack. I am trying to outfit it for a 96 Mercury Sable to carry 1-2 kayaks. Any idea on car clips that would best fit the car or what style saddles to get?
saddles
The standard Thule H20 and J crandles will fit the rack. Just buy some longer stainless steel bolts and nuts and toss the Thule ones.
As far as clips call Saris.
I’ve got a Saris rack and they were the best made roof rack available.
Clips
Email Saris - while they no longer make/support the racks, you might get an answer on what clips fit that car since it’s an older model.
Another more likely info source is one of the online dealers (usually bike shops) that still have inventory/fit guides. I got a brand new rack/clips about a year ago for 1/2 price. If I can remember what shop I’ll repost. There are a few out there, but can be hard to track down, Also search eBay as there used to be someone with a lot of clip sets and you can email them about fit.
As for saddles, you can pretty much make anything work (and the funny looking Saris saddles are a lot better in use than they look if you can find any). I have a set of Mont Blanc Sydney #8 saddles because I already had them. Just had to grind down the part that rides in the track a bit. If you can find carriage bolts with shallow tops (or grind that a bit) you can attach anything to the track.
Malones
Malones fit my factory crossbars ( flatish ovals) quite well. I use “Autoloaders”, but they have saddles as well
clips
Try eBay.
There’re a few sellers. Lots of different clips.
Saris roof rack clips
Your '96 Sable requires different clips depending on whether it is a 4 door or wagon.
- 4 door requires clip set 24 for front and rear
- wagon requires clip set 54 for front and rear
- with Saris you need two clip sets to install the rack (clip sets come 2 per package)
I have 3 brand new sets of #54 clips available (still packaged)…$10 + shipping costs and they’re yours. I don’t have #24 clips, unfortunately.
I also have a bunch of other clip sets and locks available for cheap.
Saris makes a saddle
that fits in the “T” slot. They don’t work very well though…In '01 I bought a Saturn LW and Saturn offered a Saris rack system for the car, I ended up returning it. It hummed loudly and the kayak saddles didn’t work well. I ended up with a Thule system that worked beautifully. The Saris bars are beefy though.
You’re right about the saddles…
…which is why I adapted Thule saddles to mine. I think that’s probably one of the major reasons why Saris racks never really caught on, they didn’t put enough effort into the accessories. Without them, even the best bars aren’t going to sell well.
Saris roof rack fit guide
In case you havent found the clips you need yet -
http://biowheels.com/2010/02/saris-fit-guide/