Woof Bars

leaskovski

leaskovski

leaskovski

Soldato
Joined
22 Oct 2004
Posts
9,086
Location
Berkland
Hi All,

I'm on the hunt for some roof bars so we can use the roof box that has been given to us to help us lug all our crap around that we need to when visiting the rents with the pooch and baby (more so over xmas periods) in the £ Series (E91 with roof rails).

Currently, searching the bay of e, I have narrowed it down to any of the following...

Thule Wingbars 961 (and feet)
No brand generic jobbies
G3 Alu Bars
Another Generic one
Genuine BMW bars (though not sure if this actually compatible with mine E91)

At the moment, Im swaying with spending the extra cash and going for the Thule as its only 118cm in length where as the others are longer which might make the motor look like the car plan from the Man with the Golden Gun.

Any comments on bars in general?

Thanks
 
The problem I have with the BMW ones, is that they look like they are about a foot away from the roof once you take into account the fixings and the rails. They don't look that sexy, though I'm not going to leave these things on all the time.
 
I've got a pair of the 'generic' types which you have in your list. They are pretty good for the money. Haven't fitted a roof box to them, I got them to fit my Mont Blanc Barracuda bike carriers. Pic overload (more general info at the end of the post)!!!:-

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The only thing with the generic ones is that they come with no fittings of any type to attach your roof box/bike carriers etc. The generic aero bars have what is called a 'T-Track' slot fitting system which is a doddle to use but for some reason these particular bars use a slightly narrower 'T-Track' channel than everyone else on the market. So if you have T-Track fittings for your roof box they more than likely won't fit. You can of course, use 'U-Clamp' type fittings which are the alternative method, they don't have anything to do with the 'T-Track' system and will fit the generic type bars. But that said, the T-Track system is the more secure method.

The T-Track:-

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The 'T-Track' which is the channel that runs from end to end of the bar down the centre through which you attach items to them with 'T' shaped bolts is unusually narrow. So narrow in fact that nothing fits to it, nothing that is which is made by the major manufacturers such as Thule, Cruze, Atera or Whispbar - Thule being the most common premium manufacturer of roof bars and accessories. Those systems all use a T-Track with a 20mm channel fixing system. These bars and many of their identical but differently named copies use as far as I can see, a channel which is approx 12-15mm. So the bolts which came with my Mont blanc Barracuda bike carriers do not fit. The really annoying things are that I didn't see any mention of this on any of the adverts online for these generic bars and that they didn't come out of the box with their own adapters.

Solution was eventually found on the Singletrack MTB forums. Went to Screwfix and purchased a pack of x10 M6x60mm roofing bolts. They fit the T-Track channel like a glove and are the perfect length for the front mounting points. The rear mounting point needs to be a little shorter so I got M6x25mm roofing bolts for that which do the trick nicely. I know some folk on a couple of other owners forums have expressed concern that the bolts may not be comparable in quality/strength to the Thule originals but they seem fine to me and if they are designed to secure roofs to houses they are plenty strong enough.

Despite this niggling little issue, I'd recommend a pair of those 'generic' bars. Make doubly sure you are buying the correct sized ones for your car (sounds obvious) but some sellers on the 'Bay don't really research this and sometimes list bars in lengths that fall slightly shorter than required for the particular vehicle in question. The generic ones (all of them on eBay and elsewhere) don't actually come in different sizes for each individual vehicle. Rather, they come in standard and XL size. The adjustments are made by sliding the foot mounts to the correct width. 'Standard' size is 120mm long. The 'XL' ones are the ones I required and are 135cm long. The listing on the 'Bay I purchased from was actually down as being for a BMW X5.

Lastly, and this is something you cannot get around no matter what you do, despite being 'Aero' bars - they whistle when on the move. It starts at about 28-30mph and vanishes at about 40-45mph. Rather annoying when you are driving with the window open. :) They don't appear to make any appreciable difference to fuel consumption either. I have had mine fitted for about a year, and the bike carriers stay on there too and I've noticed hardly any difference to my mpg (when not carrying 2 x mountain bikes - carry a couple of bikes or a roof box up there and there will more than likely be a decrease in mpg).
 
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I have used Thule bars on both my last BMWs had aero bars and low profile feet on my E61 and used Wingbars on my F11 both sets are brilliant and very secure. I wouldn't consider anything else other than genuine bars or Thule.

There's a guy on bmwland whos been trying to sell his aero bars and feet for ages he would take an offer now I guess which would save you a lot over new prices.
 
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Dandle said:
I have used Thule bars on both my last BMWs had aero bars and low profile feet on my E61 and used Wingbars on my F11 both sets are brilliant and very secure. I wouldn't consider anything else other than genuine bars or Thule.

There's a guy on bmwland whos been trying to sell his aero bars and feet for ages he would take an offer now I guess which would save you a lot over new prices.
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Thanks Draeger. Great post.

Got a link to the thread, or the thread id?

Also, interesting info on the size. I used halfords to tell me which Thule bars are the right size, so in theory I can use that to figure out what generic size I can get.
 
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Shame, good price at 75 quid, just the wrong foot pack, which would mean I would have to get them separately so extra cost there.

Looking through eBay, buying them individually can work out cheaper. Might have to see if I can do some sort of quidco somewhere.

Cheers
 
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