I get a whistling at highway speed when I have my Yakima racks on my saturn. I see some cars that have a wind deflector on them. Does this really cut down the wind noise or is it jsut yuppie gear mongering? (apologies to Coffee, that seems like a phrase he would use)
Charlie
don’t
know about the delector but would assume it would at least change the noise. Do you have a defector on your hood? When I added the crossbars to my blazer the moan/howl noise went away for me so angle of the boats or rack may have some to do with it.
Try some rope
that runs from one end of the bar to the other, but twist the rope around the bar as you go across. The rope disrupts the flow of air around the bar, some car anteneas (sp?) have the same feature to keep the wind noise down. It works for me.
I talked to a thule rep at an event
he said if all you do is kayaks do not bother. a wind deflector can markedly increase liftt on the kayaks. These loading systems are not designed to accept huge lift forces.
For bikes and skis, yes go for it!
I’ve been using an air deflector
– Last Updated: Jun-09-04 7:10 PM EST –
with my Yakima rack for the last 2+ years. I've hauled every kind of kayak on my rack system, from an 18 ft composite touring kayak to a 28 inch wide SOT to my sons 12 ft long kids kayak, all up to a max speed of 80 MPH on the interstate and have NEVER had a problem.
I took it off one time because I was relocating my saddles, and one of the deflectors attachment points was where my saddle needed to connect. It took one short trip down the road without the deflector to make me move the saddle and reattach the deflector. It makes a big difference in the noise level! (Does this make me a yuppie??)
TrippS
Yes!! L
Next think you will be getting a Tilly hat! I have hauled pretty much the same things on my truck and I don’t use the deflector. I have seen where they have vibrated the paint off of some vehicles, the same goes for those front air deflectors. Any way try it with out and see what happens. I just figured with a yack I want the air going parallel to it instead of deflecting up into it! However if you are hauling a Cargo box, then yes a deflector makes good sense.
I just turn up the radio. The rope idea
seems like something to try.
I have a deflector on my car and
would not be able to stand leaving the Yakima racks on without it. This is the 4th vehicle I have had with Yak racks on it, and the first that required the fairing. Just the dynamics of this particular set up, I guess. Over-priced for a piece of acrylic and 4 clips, but worth it for me 'cause without them, I’d have to install the racks and then remove them every time I wanted to paddle.